54 
HOUSEHOLD BACTERIOLOGY 
Flavor 
Production 
In these “maceration industries” advantage is taken 
of Nature’s methods of decomposition and what she 
did for countless ages before man studied her “ways 
and means” he still lets her do for his own and the 
world’s commercial benefit. Her bacterial agents are 
as ready to work on the large 
scale of his planning as on 
the small scale of the stems 
of mignonette left too long 
without fresh water in a vase 
on our tables. 
Yet these are not all. Not 
only do they act directly and 
Fig. 31. a Bacterium which indirectly in furnishing food 
Makes Milk Sour. 1 & 
to plants, which afterward 
become food or fuel to ani¬ 
mals and man, and prove a source of wealth to man 
in his industries, but they also greatly increase the 
variety and the palatability of his food. 
Milk as we know it always contains bacteria and 
is an excellent culture material for their growth. Such 
a universal condition suggests some important results 
to be attained. 
Most housewives know that while cream may be 
sour it is not so sharply acid as the milk from which it 
was taken. The addition of a little salt or sugar and 
spices may counteract this acidity and the result be 
a most delicious sauce. The large amount of fat in 
