DAIRYING 45 



Relation Between Water Content and Quality of Butter. 



616. As a general rule the conditions that favor an increase 

 in the water content of butter are detrimental to its quality. 

 Some of these conditions are over-churning, which leaves too 

 much buttermilk in the butter, churning too warm cream, which 

 causes excessive losses in the buttermilk, churning too rich 

 cream, which gives an uneven churning, and working in warm 

 wash water, which tends to make a greasy texture. These and 

 other conditions have a somewhat contradictory value in butter 

 making. They may increase the yield at the expense of the 

 butter quality. Although this relation may exist, it has been 

 repeatedly shown that there is no direct relation between quality 

 and water content in all butter, as both high and low scoring 

 butter may have either a high or a low water content. 



In 1902 the Dairy Division of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture took samples from 802 tubs of creamery butter exhibited 

 at a National Convention and found that the five tubs of butter 

 receiving the highest score contained 11.03 per cent water and 

 the five receiving the lowest score contained 10.06 per cent water. 

 It has further been noticed in butter exhibits that eight tubs 

 marked by the judges as having "too much water" contained an 

 average of 12.67 per cent water and two tubs marked "full of 

 water" contained 11.11 per cent, water, while two tubs marked 

 "worked too dry" contained 12.27 per cent water. These and 

 many other observations have shown that the quality of butter 

 does not regularly follow the water content. 



617. A uniformity in water content is obtained by uni- 

 formity in the following- churning operations : 



1. The amount of cream in the churn. 



2. The richness and the ripeness of the cream. 



3. The temperature of the cream and of the buttermilk. 



4. The size of the butter granules. 



5. The amount of draining before salting. 



6. The temperature of the wash water. 



7. The amount of working the butter receives. 



