[Illustration: DIAPHRAGM CHURN.]
[Illustration: THE MELOTTE CREAM SEPARATOR]
[Illustration: A SMALL BUTTER-WORKER.]
[Illustration: MILK-STRAINER FOR USE WITH MUSLIN.]
[Illustration: DOUBLE PAN FOR DEVONSHIRE CREAM-RAISING.]
AS a volume of the present series will be devoted to the subject of The
Dairy, which is too large a subject to be treated usefully in a single
chapter, I shall here merely record such facts and formulæ as may be
of help to those who have a general knowledge of dairy work, and also
offer a little advice of a practical kind to those who have to deal
with dairying on the smallest scale. A larder or store-room should
never be used for the storage of milk, as the conditions required
are somewhat different, and also because, more than almost any other
substance, milk absorbs and is spoilt by any strong smell such as many
stores yield to the air about them. The milk-room should be cool, only
moderately light, well ventilated and somewhat dry, and should, if
possible, face the east or north. There must be no possibility of gas
from drain or manure heap coming into contact with the milk at any
stage, either in milking-yard or dairy. The floor should be of tiles
or concrete, and the shelves should be of slate or stone. The room and
all vessels used should be kept scrupulously clean. If a separator is
used, the milk should be put through the machine as soon as possible
after milking, as the milk should have a temperature of about 90° F. If
the cream is to be separated by “setting,” the milk should be taken
straight to the dairy as soon as possible after milking, and poured
through a hair sieve or other strainer into shallow pans—about four
to six inches deep. These should be kept at a temperature of between
46° and 56° F. In from twenty-four to thirty-six hours, according to
the season (more quickly in summer), the cream is separated by a
flat perforated skimmer, or the milk is drawn off by a syphon, or by
the removal of a plug. If skimmed, the process is repeated twelve
hours later, and occasionally a third time after a similar period has
elapsed. If clotted cream be desired, the pans—about six to eight
inches deep—of milk, having stood in the dairy for twenty-four hours,
are heated over a furnace or in a water-bath to a temperature of 175°
F., and then again restored to the dairy to cool. The cream is then
skimmed off the milk by means of the skimmer. If the cream is to be
made into butter, it must be “ripened,” but must not be allowed to
become too sour. In summer, it must not be kept for more than two
days, and in winter for not more than four days. It should be placed,
as soon as separated, in an earthenware cream-holder, large enough to
hold the entire cream to be used at a single churning. When adding the
cream from subsequent skimmings, thoroughly stir the whole together.
Keep the cream cool until twenty-four hours before churning, and add
no fresh cream to the mixture within twelve hours of the churning in
summer, or within twenty-four hours in winter. For the twenty-four
hours previous to churning, the cream must be kept at a temperature
of about 60° F. In summer, churn at a temperature of from 57° to 59°
F., and in winter at from 59° to 63° F. The room, the churn, and the
cream should all be of about the same temperature. The cream should
be strained through straining muslin into the churn, and the latter
should be not more than half full. Churn rather slowly for the first
five minutes, and allow the gas to escape frequently, until no air
rushes out when the vent is opened. Directly you hear the butter
form or “break,” open the churn and see that it has come. It will
resemble mustard seed. Add for each gallon of cream a quart of cold
water, and slowly turn the churn for about half a minute. Draw off the
butter-milk, add to the butter the same quantity of cold water as there
was originally of cream, give the churn a few turns quickly, and then
draw off the water. Repeat this process until the water comes away
quite clear. Then take the butter out of the churn, place it on the
worker, allow it to drain for quarter of an hour, and then work the
whole mass together. Weigh it, and dredge over it from a quarter to
three-quarters of an ounce of fine pure salt to the pound of butter,
rolling it out and sprinkling the salt evenly and by degrees. Well roll
it so as to mix the salt uniformly, and get rid of all the water, but
do not overwork it. Place the butter in a cool place for six hours to
harden before being made up. The hands should never touch the milk,
cream, or butter at any stage; a thermometer should be used to measure
the various temperatures of which knowledge is required; and the churn,
worker, wooden hands, and other appliances should be prepared for use
by first rinsing them with cold water, then scalding them with boiling
water, rubbing them thoroughly with salt, and lastly rinsing them
again with cold water.—_H. R._
[Illustration: A SELF-SKIMMING PORCELAIN MILK-PAN.]
[Illustration: BUTTER-SCOOP.]
_To pot Butter._—The great secret in potting butter so that it will
keep is to extract from it every drop of superfluous milk. This should
be done either by working the butter thoroughly with a pair of the
wooden “hands,” or spatulas, used in all good dairies instead of the
human hand, or by immersing the butter in hot water. In the latter
case the milk will fall to the bottom, leaving the butter floating on
the surface of the water. The butter should be packed in layers in an
earthenware jar or crock, a little salt being sprinkled upon each
layer. If this process is carefully carried out the butter will keep
well. Another method is to make a pickle by pouring a quart of boiling
water upon two pounds of salt, two ounces of loaf sugar, and one ounce
of saltpetre. Let this stand till perfectly cold. Then put the butter
into a jar, and keep it well covered with the pickle. Butter thus
treated will keep sweet and firm throughout the hottest summer.
_Cream Curds._—To one quart of new milk add four eggs, beaten together,
and a little salt. Put it in a covered earthenware jar, and set it in
a pan of water over the fire. Do not stir it, but as soon as the milk
cracks, lay it upon a sieve to drain. Put it upon a china dish in large
spoonfuls.—_J. R._