No. S. 



Milk. 



237 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



milk. 



Milk is a fluid secreted by the female of 

 all those animals denominated Mammalia— 

 and intended evidently for the nourishment 

 of their offsprinef. The milk of every ani- 

 mal has certain peculiarities which distin- 

 guishes it from every other milk. The milk 

 of the cow is most used hy man as an article 

 of food, and consequently more particularly 

 claiming their attention. Chymists, there- 

 fore, have made choiceof it for their- experi- 

 ments. 



Milk is an opaque fluid, of a whitish color, 

 a slight peculiar smell, and a pleasant, sweet- 

 ish taste. When newly drawn from the cow. 

 It has a taste very difl'erent from that which 

 It acquires after it has been kept for some 

 hours, 



CREAM. 



When milk is allowed to remain for some 

 time at rest, there collects on its surface a 

 thick unctuous, yellowish colored substance, 

 known by the name of cream. After the 

 cream is separated the remaining milk is of 

 a bluish white color and is much thinner 

 than it was before. If it be heated to the 

 temperature of 100°, and a little rennet, 

 which IS water digested with the inner coat 

 of a calf's stomach, preserved with salt, be add- 

 ed to It, coagulation ensues; and if thecoagu- 

 lum be broken, the milk very soon separates 

 into two substances ; a solid white part known 

 by the name of curd, and a fluid part called 

 whey. Thus we see that milk may be easily 

 separated into three parts, namely,— Cream, 

 Curd, and Whey. 



CREAM CHEE8E. 



Cream gradually increases in consistence 

 by exposure to the atmosphere. In three or 

 four days it becomes so thick that the vessel 



which contains it may be inverted w thon 'li, a^ ^^T^ quantity of milk if it be 

 risking any loss. In eVht or IIS. J'l^'l' ,churned as drawn from the cow, than when 



risking any loss. In eight or ten days more 

 Its surface is covered over with mucous and 

 byssi, and it has no longer the flavor of cream, 

 but of very fat cheese. This is the process 

 for making what in this country is called 

 cream cheese. 



Cream possesses many of the properties 

 otanoil. It IS specifically lighter than wa- 

 ter; it has an unctuous feel, staining cloths 

 precisely m the manner of oil ; and if it be 

 kept fluid It contracU! a taste very analoo-ous 

 to the rancidity of oils. ° 



'I'hese properties are sufficient to show 

 us that It contains a quantity of oil ; but this 

 oil is combined with a part of the curd, and 

 mixed with some cerum. Cream, then, is 

 composed of a peculiar oil, curd, and cerum. 

 The oil may be easily obtained separate by 

 ^itating the cream for a considerable time 



[The continuance of this operation for a sufli- 

 cient time causes the cream to separate into 

 two portions: one fluid and resembling 

 creamed milk called butter-milk,— the otiier 

 solid and called butter. 



BUTTER. 



Butter is of a yellow color, posscssino- the 

 properties of an oil, and mixes rcadily'^with 

 j other oily bodies. When heated to the tern- 

 jperature of 9f)° it melts and becomes trans- 

 parent: if It be kept for some time melted, 

 some curd and whey separates from it, and it 

 lassumes exactly the appearance of oil — 

 I When butter is kept for a certain time, it be- 

 comes rancid, owing in a good measure to 

 'the presence of these foreign ingredient?, for 

 {if butter be well washed, and a great portion 

 of these matters separated, it does not become 

 rancid near so soon. Butter may be obtained 

 by agitating cream newly taken from milk- 

 er even by agitating milk newly drawn from 

 the cow. But It is usual to allow cream to 

 remain for some time before it is churned.— 

 Now, cream, by standing, acquires an acid 

 |taste; butter, therefore, is commonly made 

 from sour cream. Fresh cream requires 

 longer churning before it yields its butter 

 I than sour cream does; consequently cream 

 acquires, by being kept for some time, new 

 properties, in consequence of which, it is 

 more easily converted into butter which in all 

 cases is perfectly sweet. 



The affinity of the oil of cream for the other 

 ingredients is such, that it never separates 

 completely from them. Not only is curd and 

 whey always found in the cream, but some 

 ot this oil IS constantly found in creamed 

 milk, and even in whey it has been ascer- 

 tained by experiments that butter may be ob- 

 tained by churning whey. This accounts for 

 the fact that more butter may be obtained 

 from the same quantity of milk if it be 



Th» p.^., . .„a„y c;,ied =„,:-l'rrLrhr£,,(SS 



the cream alone is collected and chNirned. 



I CURD. 



I ,^"':?,' ^'h'ch maybe separated fromcream- 

 led milk by rennets, has many of the proper- 

 I ties of coagulated albumen. It is white and 

 solid ; and when all the moisture is squeezed 

 out, It has a good deal of brittleness. Curd 

 IS used in making cheese, and the cheese 

 j IS the better the more it con tains of cream, or 

 j of that oily matter which constitutes cream 

 jit IS known to cheese-makers, that the good^ 

 jness of It depends in a great measure on the 

 j manner of separating the whey from the 

 [curd. If the milk be much heated— the 

 [Coagulum broken in pieces, and the whev 

 forcibly separated, the cheese is .'■carcely 

 good for any thing; but the whey is delicious 

 and butter may be obtained from it in con- 

 siderable quantity. Wherea.«, if the milk be 



is sufficient,) 



