CHAPTER XVI 

 CREAM-RIPENING AND STARTERS 



CREA.M-RI]'i:\ING 



Definition. — By crcam-ripciiing wc mean the treatment 

 cream receives frum the time it is put into the ripening-\-at until 

 it is put into the churn; and also the chemical, biological, and 

 physical changes it undergoes during this time. 



In the whole-milk creameries and in a few of the creameries 

 receiving only cream, the cream goes into the ripening vat in the 

 morning and no more is added during the da}-. In most cream- 

 eries, however, cream is taken in throughout the day. This 

 system does not permit of such perfect ripening of the creani ; 

 besides, it necessitates opening and closing the vat at inter^•als. 

 Under this latter system it is important that the cream \'at ha\'e a 

 fly screen over it, and that one end of it be covered with a cream 

 strainer through which all cream is strained before it enters the 

 vat. 



Objects of Ripening. To Produce Flavor and Aroma. — 

 The chief object of cream-ripening is to secure the desirable 

 and delicate flavor and aroma which are so characteristic of good 

 butter. The necessar}- flavoring substances, so far as known, 

 can only be produced by a process of femientation. Good butter 

 possesses two characteristic fla^•ors. One is known as palate 

 flavor, or tlie distinctive butter flavor. The other is what is 

 described by butter judges as a nose fla\-or or aroma, sometimes 

 described as " bouciuet " flavor. While the fla^-or and aroma 

 characteristic of good, properly ripened crear.i and the butter 

 made from it are produced b}' fermentation, the chenu'cal changes 

 that produce them are not well understood. It is claimed by 

 some that the palate fla\-or is deri\'ed from the \-olatile fatty 



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