STARTERS 89 



mother starter for inoculation must be reduced a little 

 for a few days because the germs become more vigorous 

 after they have propagated several days. 



In preparing the first starter from a bottle of culture 

 it is necessary to have the skim-milk sterile. For if any 

 spores should remain, the slow souring would give them 

 a chance to develop which might spoil the starter. More- 

 over, the cooked flavor imparted by the prolonged heating 

 at high temperatures does not matter in the first starter 

 as this should never be used to ripen cream. The first 

 and second starters prepared from a new culture seldom 

 have the good flavor produced in subsequent starters. 

 The cause of this in all probability is the inactive condi- 

 tion of the germs and the peculiar flavor of the medium 

 in which they are sent out. 



In the starters prepared later the destruction of the 

 spores is not so essential as the lactic acid germs are then 

 in a vigorously grov.'ing condition which renders the 

 spores practically harmless. At any rate the harm done by 

 them would be less than that caused by the sterilizing 

 process. When milk is pasteurized at 170° to 185° F. 

 for thirty minutes the vegetative germs are destroyed and 

 but little cooked flavor is noticeable. 



NATURAL VERSUS COMMERCIAL STARTERS. 



Experimental tests have shown that equally good results 

 can be secured with commerical and natural starters. It 

 is believed, however, that the average butter maker can 

 get the best results with commercial starters. Too few- 

 are good judges of milk and for this reason are not 

 always capable of selecting the best for natural starters. 

 Standard commercial cultures can be relied upon as giv- 

 ing uniformly good results. 



