DAIRYING 21 



in the churn. Such butter, when salted and worked without wash- 

 ing usually has a high flavor and if consumed within a few days 

 is a very satisfactory product. It does not have good keeping 

 qualities, and this practice is not followed very often at the pres- 

 ent time. 



418. The market demands for butter are now different than 

 some years ago. A mild, clean flavor is more satisfactory than a 

 pronounced butter flavor which is likely to change soon to a 

 strong, nearly rancid flavor. Under such market demands the 

 washing of butter' once or twice with cold water does not remove 

 the desirable flavor of the butter. The amount of washing but- 

 ter needs depends on: (1) The temperature of the churning; (2) 

 the amount and kind of acidity in the cream ; (3) the size of the 

 butter granules. 



419. Butter from over-ripe or from tainted cream may some- 

 times be improved by excessive washing, and butter containing 

 white specks of curd from over-ripe cream may be improved by 

 repeated washings, as the curd is heavier than the butter and 

 may sink to the bottom and be drawn off in the wash water. 



Salting the Butter. 



420. The old rule for salting butter is to use one ounce of 

 salt for each pound of butter. The expression, "an ounce to the 

 pound" is a very common one. This is a good standard, but the 

 amount of salt that remains in the finished butter is not always 

 the same when this rule is followed. More or less salt is wasted 

 in all churnings. The amount retained in the butter depends 

 principally (1) on the amount of water in the granular butter 

 when the salt is added; (2) the fineness of the salt crystals and 

 their solubility, and (3) the amount of working the butter gets 

 after salting. 



421. Several ways of salting butter are more or less com- 

 mon among farm butter-makers. 



First. Brine salting, which consists simply in adding brine 

 or salt dissolved in water, to the granular butter after drawing of. 



