BUTTER FROM WHEY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9023, 9 January 1908, Page 7

BUTTER FROM WHEY.

4 THE PROCESS DESCRIBED. The new practice of rescuing from whey the hitherto wasted butter-fat, and making it into butter, is l attracting increasing notice abroad, arid -will no doubt receive attention in New Zealand. The Chief Dairy Instructor for Western- Ontario,' in a letter to the "Canadian Dairyman," has thus described the process r—"The question of making butter from the fat left in the whey where ■cheese is made is, perhaps, worthy •of discussion, since the present high price of butter should make it a paying proposition, i/hexe may be a Jittte prejudice in the minds of a few people regarding the making of this abutter, since it is quite natural for 'anyone acquainted with old-style whey-tanks at some of the factories to associate this butter as having •something to do with these tanks. In other words, it might be supposed that in speaking of skimming whey for butter, the fat was skimmed off t the top of these tanks, and then made into butter. Let me say such is not the cade at all. Butter from whey is made in this way: There is an average loss of about .3 per cent, of but-ter-fat left in whey when it is ready to dip or to be run-oif the curd in •cheese-making. The fat is clean, pure butter-fat and the custom has been to allow this to run into the whey tank with the whey and as ( much as possible of this fat sent home in the patrons' car.s mixed with the whey. Instead of allowing this fiat to go into, the tanks the whey is -fan through a cream separator and thepure butter-fat removed in the form of cream before the whey is allowed to pass into the whey tanks. Several factories are making butter with success from this fat. About a 50 to 60 per cent, cream is skimmed and this is reduced to about -40 per cent, by Jthe introduction of a pure culture. When this cream is churned a very good class of butter *is made. Care must be taken that everything is kept perfectly clean and sweut just the same as in making butter by skimming milk. With a special cream screw t'.iere is no (trouble in skimming a rich cream, j which churns easily at low temper- ' mature, and, on the basis of .3 ner cent, loss of fat in whey, about three pounds or a little over of butter can j te made from 1,000 pounds of whey. ' rf regard to the feeding value of the whey (unless the whey is heated to ' -about 165 degrees; which process will keep the fat in the whey), the patrons ' get very little benefit from this fat j bo far as the whey is concerned. Most of it rises to , the top in the tank if allowed to go in, and does not go to the patron at all, unless the whey is short, when this greasy sutstance is sometimes returned in the > cans, ,to the dissatisfaction of anyone who may have to wash them. Again, the fat, if left in the tank, becomes a very hard problem for the cheesemaker to knowr what to do with. Hp, in cleaning the tank, has to ha\e someone to draw it away, or else he has to bury it near the factory, in fact, it is the chief source of trouble in keeping whey tanks clean. Therefore, if this whey is run through a cream separator and this ; -fat skimmed out and made into but- ! Tter, it will not injure the whey for leeding purposes, and even if it could all be secured for feeding, it is too expensive to feed a*: the present prices of butter."