BUTTER DEPARTMENT OF THE NEW ZEALAND FROZEN MEAT AND STORAGE COMPANY.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 238, 21 January 1888, Page 8

BUTTER DEPARTMENT OF THE NEW ZEALAND FROZEN MEAT AND STORAGE COMPANY.

Human nature requires an enormous amount of grease and oil to keep it in working order. The desire for it is a taste found in every country, from tho frigid zone, where the Esquimaux revel in train oil and blubber, to warmor climes where the Arab makos but short work of a pound of butter at a -sitting. Nothing is nicer than good whplosoxne butter, and nothing more disgusting or unpleasant than tho rancid stuff that is sometimes sold under that name. For some time past tho "shell brand " of the Frozen Meat and Storage Company has been well-known in connection with local butter, but none of the article on the local market was the manufacture of the 'Company, who have exported all they have .made so far. There has been sent Home in the freezing chambers of the large ocoan steamers no less a quantity than 53 tons, and all that during the past three months. It is the intention of the Company, however, 1 in the future not to neglect tho local marlcet. The butter thoy have hitherto sold .here ha? "een butfcer collected from the tarmtfpa a »cl distributed by the Company. jw •••"•"Uierement, as will be ■ .v- ■. -. :wmenfc in another butter of >c sent out every >ny, and the public o complain of the At > .10 uv v «. • the manager of the Buttor Department o the F.M. and S. Co., we yesteroay paid a visit of inspection to the manufactory where they turn out their butter. The Company have erected creameries in the best dairying districts of the Waikato, five in all, viz., at Pukekohe, Tuakau, Paterangi, Hamilton and Ngaruawahia. These creameries are fitted up with the Leval separator, a machine which may be described as perfect. By means of it when a former sends in his mills, while fresh it has all the cream separated from it, and in less than a quarter of an hour after he has brought the milk in he has it returned to him in the form of skim milk, which he can use for feeding his calves and pig 3. The milk of 2,500 cows is supplied to these creameries, and aa the Company does not own a single cow the arrangement is one of considerable advantage to the settler. A farmer would have to employ a large amount of labour when making butter, and it takes three gallons of milk to make one pound of that article, and the price he obtains for it when sent to Auckland is not always satisfactory. By the arrangement with the Frozen Meat Company he obtains 2£d a gallon for his milk and has the skim milk returned to him in a sweet condition — a matter of considerable importance on a farm. He has no labour to employ and no freight to pay, so that when the case is figured out the farmer really obtains twice as much for his milk as he would for tho butter obtained from it. When the, cream has been collected ab the creameries, it is sent by train into the works of the Company in town in specially constructed cans which prevent any rough usage to the cream. The quantity thus sent down daily amounts to three tons. When it arrives at the Company's works the cream is placed ia the dairy chilling room, which is provided with a separate refrigerating machine. The air supplied is' pure and sweet, and the difficulties experienced in the earlier stage? havo been overcome. From the chilling room the cream is passed by means of a lift to tho dairy on the second floor. The dairy is a large, clean, and airy apartment which has been specially constructed for the particular use to which it ia applied. The floor 13 decked like a ship, caulked and sloping towards a gutter, wnich enables thelarge quantity of water used to be run off easily. The dairy is fitted up with four large Danish churns, three of which are locally manufactured. These churns have a capacity for making 1801b3 of butter at a time. The manufacture is on the Danish principle, and an expert from Denmark has been specially introduced for the purpose of seeing to the churns. When the cream has been placed in the churns ice is added to lower the temperature, to S3 degi-ees, while in winter, when it is often desirable to raise the temperature, four large vats supplied with steam are employed. When the right temperature, has been obtained the lids of the churns and the beaters are carefully adjusted, and the machinery set in motion. The time for butter to be made is generally about 35 minutes. Great care is taken in ascertaining when the butter has formed into granules in the chvrn, and as soon as this happens the beaters are stopped. The buttermilk is separated from the granulated butter by means of iced brine which id added. The brine hardens the granules, and enablevS the butter to be handled without injury- to it. It is then removed to the draining trays by means of sieves, and after remaining for a short time is placed on the large revolving table, where ir, is carefully kneaded by mechanical means and all the moisture expressed fiom it, and a quantity of very fine salt added to it. It is then removed to the' trays again, and after standing until the fine pa i tides are dissolved -it is again subjected to aslightkneadingprocese. From the votary worker, it is removed to the trays and carried to the butter room on the ground floor. This room is fitted up with wide rnbles, on which the butter is placed. Here it is formed into the half-pound pats of the market and branded with the shell brand, the trade mark of the Company. About a dozen young damsels are employed at this work, and are so adept at, it that they turn out about 4,000 pats or one ton of butter a day. These pats are placed on trays and covered with fine clohlt, and removed to the cooling chamber, where they become quite hard, and next morning find their way round the city by means of the Company's butter vans. This will for the first be done on Friday, when the Company embark on a new system. No butter which is nob their own make will after Friday be stamped with the brand of the Company, and the public may rely on always obtaining ifc of the best quality. The Company intend to mako the shell brand synonymous with " the very best." The Company have been manufacturing butter for some time, but as stated above, evwy pound of it has been sent to England* The butter has been sent out in various forms. Pond's enamel boxes and locally made totara kegs have been used, but great difficulty- has been experienced in obtaining ferine- .^ht kegs. The Company' ■will foo able to turn out an almost unlimited supply of butter as soon as they have .secured a- remunerative market for it. With a few , more , hands employed, the plant at present in work could turn out three tons of butter per ufay. The farmers * J have already > benefited considerably by, the ? Compttuy'e operations, and in the future should benefit to an even greater extent! If anyone has any doubt; as to the cleanliness and efficiency of the Frozen Meat Company's

works he has only to notice the .butter placed on the local market after Friday and to pay a yiaitto Jbhe< works where he is bound to be struck with the cleanliness and order of the place and tho efficiency of , the appliances. The Company hays imported a complete butter-tinning plant which is now being put j in working order for the purpose of, tinning fcho butter of tho Company's own manufactory. 16 is intended to opon up an export trade with the South Soa Islands, South America and India, and all who have the interests of Auckland at heart will wish thorn success in their enterprise. The tinning plant is constructed, on a. patent principle which will enable the Company to pack their butter without using solder or employing heat, doing away with all danger of load poisoning. The tinned butter is to be placed on the markot almost immediately, and should command ready sale. Those who recognise the fact that the real strength of a nation lies in its agricultural population will watch with interest the increased impetus the New Zealand Frozen Meat and Storage Company are putting into their operations. The result of them cannot but be beneficial to the country at large. Tho farmers will be the principal gainers by the success of the Company, and anything that will benefit them will be viewed with satisfaction by the public at large. Auckland Star, January 18.