220 CREAM-RIPENING AND STARTERS 



History. — The use of starters in the dairy industry dates 

 back a great man\- }ears. The fact that starters helped in the 

 manufacture of dair\' products was recognized years ago by 

 practical men even before scientists recommended the use of 

 pure cultures. In European dairy countries the use of the 

 buttermilk borrowed from a neighboring factory to add to the 

 cream in order to overcome abnormal conditions, was a common 

 occurrence. In Holland, sour whey borrowed from some other 

 factory was used to overcome gass}' fermentation in cheese- 

 making. While the reasons for this were not well understood, 

 the underlying principle involved was that of overcoming the 

 undesirable fermentation by adding ferments of an antagonistic 

 kind. 



The introduction of commercial starters for cream-ripening 

 dates back to 1S90, when Professor Storch recommended their 

 use in creameries in Denmark. After commercial starters had 

 been used long enough in that country to demonstrate their 

 worth, they were introduced into this as well as practically all 

 the European countries, and are now used quite extensively. 



Classification of Starters. — Generally speaking, the different 

 kinfls of starters are included under the names (i) Natural, 

 and (2) Commercial. The latter are prepared from a culture 

 of bacteria obtained from the laboratory. The former, or nat- 

 ural, include a great many kinds of dairy products which 

 are supposed to contain a preponderance of those germs which 

 are involved in the production of desirable flavors in butter. 

 Buttermilk, sour cream, whey, and sour whole or skim-milk, 

 arc classed under this heading. While all these may be termed 

 natural starters, and at certain times the use of any one of them 

 may produce better results than if no starter at all were used, 

 it is not safe to rely upon them to laring about better results 

 than could be obtained without the use of starters, because these 

 products are likely to be contaminated in a large degree with 

 undesirable germs. 



Preparation of Natural Starters. — The best natural starter 

 is usually obtaincfl by selecting a number of ditTerent samples 

 of the best milk coming into the creamery and putting them 



