THE AROMA OF BUTTER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1784, 24 January 1888, Page 3

THE AROMA OF BUTTER.

♦ The aroma of butter has a very complex origin. It springs from oertain volatile oils which exist lv the plants on whioh the animals feed. Voelcker reported butter to contain 2 per cent, of these olio, bot the percentage varies m the product of differant oows. To these are given the names butyrln, oaproln, and capryolln, and from them are formed tha butyric, oaproio, and capryoiio acid which are the occasion cf rancidity m butter. Tbe easy formation of these acids la one of tho greate-t cb.taoKs to the manufacture of good butter. But tbe volatile oils m butter are not con&ned to three or four varieties. Every specie* of herb apon which the cows feed, and, Indeed, upon tbe farm, hai more or less volatile oil peculiar to itte'.f, on which its peculiar odor and flivor depond. It is enay to s?e how the flavor and odor of butter are affected by tbe food tha oow consnmee. A cow eating peppermint, for instance, carries the oil of peppermint Into her blood, and thence Into her milk, where, rising with the cream, It Is carried into the butter, giving it tbe flivor and aroma of tbe mint. Oows do not live upon a single variety of herbage. Twenty different kinds are more likely to be found m a single pasture than only one. The mingled oils of all these constitute the aroma of the butter made from their milk, each one having its modifying Influence, though some may be distinctly recognised, when, like onions, garlic, or j cabbage, their Influecoa ls greater than that of all the rest. The kinds of food which furnish the most ajjreeable aroma are the most desirable for dairy pasture, though they may not yield the most By a little attention every dairy* man can determine for himself what food Is moat available for his herd ; snd tbat little attention will Impress) upon Mm tbe fact tbat if he would make clean-fl tvored butter his oows mast uob live on garbage, litter, or strong scented weedß. There le ano<h e * pecu'iari-y about the essential oils In herbage from whioh the dairyman may sometimes derive advantage It Is tbe different degrees of lightness they possess, the. rapidity with which tbefr essential oils are evaprrated by heat, for Instance, the pnDgent oil of tbe horseradish ia so volatile as to esoape m a short time by exposing the crushed horseradish to tbe air ; the poisonous oil of the wild parsnip and of Ivy escape while the foliage Ib wilting ; an tffanalve oil In green clover, which affects butter unfavorably, escape* while it is drylnpr, co that tho dry plaot tmkes a better product than tbe green The aromas of turnip*, oabbsge, onions etc., are heavier, and aro not entirely oarried away by drying. But by heatlnt the freshly dried milk even these oile cm, In many Instances, be entirely driven out.