No. 8. 



Better Butter. 



235 



elsewhere. The Massachusetts Agricultu- 

 ral Society's highest premium for butter, 

 $100, was awarded some time since, to six 

 tubs, the manufacture of William Buchop, 

 of Vermont, — twenty-seven lots were offered 

 for premiums on this occasion, and the second 

 award, of $50, was to Luther Chamberlain, 

 of Massachusetts, for six tubs also — Cham- 

 berlain had been long noted for producing 

 good butter, and did not tcash loilh water — 

 the committee of awards, admit that they 

 had some hesitation in choosing between the 

 two lots, but say, " they based their final de- 

 cision on the fact, that Mr. Buchop's butter 

 was equal at least to Mr. Chamberlain'' s, 

 and from the manner it was put down, ap- 

 peared more likely to keep.''' This was his 

 manner of making: "The milk is kept in 

 tin pans and churned every morning, if the 

 weather is warm — the butter-milk is removed 

 by frequent washing in water, and four lbs. 

 of salt and one lb. of sugar used for each 

 hundred weight of butter — packed in wooden 

 vessels and set in a cool place." The merits 

 and demerits of washing butter, appear to 

 be nicely appreciated by a practical French 

 writer, in the following sentence taken from 

 the Journal before quoted : " Fresh butter is 

 distinguished by a mild and agreeable fla- 

 vour, the less it is washed the more delicate 

 and fine it is. But in this case its delicacy 

 exists no longer than from one day to the 

 next, particularly during great heat. This 

 delicacy is owing to the milk which remains 

 with it, and it is that which prevents the 

 butter from keeping, by communicating to 

 it a sharp sour taste. Thus you cannot dis- 

 pense with freeing the butter from milk, ex- 

 cepting when it is to be used immediately. 

 That which is intended for keeping, cannot 

 be too carefully attended to in this respect. 

 To procure butter of an exquisite flavour 

 and extreme delicacy, it must be washed 

 finally with new milk; the cream of this 

 new milk is incorporated with the butter, 

 and communicates to it its sweetness and 

 delicacy. Like butter that has some of the 

 butter-milk remaining in it, however, this 

 will not keep well." 



On the whole, then, though good butter, 

 that will keep sweet at least a year, may be 

 put down, without washing, during any part 

 of the grass season, yet we have sufficient 

 evidence that most farmers of the interior fail 

 to do so ; and surely a great good would be 

 effected, could they be induced, by observing 

 the ttvo cardinal conditions, to effect a 

 change in this respect. In making, expel 

 the butter-milk — in packing, exclude the 

 air. The first is accomplished most cer- 

 tainly by cold water — the second by packing 

 close in new casks, containing 50 to 100 lbs. 



each, and made of white oak — the salt should 

 be fine and of the best quality; ladies who 

 are particularly nice in this matter, make it 

 still finer by the rolling-pin before using — 

 the butter should always stand twelve to 

 twenty-four hours after salting, and then be 

 worked over, using the linen cloth under 

 the hand, till all the salt-water, now col- 

 lected in small drops, is absorbed — now 

 pack, and when the cask is full, add an inch 

 of dry salt, and head up — or, if pickle be 

 preferred to cover the surface, boil and skim 

 it first, and apply it when cold — keep in a 

 cool place — it seems not material to the 

 keeping of butter, whether sugar be added 

 or not — salt-petre should never be used. 

 Though to make butter of the highest fla- 

 vour, cream should stand in summer but 

 twenty-four hours, it is generally considered 

 sufficiently often, if kept in a cool place, to 

 collect it three times in a week. 



As evidence that neither our climate nor 

 soil is defective, it may be remarked, no 

 market, perhaps, can furnish more delicate 

 or richer specimens of fresh butter, than 

 that presented during the grass season in 

 our own ; and it may not be too much to 

 say, that the summer and fall butter is gene- 

 rally good, very good when it finds its way 

 to market within a day or two of the time it 

 is made ; but unless kept in a place cooler 

 than most cellars, it loses its sweetness 

 about as soon as new milk would if kept in 

 the same temperature: this serious defect 

 can proceed, I think, but from one of two 

 causes; the presence of butter-milk — or, 

 from the excellent flavour and creamy 

 sweetness of much of it when quite new, 

 there is reason to apprehend that the prac- 

 tice prevails to some extent, of washing 

 with new milk — this, as we have seen, is 

 utterly incompatible with its preservation, 

 and no dairyman should hazard the experi- 

 ment, who cannot, by attending market 

 daily, sell his produce within twenty-four 

 liours of the time it is made. 



An extensive demand exists in our midst, 

 for a sweet grass-made butter for winter 

 use, and the interior counties of this State 

 must supply it, or it will be imported from 

 elsewhere — a process already carried on to 

 some extent, and which, under existing cir- 

 cumstances, must rapidly increase. For the 

 greasy rancid material that now abounds in 

 every grocery store, under the cognomen of 

 "roll-butter," we would see substituted a 

 rich, sweet article, retaining its good quali- 

 ties through the year in all climates. For 

 the misshapen masses of parti-coloured stuff 

 that now encumber cart-tails, or barrel-heads 

 at store doors, and which is, much of it, dear 

 at the price asked, — about that of lard — we 



