86 CREAMERY BUTTER MAKING 



found comparatively sweet unless a good deal of atten- 

 tion was given to keeping the temperature where it would 

 sour in the proper length of time. This method of 

 starter making is rapidly falling into disuse. 



The most satisfactory natural starters are selected and 

 prepared in the following manner : Secure, say, one quart 

 of milk from each of half a dozen healthy cows not far 

 advanced in lactation, and fed on good feed. Before 

 drawing the milk, brush the flanks and udders of the 

 cows and then moisten them with water or, preferably, 

 coat thinly with vasaline to prevent dislodgement of dust. 

 Then, after rejecting the first few streams, draw the milk 

 into sterilized quart jars provided with narrow necks. 

 Now allow the milk to sour, uncovered, in a clean, pure 

 atmosphere at a temperature between 65 and 90 F. 

 When loppered pour off the top and introduce the sample 

 with the best flavor into fifty pounds of sterilized skim- 

 milk and ripen at a temperature; at which it will sour in 

 twenty- four hours (about 65 F.). 



A starter thus selected can be propagated for a month 

 or more by daily inoculating newly sterilized or pasteur- 

 ized milk with a small amount of the old or mother starter. 

 Usually three or four pounds of the mother starter added 

 to one hundred pounds of pasteurized skim-milk will sour 

 it in twenty- four hours at a temperature of 65 F. Under 

 certain conditions of weather this amount may possibly 

 have to be modified a little, for it is well known that on 

 hot sultry days milk will sour more quickly at a given 

 temperature than on cooler days. The* best rule to follow 

 is to use enough of the rhother starter to sour the milk 

 in twenty- four hours at a temperature of 65 F. 



Buttermilk and Sour Cream. If the cream has a 

 ;*3od flavor, a portion of this, or the buttermilk from it, 



