318 COMPOSITION OF BUTTER 



The consumer in purchasing butter buys it for its food value 

 or fat-content. Therefore, it is only reasonable that the cream- 

 erymen should be willing to have all their butter contain at 

 least 80 per cent fat. No doubt the reason so many of the 

 European countries have recommended a high moisture-content 

 of 1 8 per cent is that they use less salt in their butter. An 18 

 per cent moisture, according to their methods of salting, would 

 be about the same as 16 per cent in this country. 



The authors are very much in favor of a definite standard 

 for butter, the minimum fat-content being 80 per cent and 

 the moisture-content 16 per cent. Some tolerance or allow- 

 ance seems necessary, as butter may vary in moisture, especially 

 from one end of the churn to the other, as much as i or i^ J>er cent. 



Factors that Aid in Moisture Control. The two principal 

 factors that aid in the control of moisture in butter are the per 

 cent of fat in the cream and the temperature at which the cream 

 is churned. Where the fat runs uniform and the cream contains 

 a high per cent of fat, the moisture can be controlled quite 

 accurately by observing the size of the granule and controlling 

 the temperature of churning. 



Bulletin No. 101 of the Iowa Experiment Station, page 167, 

 gives the results of some churnings made by the senior author in a 

 demonstration to short-course students during the month of 

 January, 1908. This butter was worked in a Victory churn. 

 The cream for these particular churnings was separated from 

 whole milk by the Randall Creamery Company, Randall, Iowa, 

 and shipped to the Iowa Experiment Station. Upon arrival 

 the cream tested from 42 to 45 per cent. After reducing with a 

 starter, holding the cream over night and churning the next 

 morning, the results given in the accompanying table were 

 obtained. 



Butter proper contains, besides the water, fat, protein and 

 curd, a small amount of milk-sugar, .35 per cent, and ash from 

 .14 to .16 per cent. A butter-maker, to be successful, must 

 study his conditions from day to day and from week to week; 

 otherwise, during a rainy season when the grass becomes slushy, 

 the moisture-content is likely to vary or exceed the limit, even 



