FACTS FOR FARMERS. HOW TO MAKE PRIME BUTTER.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 372, 1 October 1874, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS. HOW TO MAKE PRIME BUTTER.

To make good, good prime butter is not such an easy thing to do as most persons think, and yet this does not consist so much in the manipulations of the cream and butter, as it does of some other factß, which we shall name, which is perhaps the reason why so much poor, cheap butter is put on the market for sal. Persons that make this poor butter often do their best to make good butter, 'and yet do not know why the do not succeed. They say they take good care af the milk and cream, chum and salt according to rule; and ask — What more can I do 1 What is butter 1 It is any oily substunce that is secreted from the fatty tissues of the cow. We repeat if; — "an oily ' substance secreted from the fatty tissues -of the oow."- Suppose the cow has no fat — only skin and bones. In this case we think there would not be much of an oily substance secreted, and, of course, not much butter ; and what you would get would be of a greasy substance, without any of the peculiar flavour that is necessary and indispensable to good butter. The right kind of a cow may be thin in flesh, and yet make good butter, if properly fed. But how shall we make good, prime butter 1 First, wo must have good cows — cows that are adapted to this object — for there is as much difference in cotvs as there is in butter. We well recollect purchasing a cow in our younger days that made remarkable hard and white butter, and it tasted liko tallow. Her food was good, sweet grass. ■ > • Second, the cows must be well fed — fed on such food as will make good, sweet, rich milk, and produce cream and butter that will possess the peculiar aroma that good butter must have to be Al. If you think it makes no difference what your cows eat, just give them a few onions, garlics, or a few feeds ot turnips, or some bitter weeds to eat, or some stagnant water to drink, and see how quick it is found in the milk, cream, and butter. We think we can conceive how much of the jM'cticnt poor butter is made from poor poor, musty, sour, marsh hay — and this, perhaps, full of brakes or other weeds. We consider it just as imposible to make good, sweet butter from poor hay or grass, as to make good, sweet bread from poor, musty wheat; ' Suppose we have the cow ; and the proper food to give her. It is equally essential that eveiy article used in mtlking or butter making should be well scalded, aired in the sun eveiy day, and kept clean and sweet. Milk, cream and butter readily absorb various odours, either in articles used, or floating in the atmosphere. The next thing is to milk the cow, and this is as important to good butter as her food, for she must not only be milked quick and clean, but she must be cleanly milked. Tho cow's bag should be well cleaned before milking, for if the various kinds of dirt that may be attached to a cow's bag should drop into the milk while milking, it would not only give a colour to the milk, but would give it a taste that most persons would repudiate. You will save much out that cannot pass through the strainer, but while it is in the milk, the peculiar flavour of this dirt and hair is beitig Beaked out, and is rstained in the milk ; it cannot be strained out, nor counteracted when once in. If you doubt this, take some clean, warm water, and put the like quantity and quality of dirt and hairs in it, and let it stand as l6ng. as milk does before straining, and then strain it. You can then test the water and see if it is pure, and also, whether the colour is changed or no. Cream is inoio affected than water, for the raising of the cream on the milk brings up the colouring and the flavouring of the dirt with it, and this passes into fie butter when the cream is churned. We said tho cow must be milked clean, and this ia a point that is very essential as to havo the milk clean from dirt. Neither should tho milk atund in tho stable iifler ifc' is drawn from tho cow, for it will partake

of tLe elHuvia of tlio atmosphere. It is now an undisputed fact with dairymen that the last pint of milk drawn from a good cow, is nearly all cream, and has the peculiar flavour of good, prime butter, and is equal to sixteen pints of the first drawn is best for cheese, the last good, prime butter. Now, what shall the milk be strained into 1 from the bent information we have, it should be Btrained into tin pails 28 inches deep, and eight inches in diameter, Avith a cover on the top with a hole one inch in diameter in the centre for the steam to escape, and these pails set in running spring water of the temperature of 50 deg. or GO deg. and immersed 24 inches in depth, and kept there until the cream has all risen ; but as this is not practicable in these parts,* we will give the common pan system. As to •th"c size of the pan, we think four or six quarts are the more convenient, and after the milk is strained it should be set up in a cool dry place in summer, and we think that