The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1902. DANISH BUTTER MAKING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 168, 12 June 1902, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1902. DANISH BUTTER MAKING.

JNew Zealand butter makers nave for a long while t eojgnise.l that there is more than mere proximity to account for the hold Danish butter has upon the English market. Inquiry has tlicited the fact that both iu flavour aod colour the D-inish butter is decidedly popular with the people of thu large centres. The Danish butter is lighter in colour and milder in flavour than most of the butter sent from the colonics. The New Zealand butter is particularly noticeable for its somewhat high colour and strong fkvour, caused by the rich natural grass upon which the cows.are fed. For some time a f rather strong prejudice existed against I New Zealand butter on this account; I but as t(he people at Home are becoming awara of the purity of the quality iof all New Zealand produce this prejudice is gradually wearing away. Where cows are byre fed it is very easy to govern the flavour and colour in the case of both butter and cheese, but where the cows are fed on the natural grasses, aiad the growth is eo luxuriant as it is in New Zealand, this is not so easy. Many think that both colour and flavour are largely governed in the making, and efforts have baen made to study Danish methods. Professor Drummond, of' Dublin, has lately been visiting Denmark one of his objec's being'to study the Danish methods. In a private letter 1 to Mr G. S. Thomson he gives an account of his trip. The following interesting extracts taken from the letter ire published in the Journal of Agriculture:—•" I had a very pleasant tiip in Denmark and ISwtden, and I saw and learned a great deal while there. I consider the Danes and Swedes the best butter makers in the world ; they have a good scitn'ih'c training, and aod with that they are thoroughly practical and v»ry clean and tidy about their work. I think their method of treating milk for butter making is certainly the best, and particularly where the milk is cooled. They pasteurise both thi milk and creim after separation, and as a ru'e the skim milk is returned to the farmers for feeding purposes. The law of thefcountry is that all milk must be pasteurised before it leaves the creamery. The craam is ripened with a starter prepared from a culture; and I no iced that great attention was given to this part of the work, In many of the cteameries I visited I from two to three different cultures being. cultivated at the same time, and, unless tbe product was perf c« in flavour it was not used. The cieim is ripened at a low temperatute—about 56deg F, and from 110 p?r cent to 15ptr cent of starter u s ed in the winter months, and chinned in 24 tours, at a tempera'u e of 52<ieg to 54d-g F. I noticed tint they ripened and churned ihbir cream at a low tsroperaturp, and that the butfctr was very little washed. Tbe bu'.ttr as a rula is lifted from the churn v itli a wiie sievf, and sinap'y dipped in a large cbu or tmk of cold wa'er, and from that direct te the worker—during the working a little water is poured on the buttfi* to remove the buttermilk, ar,d tlen salted and allowed to sfm.d six bouts b fore reworking and packing. I should say that the o. earn would sh >w 060 per cent to 0'75 per cenr of ncid when churned ; of coutse lejs starter wauld bo required in tbo summer months to get the conditiou of ripeness in the cream. I made inquiry aa to what was considered the best colour for butter for the London and

casus ihu Her was " a brigh'. stiaw colour" ; rivorpool and Manchester they like iSti'-eolour than London. The Danish buitur is just a medium colour, and it givts splendid tatisfaction in all our maikets, which is a very good guide to follow,"