1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



165 



do, but I am rather partial to the plan of ptirring, 

 it" the cream is not cliurncd soon ai\er being taken 

 li'oiii the niilix. 



Tlie (hrections given by your rorreppondent for 

 churning, washing, and salting the butter, seem to 

 mo to be correct; only I would recommenil, by all 

 means, to inix in the salt soon after the butter is 

 churned and well washed, and, at any rate, before 

 it becomes quite firm. If once butter has consoli- 

 dated, it is nuich injured by being again beaten 

 or trodden soft, or baked into a paste; and even 

 when that is done, the salt cannot be so easily and 

 comitletely mixed with it as it would be when it 

 has been merely cooled a little, but not become 

 firm. If the salt is not con)plctely and equally 

 mixed through the whole mass, the butter becomes 

 darker in colour where the salt rests, and whiter 

 and rancid where it has not reached. This is 

 termed pyotij butter, which always sells at an in- 

 ferior price. 



Mixing old and new butter together, or even 

 that of diflerent qualities, or from many different 

 dairies, some of it good and some of it inferior, is 

 bad management, as that of the worst quality will 

 contaminate the bf^st. A little leaven "will in that 

 case leaven the whole lump. 



Your correspondent wishes the salt to be kept 

 dry till it is used, but not to be placed nearthe fire, 

 lest it should become tinged with smoke; but I do 

 not know how salt can be kept dry without artifi- 

 cial heat: And I must enter my protest against 

 placing new lime under or near the butter, as he 

 directs, or even in the same apartment with it. 



I concur in opinion with your correspondent, 

 that cream should not be scalded; but as, in mak- 

 ing butter (as in every other chemical process) 

 the utmost attention should be paid to temperature, 

 I beg leave humbly to offer my opinion on the de- 

 grees of heat that I conceive to be proper for milk 

 in all its stages, from the time it is taken from the 

 cow till the butter is churned and salted. 



W bile milk is in the coolers to cast up the cream, 

 it should be kept as nearly as possible in a tempe- 

 rature of about 50 or 52" degrees on Fahrenheit's 

 scale. In summer it may sometimes be difficult 

 or even impossible to keep the milkhouse at a 

 temperature so low; but great care should be ta- 

 ken, by excluding the sun and hot UMuds, fre- 

 quently washing the floor with cold water, &c. to 

 keep it cool. When the pavement is washed, it 

 should be w^ll dried with a cloth, so as the milk 

 may not be injured by the exhalations from the 

 wet flour. Rut too much heat, at this stage of the 

 process, ought not only to be avoided, but great 

 care should also be taken to prevent the milk liom 

 being at any time too cold. If the milk is kept 

 too warm, it does not cast up the cream, and soon 

 becomes putrid ; and when it is kept too cool, the 

 butter is white, and of inferior quality, with little 

 flavor, and neither unctious nor rich. It is not 

 enough that the temperature of cream be raised 

 betbre or during the operation of churning; it 

 ought to be kept at all times in a moderate degree 

 of heat, and, if possible, in an equal temperature. 



If the cream is in about 54 or 56 degrees of heat 

 when put into the churn, it may be churned with- 

 out any application of artificial heat, and the agi- 

 tation in churning will raise it to the temperature 

 of 70 or 74 degrees, at which butter is formed. 

 But if the cream is colder than 54 degrees, I 

 would advise the application of artificial heat to 



raise it to about 56 degrees, or nwre. This may 

 be done by placing the cream over night in a 

 warmer atmosphere, or by mixing into it a portion 

 of hot water. But the most proper course is, to 

 prevent the milk and cream from ever becoming 

 too cold. If" hot water is mixed into the cream to 

 raise its temperature, it shnidd be poured in by one 

 person, while another is churning, so as it may 

 not mek the cream. Hot water so ap|)lied has 

 been objected to, because it was thought to impair 

 the color and quality of the butter. 1 would, not 

 pretend to say that the water can improve the but- 

 ter. On the contrary, the butter is often of too 

 white a color where much hot water has been 

 put into the churn. But this does not proceed so 

 nmch li'om the water so apjtlied, as from the milk 

 or cream having been previously too cold. If the 

 temperature of the cream were to be raised, by 

 placing it near a fire or otherwise, without any ad- 

 mixture whatever, or by long and severe agitation 

 in the churn, still the butter would be white, brit- 

 tle, and of inferior quality. The manufacturers oi^' 

 butter and sour milk in the vicinity of Glasgow, 

 instead of raising the temperature of the milk and 

 cream (for they churn both togetlier) by agitation,, 

 uniformly raise it from the temperature of" the milk 

 houseto nearly that at which the butter is formed, 

 by the application of hot water; and yet their but- 

 ter is of the very best quality, and of good colour. 

 When the milk or cream is too cold at the time of 

 churning, it emits a hard rattling sound Avhen agi- 

 tated, appears of a white color, and throws up^ 

 innumerable while bubbles. But as it acquires 

 more heat, either from agitation, or from whatever- 

 cause, the sound becomes softer and more soughing, 

 the milk or cream assumes a darker, yellower 

 color; and as the butter begins to form, and ta 

 rise to the surface by churning, which brings on a 

 fermentation of its own kind, the whole mass ac^ 

 quires a yellow color. 



It is necessary, however, to guard against rais- 

 ing the temperature too high, during the opera- 

 tion of churning, otherwise the butter may be 

 much injured even by agitation alone. The pro- 

 cess of churning should be conducted slowly; and 

 the more so, if" the temperature of the milk or 

 cream has been much above 55" when begun to 

 be churned. In that case, and where but a small 

 quantity is churned together, the churning should 

 not be carried on more than three or liiur minutes 

 at a time, so as to occupy nearly two hours in 

 churning even a small quantify, and still longer 

 where the quantity churned is large. 



Whenever the butter is comi)Ietely formed, it 

 ought to be instantly turned into fresh and cold 

 spring- water; and alter being slightly stirred or 

 mixed into the water with a large wooden spoon 

 or skimming dish, so as the whole butter may be 

 reached by the cold water, and part of the milk 

 may be washed out, the butter should remain in 

 the water about ten or fifteen minutes, so as it may 

 become somewhat firmer before the operation of 

 wiisliing. I say somewhat firmer, but not by any 

 means to become completely cold and firm, till it 

 i has been well washed and salted. It would be 

 wrong to beat or knead the butler too much while 

 it wa.« very sofi; but as it can neither be properly 

 washed, nor the salt well mixed into it, except 

 when it is soft, there can be no propriety in mak- 

 ing it cold and firm, by long immersion in cold 

 water, and then to soften it for washing and salting. 



