CHAPTER IX 



BACTERIA AND BUTTER-MAKING 



IT is evident that cream and butter will contain bacteria. 

 They are present in the milk, they will be sure to be in cream 

 when separated from the milk, and in the period that precedes 

 butter-making they develop in great numbers. They are always 

 present in cream whether sweet or sour, always present in but- 

 ter whether fresh or stale. In butter-making it seems to be, at 

 least according to present demands, absolutely necessary that 

 the dairyman should have at his command large numbers of 

 certain kinds of bacteria. The processes in butter-making are 

 planned to insure the presence of the proper kinds and to stim- 

 ulate their development rather than to check their growth. In- 

 deed, in some cases, butter-makers have found it difficult to 

 make satisfactory butter, because of too rigid attempts to ex- 

 clude bacteria from their milk, and hence from their cream. 

 For the butter-maker, therefore, bacteria are friends rather 

 than foes. 



CREAM RIPENING 



The relation of bacteria to butter-making is associated with 

 the phenomenon of cream ripening. The origin of the ripening 

 of the cream is due to the early conditions of dairying when 

 the butter was made wholly in small farms, and it was rarely 

 possible to churn oftener than once in two or three days. It 

 was necessary on such farms to allow the cream to accumulate 

 until a sufficient quantity was collected to make good churning. 

 During the period in which the cream was collecting it was sure 

 to undergo the changes which have subsequently been spoken 



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