194 PRACTICAL DAIRY BACTERIOLOGY 



of as ripening. When later the making of butter was concen- 

 trated into creameries, time for accumulating the cream was 

 unnecessary, but the creameries soon found it necessary to keep 

 their cream for a time before churning it in order that it should 

 assume a condition similar to that of the soured cream on the 

 isolated farm. From this came the process of ripening cream, 

 which has been well-nigh universal. 



The purposes of ripening the cream are several, i. It is 

 thought that the given quantity of cream will yield a larger 

 amount of butter after ripening than when churned sweet. 2. 

 It is certain, also, that cream will churn more readily when 

 ripened than when sweet, although this does not apply to cream 

 obtained by the separator, but rather to cream obtained by the 

 gravity method. 3. Butter from well-ripened cream is thought 

 to keep better. 4. But the primary reason for the ripening of 

 the cream is in the development of the flavor to the butter. 

 Sweet cream may be churned and butter obtained from it, but 

 it will not have the ordinary butter flavor, showing rather the 

 milder characteristic taste of sweet cream. This is the objec- 

 tion to the butter extractors machines that separate the cream 

 from the milk and churn it into butter in one process since the 

 fact that the cream was not ripened prevents the butter from 

 acquiring the desired flavor. Doubtless the changes that occur 

 in the cream during the period develop in it the flavors char- 

 acteristic of butter. 



Sweet cream butter, however, is in considerable demand in 

 some places. In Europe there is a general tendency to prefer 

 a milder flavor in butter than is preferred in America. An 

 American traveling in Europe is apt to find the butter tasteless, 

 while a European is apt to complain of American butter as 

 too strong. In many parts of Europe a very slight ripening of 

 the cream, or no ripening at all, is adopted, and the butter thus 

 obtained has very little flavor. Frequently the butter is not 

 salted and is thus more delicate than the highly flavored butter 



