CARE AND RIPENING OF THE CREAM. 2OI 



per cent, of acid. This ripening also causes a pleasant 

 flavor in the cream and butter, aids in the churnability 

 of the fat, and adds to the keeping quality of the 

 butter. Proper ripening of cream is the most import- 

 ant and most scientific part of buttermaking. He 

 who can control this part of the business has mastered 

 the most difficult thing in the art of buttermaking. 

 Cream which becomes over-ripe is apt to produce 

 butter containing specks and strong or undesirable 

 flavors. Too much acid in the cream also tends to 

 cut the color of the butter, making it appear bleached. 

 Lactic acid, however, does not cut or dissolve the fat 

 in the cream. As much or more butter can be made 

 from ripe cream as from similar cream churned sweet. 

 Lots of cream having different degrees of ripeness 

 should not be mixed and churned at once, as this 

 practice causes an excessive loss of fat in the butter- 

 milk, due to the fact that the ripened cream churns 

 more quickly than the sweeter lots. Where cream is 

 to be churned the second day after separating, it should 

 be cooled to and held at a temperature of 50 to 55 

 degrees after it thickens. Less culture should be used 

 also. 



Bulletin 40 from the Iowa experiment Station 

 states : 



" i. Butter flavor is produced mostly by the bacterial ferment- 

 ations which take place in milk or cream. 



"2. The superiority of summer butter is mainly due to the 

 lactic acid organisms, which are found in greater number in 

 summer than in winter milk and cream. 



" 3. Good flavored cream ready for churning contains about 

 three m. bacteria per c. c. ninety-one to ninety-eight per cent, 

 lactic acid. 



