STARTERS 



225 



As has already been pointed out, rich cream should not show 

 as high a per cent of acid when ripened as cream with a lower 

 fat-content. If it should do so it is really a riper cream, that is, 

 the skim-milk portion of it has been ripened to a higher degree 

 of acidity. 



Where cream has soured and been neutralized before pas- 

 teurization, it is advisable not to ripen to as high a degree of 

 acidity as might be developed were the cream sweet to begin 



FIG. 79. Apparatus for the Farrington acid test. 



with. Especially does this apply when butter is likely to be held 

 any length of time. 



Unless market conditions demand it and it is only in very 

 exceptional cases that they do it is not advisable to ripen 

 average cream, or cream with a fat-content of about 30 per cent 

 to an acidity of over .50 to .55 per cent. It is safer to err a trifle 

 on the side of underripening rather than to overripen cream. 



STARTERS 



Definition. By the term starter, in cream-ripening, we 

 understand a medium containing a preponderance of desirable 

 germs present in a vigorous condition. 



