86 THE BOOK OF BUTTER 



they have been difficult to put into practice. The 

 bacteriological analyses of these products require too much 

 time, and are too expensive. The acid determination may 

 be satisfactory in some creameries. In such cases, the 

 acidity may be quickly determined as follows : With a 

 small dipper of proper size, take a small sample of cream 

 and pour it into a white cup. Then with another dipper 

 of the proper size, measure some tenth normal alkali 

 solution containing the indicator and put it into the 

 white cup with the cream. If there is more than .3 or .4 

 per cent lactic acid in the cream, the color of the mixture 

 will remain unchanged. If the acidity is less than the 

 fixed limit, a pink color will appear. The quickest and 

 best method of grading milk and cream for the manu- 

 facture of butter is by the taste and smell of a careful 

 operator. 



The general practice now in both small and large 

 creameries is to deliver the cream to the factory in the 

 farmers' cans, even though there may be only two or three 

 gallons. There it is graded by the butter-maker, who is 

 the best fitted to judge cream by taste and smell. It 

 should be remembered that butter is sold largely, on the 

 quality of its flavor. It is logical, therefore, to buy the 

 cream on the basis of its quality or flavor. Very often 

 cream may be sour and yet it is better than goods of 

 lower acidity. On the other hand, the high acidity is 

 usually accompanied by the development of other prod- 

 ucts that give " off " flavors to the butter. 



Many creameries have only two grades of product. 

 In case a farmer should send cream too poor to be 

 classed with either of these grades, it is received and a 

 message concerning its quality and a few notes about 

 how to care for the cream is sent to the producer. This 



