N.Z. BUTTER IS AT ITS SOFTEST IN THE WINTER!

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 87, 16 May 1949, Page 5

N.Z. BUTTER IS AT ITS SOFTEST IN THE WINTER!

Constant research on butterfat helps to maintain the high quality of one of our main exports, and a recent, report records some of the investigations completed and those now being followed by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Variations of treatment at the butter factories have little effect on the consistency of N.Z. butter; consistency is principally determined by the composition of the butterfat, and some of the factors affecting this are still being studied. European butter is of softer consistency in summer, but New Zealand butter reaches its maximum firmness during the summer. The Dairy Research Institute (N.Z.) of Palmerston North have just issued the results of further investigations on New Zealand butter. This report completes the account of a four-year study in which butter samples were collected each month from nine commercial factories distributed between Kaitaia in the north and Dunedin in the South.

Series of Analyses A comprehensive series of analyses was made on each sample in order that seasonal changes in both the chemical composition of the butterfat and the physical properties (e.g., consistency and spreadability) of the butter might be followed and differences from the various districts detected. It was found that the seasonal changes occurred consistently from year to year, and were the same in all the districts represented with the exception of those in the southern part of the South Island. Differences in climate and feeds available in the southern area presumably accounted for the variations there.

Butter made in the spring months is always softer than the butter made later in the season, and this was found to be related to an extra high proportion of liquid fats in the butterfat. In summer the proportion of the more liquid fats is reduced and the butter is harder. During the autumn and winter a gradual increase in the liquid fat fraction occurs, and this brings about a decrease in the hardness of the butter.

It is interesting to note that these changes are the reverse of those that occur in European countries, where butter is softest in the summer months when the cows are on pasture, and hardest in the winter, when cows are housed indoors and given dry fodder. New Zealanders are fortunate that they can have the softest butter during cold weather and firmest during hot months. If our butter is sold in England about six months after it is produced it should equally suit the season there.

Survey Results The results of this survey show that it is principally the composition of the butterfat that determines the consistency of the butter, and that variations in treatment in the butter factories have had little effect. While the feed available to the cows is probably the most important factor in determining the composition of the butterfat, other factors—such as the time the cow has been in milk—are also involved. These are being investigated, as well as the effect of inheritance on butterfat composition (for which a number of pairs of identical twin heifers are being used), at the Dairy Research Institute.

The variations in composition of butterfat are being studied from another angle and in greater detail at the Fats Research Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. In this laboratory determinations are being made of the percentages of each of the fatty acids in butter, and of the manner in which they are combined as glycerides to make up the butterfat.

The complementary lines of 1 research at the Fats Research Laboratory together with experiments in practical butter-making at the Dairy Research Institute is adding further knowledge on the consistency, keeping quality, nutritive value, and flavour of N.Z. butter, and the importance of this research will be appreciated when it is realised that butter is the third most valuable export, returning some £20,000,000 every year.

Trade? Poor catches of fish were made by fishing craft from Whakatane during the week-end. Yesterday two launches left but came back with very little fish. One launch party had a very poor catch and in desperation they swapped a couple of bottles of beer for a few fish with a trawler that happened to pull up along side them during the day. Apart from one of two shafks this made up the greater part of their “catch.”