slabs are better than shelves for for pans to stand on, where they will be free from all noxious vapours ; for if the air is foul, the butter will be also, and remain pcifectly quiet until the cream has all risen, which will vary, according to the weather, from 24 hours to 30 hours, sometimes longer and sometimes shorter. If possible never let it stand until the milk is much sour or thick, for the fact is the sooner you take off the cream the bettor the flavour of the butter. Twelve hours cream makes much sweeter butter than 36 hours, but not so much oi it ; and in skimming milk get as little of it with the cream as possible, and skim into a smaller vessel than your cream stands in. After skimming, put this freshly skimmed cream in your older cream, and stir thoroughly. A stone jar is the best to hold the cream, and this needs to be kept covered, and, in a cool dry place. In warm weather miik must be skimmed much sooner than in cool or cold weather. There can be no definite rule given as to the time of skimming-— it requires great care, constant w&tqhing, and good judgment. Also, it is as necessary that flies and 1 insects should be kept from the mssp. the pans as, the dirt in the pails before straining. i, >" In winter and cold weather 1 we think the best way to strain the milk into pans, the same as in summer, and, after it has stood twelve hours, have a kettle on the stove, with a little boiling water mit; then set the pan on the kettle so as not to disturb the cream, and let it warm just enough to make the cream wrinkle and quiver a little, then take it off and wipe the moisture from the bottom of the pan, and set it away for the cream to rise, and after it has risen skim as mentioned above. In winter cream should be churned as often as once a week, but in summer, in small dairies, twice and three times a week ; in large dairies every day becomes necessary. Cream must not be kept too long before churned ; if it is, it may get mouldy, and decomposition will begin to take place, and then no good butter can be made from it. As to the kind of churn to use, there arc many kinds of good ones, and one that churns easy, and will readily break the sacs that contain the butter, so they will readily adhere to each other, is the best, as this is what make the solid butter. When the butter has separated from the buttermilk, in very warm weather add a little cold or ice water, if it is pure and free from lime, and the butter churned in it for a few moments, after which the butter is taken out of the churn, and most of the remaining buttermilk worked out, then salted, putting in about three-fourths of an ounce of clean, ground rock or Ashton salt to a pound of butter, and this well worked in. Then set it away in a clean, airy place for twelve hours, in cold weather, and about twenty hours in warm weather; then work it well, not with your hands, but with articles made expressly for it. Neither should it be worked when it is warm or soft, for if you do, it will be apt to melt the butter more or less, and this makes it look slippery and greasy, and spoils the looks, if not the taste, of the butter. After it is well worked, if for customers, make it into moulds of one pound each, and place them on clean marble tables or shelves made expressly for this purpose, keeping each pound separate from each other, and carry them to market in this way. If you wish to pack the butter, work the same as mentioned above, only add a little more salt, and pack in stone jars, or white ash firkins after being well soaked in strong brine ; pack close and firm, and when full fit a clean cloth over the top of the butter, and cover well with salt. Keep this in a cool, dry, sweet, airy place. In winter it is advisable to colour butter, for the look's sake especially, when it can be done and makes the butter taste better. This is done in several w ays. We consider the best as follows :—: — Grate a clean, sweet yellow carrot of medium size into one quart of sweet milk, for about six or eight pounds of butter ; set this on the stove to warm, and when some scalded, strain through a cloth into the churn after tie cream is in, and then churn altogether This adds colour and sweetens the butter. Be careful to have good, sweet, yellow carrots with no bad taste. To sum up the whole matter in a few words wo must have : — 1. But not least, a good butter cow, somewhat fleshy. 2. Her food must be sweet, good, rich, and plenty of it. 3. She must be handled gently and milked clean and cleanly. 4. Her milk must be free from all impurities, either in dirt, insects, or atmosphere. 5. The cream must be taken off at the right time and well cared for. 6. The cream must be kept in a cool dry place, and well stirred at least once a day. 7. The cream must be churned before it is old, or kept too long. 8. The buttermilk must all be worked out of the butter. 9. The butter must be salted with good salt. 10. The butter should not be worked with the hands. 11. Always keep butter in a cool, dry place, where it will be free from all impurities that may be in the atmosphere.