BUTTER. 



tinctly seen on the surface of the Init- 

 ter on looking down into the pan. All 

 the watery i)articles are then evapo- 

 rated, and the curd, of which a por- 

 tion always remains in the butter, 

 and which is one cause of its becom- 

 ing rancid, falls to the bottom. The 

 clear butter is poured into an earthen 

 vessel and covered over with paper, 

 and a bladder or a piece of leather is 

 tied over the jar to exclude the air. 

 \Vhen it is cooled it much resembles 

 hog's lard. It has lost some of its 

 flavour, but it is much superior to salt 

 butter for culinary purposes, and es- 

 pecially for pastry. 



The Devonshire method of making 

 butter differs materially from the 

 common process which we have de- 

 scribed, and is peculiar to that coun- 

 ty. The milk, instead of being set 

 for the cream to rise, is placed in tin 

 or earthen pans holding about eleven 

 or twelve quarts each. Twelve hours 

 after milking, these pans are placed 

 on a broad iron plate, heated by a 

 small furnace. The milk is not al- 

 lowed to boil, but a thick scum rises 

 to the surface. As soon as small 

 bubbles begin to appear where a por- 

 tion of this is removed with a spoon, 

 the milk is taken off and allowed to 

 cool. The thick part is taken off the 

 surface, and this is called clouted 

 cream. It is a sweet, pleasant sub- 

 stance, more solid than cream, but 

 not so solid as butter, and is consid- 

 ered as a dainty by all those who have 

 been early accustomed to it. A very 

 slight agitation converts it into real 

 butter, after which it is treated ex- 

 actly as w'e have belore described. It 

 does not keep well. It does not ap- 

 pear that there is any peculiar advan- 

 tage in the Devonshire method. 



Another method of making butter, 

 which is more generally adopted, is 

 to churn the milk and cream together. 

 In the Dutch method the milk is put 

 into deep jars in a cool place, each 

 meal, or portion milked at one time, 

 being kept separate. As soon as 

 there is a slight appearance of acidi- 

 ty, the whole is churned in an upright 

 churn, which, from the quantity of 

 milk, is of very large dnxiensions. 



The plunger is therefore worked by 

 machinery moved by a horse, or some- 

 times by a dog walking in a wheel, 

 which he turns by his weight. When 

 the butter begins to form into small 

 kernels, the contents of the churn are 

 eraiJtied on a sieve, which lets the 

 butter-milk pass through. The but- 

 ter is then formed into a mass, as de- 

 scribed before. This, from Professor 

 Trail's experiments, is the most eco- 

 nomical method, as the quantity of but- 

 ter is great and the butter-milk rich. 

 In Scotland the following method 

 is pursued : the milk is allowed to 

 cool for six hours, and then put into 

 a clean vat. As long as it remains 

 sweet, more milk may be added, but 

 not after any acidity is produced. It 

 is then covered and allowed to get 

 sour, till it coagulates at the top ; this 

 coagulum is called the lapper, which 

 must not be broken till the butter is 

 churned. When the clotted milk is 

 put into the churn, warm water is 

 added so as to raise the temperature 

 to 70^ or 80°, the whole being grad- 

 ually stirred in. When this is proi>- 

 erly conducted, the butter-milk will 

 be very pleasant and wholesome, with 

 a sub-acid taste, the whey and curd 

 not being separated from each other 

 for some tiine after. The butter is 

 said to be fully equal to that made 

 from cream alone. — (Quarterly Jour- 

 7ial of Agriculture, Dec., 1834.) 



The quality of the butter depends 

 on some very minute circumstances, 

 which escape the notice of all super- 

 ticial observers. The smallest parti- 

 I cle of putrescent matter accidentally 

 j added, and even mere effluvia, give 

 a turn to the chemical action going 

 ' on from the moment the milk is ex- 

 } posed to the air, and they taint the 

 cream more or less. The quantity 

 of pure cream which rises when the 

 j milk is set in the pans, as well as its 

 quality, is influenced by these circum- 

 stances. When the milk curdles be- 

 fore the cream is separated, it is al- 

 I most impossible to prevent some por- 

 ! tion of the curd being mixed with the 

 butter. In its perfectly fresh state 

 the taste is not affected by this ; but 

 the butter will not keep fresh above 



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