

teract its effects by adding to the milk a snbstance 

 that will absorb tlie acid as it is formed. Carbonate 

 of soda, or the common soda of the shops, is the 

 substance which experience has proved best for this 

 purpose. Less than a tea-spoonful of soda dissolved 

 in water and well mixed with four quarts of milk, 

 will often keep it sweet for four or five days ; thus 

 allowing all the buttery particles to rise, and doubling 

 (he siiiaiitity of cream. In very warm weather more 

 t'lan the above proportion of soda is required. — 

 Another advantage from this process is, that it mat- 

 ters little what kind of vessels are used to contain 

 the milk, whether of stone-ware, wood, or metal. In 

 France large wooden tubs are often used, with a 

 faucet at the bottom, through which the liquid can 

 CEn be drawn off from beneath the cream. In this 

 way the labor of the dairy is made much more simple 

 and easy. 



In order that the butter may have no bad taste, the 

 soda must be pure, and especially free from sulphate 

 of sodimti, (glauber salts,) which it often contains. 

 To Icit its purity, dissolve a little in water and then 

 add sufficient vinagar to make it effervesce. Now 

 put into this a piece of silver, as a tea-spoon, for 

 instance, and if after remaining a short time it retains 

 its bright appearance, you may depend upon the soda 

 as pure , for it it contains the least particle of sul- 

 phur, the silver will become tarnished. After the 

 Ko.la has been dissolved in water, it should be strained 

 through a piece of linen before mixing it with the 

 milk. 



From forty-eight to seventy-two hours are required 

 completely to separate the cream. When this has 

 -bceu done, the liquid loses its white color, and 

 acquires that blui^fh appearance well known to be 

 the characteristic of skimmcd-milh. 



The souring of the cream is caused by the acid 

 formed in that portion of the milk that adheres to 

 the oily particles, and can be prevented, or rather 

 velsnled, by tlie process above described. The car- 

 linalc of magnesia, or twenty drops of ammonia, 

 v.'ill be found to answer the same purpose as soda. 

 \\— Washington, Feb'y, 1850. 



CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF BUTTER 



EuTTRR is nothing more than the substance formed 

 by the union of the oily particles contained in milk. 

 fjKch of these globules is surrounded by a very thin 

 fiiin of casein, or curd, which can be easily detected 

 wilh a microscope. When the temperature of the 

 cream or milk is raised, these, from their lightness, 

 press towards the surface, break through the delicate 

 covering which envelopes each globe, and run 

 together into an oily mass : this is butter. The 

 same result is attained by beating or violently 

 agitating the cream, as in churning. This union is 

 purely mechanical, and no chemical action takes 

 place except in the formation of the acid by which 

 the cream is souretl, and which is absolutely neces- 

 sary before the buttery particles will unite. Thus 

 the cream must either he permitted to stand until it 

 Knurs, or else it becomes sour during the process of 

 churning. In the latter case it is often necessary 

 to raise it to a higher temperature, and sometimes it 

 is best to add a little sour milk, or some other acid 

 Biibstnuco while churning, and this will be found 

 cflon to hasten the formation of butler. In many 

 parts of Holland they are very careful to skim the 

 milk while yet sweet, but allow the cream to become 



sour before it is churned. By churning the cream 

 sweet, you obtain butter of a more delicate flavor 

 but in less quantity. When soda or ammonia 

 is used to keep the cream sweet, you obtain the 

 largest possible quantity of butter, and it has all the 

 delicate flavor peculiar to that made from sv.eet 

 cream. In many countries all the milk is churned, 

 under the impression that in this way more butter is 

 obtained than from the cream alone. This cannot 

 be the case where tlie cream has been properly sepa- 

 rated from the milk ; and besides, in churning the 

 whole of the milk, it is impossible to separate all the 

 butter, from the difficulty of acting equally upon and 

 keeping in motion so largo a body of fluiil. In the 

 vicinity of towns, where there is a ready sale for 

 butter-milk, it may perhaps be good economy to churn 

 the milk ; but in the country, where there is no 

 market for butfer-milk, it is undoubtedly a better 

 plan to churn only the cream, while from the skimmed 

 milk a marketable cheese can always be manufac- 

 tured. The proper temperature of cream in churn- 

 ing is about 56^; when the whole milk is churned it 

 should be 8° or 10° higher. If it is raised too high, 

 the butter comes quick, but is usually soft and white. 

 This is often the case in warm weather, and the only 

 remedy is to use ice, or to keep the milk in a very 

 cool dairy. In churning, the motion should be reg- 

 ular and moderate ; slower in warm weather than in 

 cold, that the temperature may be uniform through- 

 out the whole mass ; and it has been found, from a 

 series of experiments, that the hardest and finest 

 quality of butter was obtainwi after churning at the 

 above temperature from an hour and a quarter to an 

 hour and a half. To ensure good hard butler at all 

 seasons of the year, particular attention should be 

 paid to the temperature of the cream ; and on a good 

 dairy farm ice should always be accessible, by which, 

 even in the hottest summer weather, the cream can 

 be brought down to the proper temperature. 



It is well known that the food of the cow influences 

 both the quantity and quality of the butter. When 

 the cow is fed on hay or dry fodder, the butter always 

 comes the hardest ; and it is said that the orange 

 carrot, when fed to milch cows, will impart an agree- 

 able flavor and a rich yellow color to the buller. To 

 add the juice of the carrot to the butter after it is 

 made, as is sometimes done to give it a saleable color, 

 is a very bad plan, as it makes it much nior(> difficult 

 to keep sweet. When butter is to be kept any length 

 of time, it should be worked as free from butter-milk 

 as possible. The imperfect maimer in which this is 

 done, is the principal cause of it? becoming rancid so 

 soon. On taking it from the churn, it should hp 

 placed in a linen cloth and pressed between two 

 boards until most of the butter-milk is extracted ; it 

 should then be washed rn cold water, changed as often 

 as it becomes nlilky, and after being salted it should 

 be set away in a cool place until the next day, when 

 by again working it over, the remainder of tlie butter- 

 milk can be easily separated. Now let it be put down 

 in earthen or stone-ware jars, packed as closely as 

 possible, and after sprinkling the top wilh salt, let a 

 thiji layer of powdered charcoal be [mt over all, the 

 more effectually to exclude the air and to absorb those 

 gases the tendency of which is to hasten decomposi- 

 tion. Butter put down in this way can be kept sweet 

 a long time even in warm climates. In Hnlstein, 

 where very choice butter is made, they pack it in 

 firkins made of beech-wood charred on the inside. 

 The salt used should be of the best quality and very 



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