CHURNING. 203 



classes vegetable and mineral The former is usually 

 made from Annatto seed dissolved in vegetable oils. 

 The latter are made from coal-tar, a by-product in the 

 manufacture of gas. There appears to be little or no 

 difference in their effect on the butter. 



Before putting the cream into the churn, it should 

 be well prepared by scalding and afterwards cooling, 

 to fill the pores of the wood with water, so that the 

 cream will not stick to it. The cream should then be 

 strained into the churn to remove any particles of curd 

 or clotted cream. The temperature for churning 

 should be between 50 and 60 degrees. The lower the 

 temperature at which the cream will churn in a reason- 

 able time the more exhaustive will be the churning 

 and the less curdy matter there will be in the butter. 

 If the churning comes too quickly, the liquid fat is not 

 all changed to a solid, hence the butter is of a soft, 

 greasy texture. 



The churn should turn at the rate of fifty to seventy 

 revolutions per minute. A small churn should revolve 

 more rapidly than a large one. The gases, composed 

 chiefly of heated and expanded air, carbonic acid and 

 hydrogen, should be allowed to escape three or four 

 times during the first ten minutes, or till the gases cease 

 to accumulate. If the cream thickens in the churn it 

 will be necessary to dilute it with water at the same 

 temperature as the cream. When the granules of but- 

 ter appear the size of clover seed, a small quantity of 

 water, preferably brine, should be added in warm 

 weather, to firm the butter and cause a more complete 

 separation. In winter the water should be about 



