CHAPTER VIII. 



STARTERS. 



The value of carefully selected cultures of lactic acid 

 producing bacteria in cream ripening was first demon- 

 strated by Dr. Storch, of Copenhagen, a little more than 

 a decade and a half ago. Since then the use of these 

 cultures has spread so rapidly that few successful cream- 

 eries can be found at the present time in which they are 

 not used. 



Definition. Starter is the general term applied to 

 cultures of lactic acid organisms, whether they have been 

 selected artificially in a laboratory, or at creameries by 

 picking out lots of milk that seem to contain these organ- 

 isms to the exclusion of others. A good starter may be 

 defined as a clean flavored batch of sour milk or sour 

 skim-milk. 



The word starter derives its name from the fact that 

 a starter is used to ''start" or assist the development of 

 the lactic fermentation in cream ripening. 



Object of Starters. Cream ordinarily contains many 

 kinds of bacteria — good, bad, and indifferent — and to 

 insure the predominance of the lactic acid type in the 

 ripening process it is necessary to reinforce the bacteria 

 of this type already existing in the cream by adding large 

 quantities of them in a pure form, that is, unmixed with 

 undesirable species. 



The bacterial or plant life of cream may be aptly com- 

 pared with the plant life of a garden. In both we find 

 plants of a desirable and undesirable character. The 



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