332 



THE ILLINOIS F^HMEH. 



Making Butter. 



As this is the season when most but- 

 ter is made, some useful directions for 

 making and treating it will not be out 

 of place. In the transactions of the 

 Ohio State Agricultural Society, we find 

 some remarks on the subject, which are 

 worthy of wide spread circulation. 



Churning. — The cream should be 

 brought to the temperatnre of from 

 62 ® to 65 ° Fahr. and churned. Ex- 

 perience has proved that such a stroke 

 of the churn dash as will bring the but- 

 ter in about thirty minuteSj makes the 

 best. At a temperature of about 62 ® 

 Fahr., from fifty to sixty strokes of the 

 dash per minute will accomplish this re- 

 sult, if care is taken to strike the top of 

 the cream and the bottom of the churn 

 at every stroke. If the churn bo filled 

 so that the dash cannot strike the top 

 of the cream, the operation can scarcely 

 be accomplished at all. Rapid churning 

 should be avoided at the commencement 

 though the motion may be accelerated 

 after the cream curdles. The butter, 

 when sufficiently gathered by churning, 

 should be transferred with a wooden ladle 

 to a wooden bowl. 



Making the Butter. — After the but- 

 ter is taken from the churn, it should be 

 skillfully worked until noarly all the water 

 i^ntft of it. And here arises the mooted 

 question, whether cold water should be 

 used in the process; whether the butter 

 may be washed ? Experience has pro- 

 ved that if the milk can be expelled 

 without water, the taste of the butter 

 will be superior; but the butter-milk 

 must be expelled at all events; and a free 

 use of cold water will more certainly and 

 speedily accomplish this object than any 

 other means; and all other things being 

 right, water-washed butter will be very 

 good. The keeping quality of butter 

 Avithout washing is thought by many to 

 be best. 



When the buttermilk is pretty Well 

 worked out, such a quantity of salt 

 should be added as suits the tistes of 

 those who are to be its consumers. Some 

 give seven-eighths of an ounce of salt to 

 a pound of butter as a rule ; it should be 

 thoroughly incorporated with the butter 

 at its first working. The butter must be 

 subjected on the ensuing day to a sec- 

 ond working ; these two may suffice for 

 present consumption, but for butter, in- 

 tended to be kept, a third working on 

 the third day will be necessary. A ma- 

 chine butter-worker will very much aid 

 in the second and third workings. The 

 great cause of butter becoming rancid is 

 milk left in it therefore unless it is en- 

 tirely removed, the butter will soon be- 

 come miserable in quality. 



Paclcing. — For keeping butter, for 

 family use, no vessel preferable to earth- 

 enware crooks. In those pack the but- 

 ter in layers of such thickness as will 



1)0 convenient for use ; sprinkling a lit- 

 tle salt between each layer, for conveni- 

 ence in extracting the butter for use. 

 Continue untill the crock is nearly full ; 

 then cover with a fine muslin cloth, on 

 which place a layer of salt half an inch 

 thick ; then fill with strong brine, and 

 cover with a lid, and the work is done. 



<•»- 



Domestic Matters. 

 Cucumber Salad. — Pare the cucumbers 

 and as you slice them, score the ends that 

 they may be iu small bits, as if slightly 

 chopped. Add some small young onions, 

 also cut small, cayenne pepper, salt, a little 

 ginger, the juice of half a lemon, and some 

 vinegar. This will be found an excellent 

 salad, and duos not disagiec with weak stom- 

 achs.. — Cottage Gankner. 



Cucumbers to Pickle. — Put the cu- 

 cumbers in salt and water for three days; — 

 then scald them with weak vinegar, and let 

 them remain three days longer. Scald some 

 strong pickUng vinegar, with a few onions, 

 black popper, allspice, cloves, ginger-root 

 and horse radish, pour the whole over the 

 cucumbers, and keep them in jars, for use. 

 Gcr/ci'ns, which are small cucumbers, are 

 pickled in the same way. 



To Preserve Butter for winter Use. 

 Take two parts of the best fine salt, one 

 part of finely ground loaf sugar, and one 

 of salt petre; beat them well together. 

 To each pound of butter, worked per- 

 fectly free from milk, put one ounce of 

 this composition; work it well into it, 

 and pack it down in stone pots or wooden 

 firkins. Butter packed in this way will 

 be found to equal the best rose butter, 

 will remain sweet for years, if not expo- 

 sed to the air. 



