"When the operation is properly conducted, the butter, after some time,
suddenly forms, and is to be carefully collected and separated from the
buttermilk. But in doing this, it is not sufficient merely to pour off
the milk, or withdraw the butter from it; because a certain portion of
the caseous and serous parts of the milk still remains in the
interstices of the butter, and must be detached from it by washing, if
we would obtain it pure. In washing butter, some think it sufficient to
press the mass gently between the hands; others press it strongly and
frequently, repeating the washings till the water comes off quite clear.
The first method is preferable when the butter is made daily, for
immediate use, from new milk or cream; because the portions of such
adhering to it, or mixed with it, contribute to produce the sweet
agreeable flavor which distinguishes new cream. But when our object is
to prepare butter for keeping, we cannot repeat the washings too often,
since the presence of a small quantity of milk in it will, in less than
twelve hours after churning, cause it sensibly to lose its good
qualities.
"The process of washing butter is usually nothing more than throwing it
into an earthen vessel of clear cool water, working it to and fro with
the hands, and changing the water until it comes off clear. A much
preferable method, however, and that which we believe is now always
practised by those who best understand the business, is to use two broad
pieces of wood, instead of the hands. This is to be preferred, not only
on account of its apparently greater cleanliness, but also because it is
of decided advantage to the quality of the butter. To this the warmth of
the hand gives always, more or less, a greasy appearance. The influence
of the heat of the hand is greater than might at first have been
suspected. It has always been remarked, that a person who has naturally
a warm hand never makes good butter."