216 Milk and Its Products 



the hardness or softness of the fat. The relative 

 proportions of hard and soft fats vary consider- 

 ably. When the soft fats 

 predominate, the churning is 

 easier than when they are in 

 less proportion, while an un- 

 due proportion of hard fats 

 often renders churning ex- 

 tremely difficult. The size of 

 the fat globules also bears an 

 important part in the ease 

 and time required for churn- 

 ing. In passing through a 



mass of liquid two large globules are more likely 

 to hit each other than are two small ones, the rela- 

 tive probability of their meeting and hitting being 

 in proportion to the squares of their diameters. 



The end of churning. When the particles of fat 

 have united to such an extent that they begin to be 

 visible in the cream, the butter is said to "break," 

 and from this time on the process of churning is rap- 

 idly finished. Two things are to be observed in bring- 

 ing the operation of churning to a close. In the 

 first place, the churning should be continued until 

 the separation of fat is as complete as possible. 

 In the second place, the larger the masses of but- 

 ter in the churning the more difficult is the re- 

 moval of the buttermilk. If the cream is thor- 

 oughly and uniformly ripened, the separation will be 

 more uniform and the churning more complete 

 than when creams of different degrees of ripeness 



