MANNER OF JUDGING 341 



MANNER OF JUDGING 



Body. After the trierful of butter has been drawn out, the 

 first thing to notice is the aroma, and the body or texture of the 

 butter. The butter on the outside should be examined at once 

 before it is affected by the temperature of the room. Notice its 

 color, whether it is even or uneven, low or high. Determine by 

 the appearance of the butter and the way it feels to the palate 

 whether it is greasy, tallowy, spongy, or sticky. The amount 

 and condition of brine should also be noted. These character- 

 istics and their causes have been previously discussed. Stroke 

 the plug of butter with a knife to observe the color closer. Squeeze 

 it with the thumb to ascertain the character of the body. The 

 aroma of the butter should also be noticed in connection with 

 scoring the butter on body or texture, as it is more pro- 

 nounced immediately after the trierful of butter has been 

 drawn. 



Flavor. It is impossible to describe all the different flavors 

 found in butter. There are perhaps as many distinct butter 

 flavors as there are shades of color. However, there are a few 

 flavors which stand out more prominently and are more commonly 

 met with than any of the others. Good butter should possess a 

 clean, mild, rich, creamy flavor, and should have a delicate, mild, 

 pleasant aroma. Some butter- judges, especially foreign judges, 

 allow a separate number of points for aroma of butter in the score- 

 card. This has been suggested in the United States also, owing 

 to the fact that butter may have little aroma and still have a good 

 flavor. 



Color. The color should be bright and even. When a plug 

 of butter is drawn with a trier and is held up to the light, it 

 should not be cloudy and dense, but should be almost trans- 

 parent and bright. The chief fault found with the color of 

 butter is unevenness. It may be streaky or mottled, or it may 

 be too high or too low. The shade of color will vary according to 

 the different markets; in most of our markets a straw color is 

 preferred. There has been a tendency recently to recommend a 

 comparatively light shade of color in butter. A reddish color 



