THE MANUFACTURE AND HANDLING OF BUTTER. 241 



sible pains should be taken to make the working thor- 

 ough. But the overworking ? it is objected. " If the 

 butter is overworked it will not give off its buttermilk and 

 cannot possibly keep well." This is correct, but it is also a 

 fact that if the churning has been properly done the first 

 working can very well be made so thorough that the 

 greater portion of the buttermilk may be removed without 

 risking any overworking of the butter. It seems to me 

 that it is a confession of lack of ability on the part of the 

 butter-maker to say that his butter cannot be properly 

 worked the first time without being overworked; Only 

 sufficient buttermilk should remain in the butter at the 

 first working as is necessary for the solution of the salt. 



Between the workings the butter is kept cooling either 

 in tin trays or placed in a cooling-chest, at the bottom and 

 cover of which ice is kept. In many creameries I have 

 seen colossal refrigerators used for this purpose which it is 

 very difficult to air out properly. We therefore find in them 

 a disagreeable, sour smell, and their walls are often covered 

 with a slimy film of bacteria or all kinds of molds. These 

 infectious spots, with which the butter comes in contact, 

 must of course be removed. We also find working-troughs 

 in some creameries that are of the same kind as the cool- 

 ing-chests too heavy to be carried outside and apt to be 

 left to mold in the moist creamery. In many respects 

 practical refrigerators introduced at Danish creameries are, 

 in my opinion, objectionable for the same reason. 



Salting the Butter. The butter should not be salted 

 too early i.e., while it still contains a great deal of butter- 

 milk. If this is done the effect of the salt to drive out 

 superfluous buttermilk is largely lost, the fluid being in 

 this case too much diluted. Salt is not added to make up 



