THE ART OF BUTTER JUDGING. 163 



206. Butter judges born not made. The faculty of 

 judging butter accurately and uniformly is an art — 

 a gift of nature, though often perfected by training. 

 No amount of training will make an expert butter 

 judge unless nature has contributed her share of 

 those qualities necessary for the proper performance 

 of this art. In view of the difficulty of a judge giv- 

 ing the same decision on the same butter with no 

 small variation it is necessary if it can be so ar- 

 ranged to have more than one judge for scoring the 

 same lot of butter. This view is recognized by those 

 in charge of scoring exhibitions and more than one 

 judge is usually employed for such work. 



207. Aroma and flavor. Aroma in butter is that 

 quality which is detected only by smell, while flavor 

 refers only to the taste of butter, although both 

 terms are not generally accepted in this light. The 

 quality of the aroma is not always a true indication 

 of the quality of the flavor, although to a great ex- 

 tent the flavor can be fairly well judged from the 

 quality of the aroma. Having determined the defects 

 found in the aroma, the judge must taste the butter 

 in order to determine the defects existing in the fla- 

 vor. The aroma and flavor are very closely related. 

 In the aroma are found characteristics due to bac- 

 terial fermentation and to chemical changes, while 

 in the flavor are found both mechanical and physical 

 characteristics as well as some of the defects found 

 in the aroma. Contamination, due to insanitary 

 handling of the cream, may manifest itself either in 

 the aroma or in the flavor or in both, depending 

 upon the nature of the contamination. 



