Farm and Garden

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 353, 12 February 1903, Page 7

Farm and Garden

ORIGINAL ARTICLES CREAM RIPENING. man y districts commercial cream JIL B ' ;ar t er3 have beeome so generally 2§g used that some paople can scarcely do without them now. They are preferred not for the reason of producing a more desirable flavour, but with the object of producing a more uniform iiavour, which, after all seems to be a greater defect in a general way than the lack of flavour. A starter must not only be - considered aB a means for improving the flavour of tainted cream, but ought to be adopted universally as a means for ripening all cream. A good starter laya the foundation for fiae and uniformly flavoured butter. The reputation of the Danish people tor making uniform butter that has gained preference in the English and other markets is largely—if not entirely—due to the use of star tore in its manufacture.

In ripening cream care should be taken to attain the right degree of aridity, which can be determined by the acid or alkaline tests. If the ripening is carried on too far the bacteria are apt to attack the albumen, or the casein of the cream, forming a new product which will give butter a disagreeable flavour. The overripening of cream affects to a large extent the keeping quality of butter. As an illustration samples of butter were analysed. In the first sample the butter churned from overripe cream ooatained a large proportion of casein, while in the second sample butter churned from mildly ripened cream only contained a small proportion of casein. As the keeping quality of butter is decreased when its proportion of casein is inoreaaed, it will readily be Been that under equal conditions the overripe sample would become off-flavoured more rapidly than the other. To produce a uniform flavour in butter the degree of acidity must be considered in relation to the thickness of the cream. In the making of a high-flavoured butter the cream must be thin, rather than thick, in order to furnish more milk serum for the development of moire acid. Thick cream should not be ripened to so high a degree of acidity as thin cream, for the reason that the flavour of the butter is endangered on account of the lack of food supply for germ growth for. the production of more acid. The following standard has been adopted: For cream containing twenty per cent, of butter fat, ripening should proceed until about six-tenths of one per cent, of acid develops, as determined oy means of alkine tablets; and for every ten per cent, increase of fat in cream there should be a decrease of one-tenth of one per cent, of acid, aB the proper stage for checking the fermentation. In the ripening of cream it is preferred to separate cream very about thirty to thirtyfive per cent., and thin down to twentyfive per cent, with a clean flavoured starter. Theoretically, it is assumed that the more of the tainted skimmilk that can be taken out of the cream and replaced with a starter the better results will be attained, and this, plan bears out well in practice. A Certain temperature for ripening cream seams to have little effect on the flavour,' provided the cream is ripened above sixty degrees and below ninety. The ripening is, however, much hastened by high temperature. A satisfactory temperature is from jGixty-five to seventy degrees for summer and from seventy to eighty degrees for winter The cream should be stirred oecasionally during the ripening process. That is essential for several reasons. It aerates the cream, ensures evenness in ripening, prevents the surface from drying, which is one of the causes of mouled butter, and furnishes free oxygen to the germs which seem to play a part in the ripening process. Butter judges have heretofore laid too much stress on high flavours in fresh butter, and the production of hiah flavour is merely a step towards rancidity, and thereby butter invariably loses its keeping quality; and a good keeping quality butter is equally as important as' flavour, if not more so. This quick flavour should be sacrificed for low»; clean flavour and good keeping quality. Cream should be churned... with less acidity, especially when butter is being manufactured for cold storage. Butter in a good, cold storage will naturally acquire a higher flavour in time. - The high flavour craze which some people 'have should be discouraged and they should be induced to pay more attention to the keeping quality, which at present seems to be the;greatest trouble with theaverage public who consume strictly dairy products.

INCUBATORS FOR POULTRY KEEPERS. There are some people whb ' advise others not to adopt a small incubator of fifty or seventy-five egg capacity, as they assert that five or six hens will cover that many'eggs and r do not cost so much. Well, that is true; bat sometimes a small incubator helps matters along in the business a little faster,, even where plenty of hens are kept, and where they are not a small incubator is a decided help. There are some people living in towns where .back yard room is decidedly limited. To such people a small incubator is a benefit. As an illustration of this, an individual went from the country to keep a small boarding house in the city; and was worried soyer, the price of chickens. She wanted them for her boarders, but the money paid, for them nearly absorbed the profit from the' boarders. She under-, stood the chicken raising business and turned it to account. She bought a small . incubator and put it to sro&dy work. Before the first hatch was out she had made a small chicken yard in front of an unused stable on her premises for ;• the coming brood; since then, all the year through, she has young chickens con-, stantly coming on. She fills the incubator with fresh eggs brought in by her country customers, of Light Brahmas, Buff Cochin, or some other large breed of chickens which do. well in closer quarters. She is at vory little expense for the meat required for the boarders, which, under different circumstances, would be an. important item." The scraps from the table would altogether keep her chickens, but she is one whe-believes to pome extent in grain diet for fowls; she argues.that the flesh is firmer audi of BWeeter tasto. Were it rot for the incubator; she could not save this great expense, for she could not keep many hens where she keeps many young chJckens coming ana going, aHd^tne^nens'-'wouldnot be ready every three,weeks the year around, as the little incubiat'&r'is, to fill coops. with young chicks/ - '->-•--' -;-»*■.» ®*P \ l For the farmer's a large incubator should be a necessity, if she is living up to her opportunity ia the chicken business for profit. From two hundred to four hundred egg capacity is the kind of incubator needed under thosa circumstances. Sometimes, especially early in the year, it is difficult to get enough fresh eggs to fill one of the larger size, but in a general way the incubator is put to work only when eggs are getting plentiful as well as I cheap. ' f