292 THE DAIRY. 



permitted to remain for some time at rest. After the cream 

 is separated the remaining milk is of a bluish-white colour, and 

 is much thinner than it was before. If it be heated to the tem- 

 perature of 100, and a little rennet, which is water digested 

 with the inner coat of a calfs stomach, preserved with salt, be 

 added to it, coagulation ensues; and if the coagulum be broken, 

 the milk very soon separates into two substances; a solid white 

 part known by the name of curd, and a fluid part called whey. 

 Thus we see that milk may be easily separated into three parts, 

 namely cream, curd, and whey. 



Crea?n cheese. Cream gradually increases in consistence 

 by exposure to the atmosphere. In three or four days it be- 

 comes so thick that the vessel which contains it may be in- 

 verted without risking any loss. In eight or ten days more 

 its surface is covered over with mucus and byssi, and it has 

 no longer the flavour of cream, but of very fat cheese. This 

 is the process for making what in this country is called cream 

 cheese. 



Cream possesses many of the properties of an oil. It is 

 specifically lighter than water; it has an unctuous feel, staining 

 cloths precisely in the manner of oil; and if it be kept fluid, it 

 contracts a taste very analogous to the rancidity of oils. 



These properties are sufficient to show us that it contains a 

 quantity of oil; but this oil is combined with a part of the curd, 

 and mixed with some serum. Cream, then, is composed of a 

 peculiar oil, curd, and serum. The oil may be easily obtained 

 separate by agitating the cream for a considerable time. This 

 process is usually called churning. The continuance of this 

 operation for a sufficient time causes the cream to separate into 

 two portions: one fluid, and resembling creamed milk, called 

 butter-milk, the other solid, and called butter. 



Hutter is of a yellow colour, possessing the properties of 

 an oil, and mixes readily with other oily bodies. When heated 

 to the temperature of 96 it melts and becomes transparent; if 

 it be kept for some time melted, some curd and whey separates 

 from it, and it assumes exactly the appearance of oil. When 

 butter is kept for a certain time, it becomes rancid, owing in a 

 good measure to the presence of these foreign ingredients; for 

 if butter be well washed, and a great portion of these matters 

 separated, it does not become rancid near so soon. Butter may 

 be obtained by agitating cream newly taken from milk; or even 

 by agitating milk newly drawn from the cow. But it is usual 

 to allow cream to remain for some time before it is churned. 

 Now, cream, by standing, acquires an acid taste; butter, there- 

 fore, is commonly made from sour cream. Fresh cream re- 

 quires longer churning before it yields its butter than sour 

 cream does; consequently cream acquires, by being kept for 



