290 BUTTER-MAKING. 



Manner of Judging. 



Body. — After the trierful of butter has been drawn out, 

 the first thing to notice is the aroma, and the body or texture 

 of the butter. The butter on the outside should be examined 

 at once before it is affected by the temperature of the room. 

 Notice its color, whether it is even or uneven, low or high. 

 Determine by the appearance of the butter and the way it feels 

 to the palate whether it is greasy, tallowy, spongy, or sticky. 

 The amount of brine and condition of brine should also be 

 noted. These characteristics and their causes have been 

 previoush' discussed. Stroke the plug of butter with a knife 

 to observe the color closer. Squeeze it with the thumb to 

 ascertain the character of the body. The aroma of the butter 

 should also be noticed in connection with scoring the butter 

 on both' or texture, as it is more pronounced immediately after 

 the trierful of butter has been drawn. 



Flavor. — It is impossible to describe all the different flavors 

 found in butter. There are perhaps as many distinct butter 

 fia^'ors as there are shades of colors. Howe\'er, there are a 

 few flavors which stand out more prominent and are more 

 commonl}' met with than any of the others. Good butter 

 should possess a clean, mild, rich, creamy flavor, and should 

 have a delicate, mild, pleasant aroma. Some butter judges, 

 especially foreign judges, allow a separate number of points 

 for aroma of butter in the score-card. This has been sug- 

 gested in the United States also, owing to the fact that 

 butter may have little aroma and still have a good flavor. 

 Owing to this, it has been suggested that it would be better to 

 allow a certain number of points separately for aroma in the 

 score-card. 



Flat flavor is noticeable in butter made from unripened 

 cream. If such butter is otherwise clean, little objection is 

 made to this kind of butter for ordinary commercial purposes. 

 The remedy is to ripen the cream a little higher with a proper 

 ferment. Rancid flavor is applied to butter which has an 



