190 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF DAIRYING. 



sparkless in appearance, but ought not to possess too strong a 

 glitter. It should have a tender, mild glitter, which it has when it 

 possesses the characteristic ripe grain, which distinguishes it from 

 all other fats. In properly prepared butter the exceedingly fine 

 division which the fat originally possesses in the milk should not be 

 entirely lost, but should be distinctly recognizable. To this may 

 be ascribed the fact that butter-fat is very easily emulsified by the 

 gastric juices, a characteristic that distinguishes butter-fat from all 

 other fats, and renders it easily digestible. Good butter should 

 neither be too soft, that is to say, smeary and of the nature of a 

 salve, nor too hard, that is, dry and friable. The drops of moisture 

 and of salt brine present in butter should not be too large nor too 

 abundant, but must be quite clear, and should not possess in the 

 slightest degree a milky appearance. Salted butter should not 

 contain undissolved salt. 



The smell or odour of butter is in close relationship to its flavour, 

 and should only be very slightly developed in good butter, and then 

 it should be of a pure characteristic butter odour. 



The flavour of good butter should be that of pure butter only, 

 and should not be associated with any kinds of foreign or unusual 

 flavours. Apart from the fact that salt butter is distinguished from 

 unsalted butter by its salt flavour, butter possesses an essentially 

 different taste, according as it is prepared from sweet or sour liquids. 

 Butter made out of sweet cream is characterized by a clean, extremely 

 mild, and by no means strong flavour; butter made out of sour 

 liquids possesses a certain aroma and a powerful characteristic 

 flavour, which in many districts is demanded as an absolutely 

 essential quality. Regarding the origin of this aroma, so far as is 

 known up till now, it can neither be traced to the food, nor is it 

 already formed in the milk. It seems to be first formed during the 

 process of souring, in consequence of the change and the mutual 

 decomposition of the constituents of the milk, probably of the milk- 

 sugar, and its origin is connected with lactic fermentation. Whether 

 perhaps some of the neutral fats present in butter are decomposed 

 at the beginning of the decomposition, and whether lactic fermen- 

 tation alone is its cause, or whether it is not also connected with 

 other kinds of fermentation, as, for example, alcoholic and butyric 

 fermentation, is not altogether yet fairly demonstrated. We know 

 nothing with regard to the chemical nature of this aroma. Peters- 

 burg or Paris butter has a weak flavour of boiled milk. 