To Remove Freckles.— The best prep- 

 aration to remove freckles, which are so 

 frequent at this season, is a tea-cupful 

 of cold soured milk, and a small quanti- 

 ty of scraped horse radish. Let it stand 

 from six to twelve hours, then .use it to 

 wash the parts aflected two or three 

 times a day. Another mixture of half 

 a drachm of ammonia, two drachms of 

 lavender-water, and half a pint of dis- 

 tilled water, use it with a sponge, two or 

 three times a day. A still simpler com- 

 position is, a quarter of a drachm of bo- 

 rax, half a drachm of sugar, and one 

 ounce of lemon juice. Mix, and let it 

 stand a few days, then rub it on occa- 

 sionally. 



Cucumbers Preserved. — Pare thinly 

 the cucumbers, cut them in two length- 

 wise, and take out the seeds, lay them in 

 cold salt and Avater, for twenty four 

 hours, then wash them and lay them in 

 alum water for twenty four hours longer, 

 when they are to be taken out and drain- 

 ed. To each pound of cucumbers take 

 a pound of sugar, of Avhich make a syr- 

 up, by putting a tea-cupful of water to 

 each pound of sugar. Skim it well, put 

 in the cucumbers, and boil slowly, till 

 they are quite clear; take them one and 



one, lay them on a dish, and continue to 

 boil the syrup till it is quite thick, adding 

 the juice of two lemons, and two races of 

 ginger. Put the cucumbers into jars, 

 and pour the syrup over them. Let the 

 jars be kept air-tight. 



Fruit Wines. — Almost every paper 

 contains recipes for fruit wines. We 

 have manufactured a few kinds of fruit 

 wines, and this year Ave shall repeat our 

 experiments with care, and be able next 

 year to give the result with accuracy. — 

 We have already made wine from the 

 rhubarb, which is now one year old, and 

 not inferior in flavor to any champaign 

 imported. Wine may be made from the 

 currant, rhubarb, strawberry, blackber- 

 ry, raspberry and gooseberry, of excel- 

 lent quality. Inferior, but quite palata- 

 ble wines, may be made from parsnip, 

 and other roots. AVhile we admit that 

 the true wine must be made from the 

 grape, still for the Avant of a more ap- 

 propriate name for beverages made from 

 fruits, other than grapes, we call them 

 wines. The great mistake in these man- 

 ufactures is in the use of sugar of an 

 inferior quality, double refined is not 

 sufliciently pure to manufacture either 

 of these wines of the best quality; treble 

 refined sugar should be used — inferior 

 kinds contain gum, and after fermenta- 

 tion, this gum becomes fetid, and 

 its disagreeable order has to be over- 

 come at the expense of the odor of the 

 fruit, and therefore it never should be 

 used. BroAvn sugar, of no matter hoAV 

 good a quality, Avill not make wine; for 

 Avhen fermented, that portion Avhich is 

 like molasses in flavor, if separated from 

 the sugar, as in the process of refining, 

 becomes a rank rum, and not sufficiently 

 delicate as the preserving alcohol, of the 

 result. When grapes are fermented, 

 the sugar, or saccharine matter, is not 

 converted into rum, but into undistilled 

 brandy, of an unobjectionable flavor. — 

 In making Fruit wines, alcohol should 

 never be added; a sufficient quantity 

 Avill be produced by the fermentation to 

 preserve the product, and any further 

 addition injures the quality and arrests 

 the fermentation. When alcohol is add- 

 ed, fruit Avines do not improve at all by 

 age. The common practice of racking 

 cider, has caused many to rack fruit 

 wines; this is Avrong. When the proper 

 amount of the juice of a fruit, and treble 

 refined sugar in solution, is placed in a 

 barrel with the bung loose in a cellar of 

 even temperature, fermentation will 

 readily commence, *nd Avill proceed until 

 the sugar, or a portion of it, is converted 

 into alcohol, Avhen it will cease. The 

 buffy coat which rises to the surface will 

 then settle and attach itself to the cask; 

 the bung should then be driven in, and 

 iu six months the wine may be draAvn ofi" 

 and bottled. No alcohol will be ncccs- 

 Siiiy to keep it. — Working Farmer. 





