As with cheese, so with butter, large quantities of the latter have been
inferior not because the cream was poor in quality, but because the
wrong kinds of bacteria had taken possession of the atmosphere in
hundreds of dairies. The greatest if not the latest novelty in dairying
in the last decade of the 19th century was the isolation of lactic acid
bacilli, their cultivation in a suitable medium, and their employment in
cream preparatory to churning. Used thus in butter-making, an excellent
product results, provided cleanliness be scrupulously maintained. The
culture repeats itself in the buttermilk, which in turn may be used
again with marked success. Much fine butter, indeed, was made long
before the bearing of bacteriological science upon the practice of
dairying was recognized--made by using acid buttermilk from a previous
churning.
In Denmark, which is, for its size, the greatest butter-producing
country in the world, most of the butter is made with the aid of
"starters," or artificial cultures which are employed in ripening the
cream. Though the butter made by such cultures shows little if any
superiority over a good sample made from cream ripened in the ordinary
way--that is, by keeping the cream at a fairly high temperature until it
is ready for churning, when it must be cooled--it is claimed that the
use of these cultures enables the butter-makers of Denmark to secure a
much greater uniformity in the quality of their produce than would be
possible if they depended upon the ripening of the cream through the
influence of bacteria taken up in the usual way from the air.
Butter-making is an altogether simpler process than cheese-making, but
success demands strict attention to sound principles, the observance of
thorough cleanliness in every stage of the work, and the intelligent use
of the thermometer. The following rules for butter-making, issued by the
Royal Agricultural Society sufficiently indicate the nature of the
operation:--
Prepare churn, butter-worker, wooden-hands and sieve as follows:--(1)
Rinse with cold water. (2) Scald with boiling water. (3) Rub
thoroughly with salt. (4) Rinse with cold water.
_Always use a correct thermometer._
The cream, when in the churn, to be at a temperature of 56 deg. to 58
deg. F. in summer and 60 deg. to 62 deg. F. in winter. The churn
should never be more than half full. Churn at number of revolutions
suggested by maker of churn. If none are given, _churn at 40 to 45
revolutions per minute_. Always churn slowly at first.
_Ventilate_ the churn _freely_ and frequently during churning, until
no air rushes out when the vent is opened.
_Stop churning immediately_ the butter comes. This can be ascertained
by the sound; if in doubt, _look_.
The butter should now be like grains of mustard seed. Pour in a small
quantity of cold water (1 pint of water to 2 quarts of cream) to
harden the grains, and give a few more turns to the churn gently.
Draw off the buttermilk, giving plenty of time for draining. Use a
straining-cloth placed over the hair-sieve, so as to prevent any loss,
and wash the butter in the churn with plenty of cold water: then draw
off the water, and repeat the process until the water comes off quite
clear.
_To brine butter_, make a strong brine, 2 to 3 lb. of salt to 1 gallon
of water. Place straining-cloth over mouth of churn, pour in brine,
put lid on churn, turn sharply half a dozen times, and leave for 10 to
15 minutes. Then lift the butter out of the churn into sieve, turn
butter out on worker, leave it a few minutes to drain, and work gently
till all superfluous moisture is pressed out.
_To drysalt butter_, place butter on worker, let it drain 10 to 15
minutes, then work gently till all the butter comes together. Place it
on the scales and weigh; then weigh salt, for slight salting, 1/4 oz.;
medium, 1/2 oz.; heavy salting, 3/4 oz. to the lb. of butter. Roll
butter out on worker and carefully sprinkle salt over the surface, a
little at a time; roll up and repeat till all the salt is used.
_Never touch the butter with your hands._
Well-made butter is firm and not greasy. It possesses a characteristic
texture or "grain," in virtue of which it cuts clean with a knife and
breaks with a granular fracture, like that of cast-iron. Theoretically,
butter should consist of little else than fat, but in practice this
degree of perfection is never attained. Usually the fat ranges from 83
to 88%, whilst water is present to the extent of from 10 to 15%.[11]
There will also be from 0.2 to 0.8% of milk-sugar, and from 0.5 to 0.8%
of casein. It is the casein which is the objectionable ingredient, and
the presence of which is usually the cause of rancidity. In badly-washed
or badly-worked butter, from which the buttermilk has not been properly
removed, the proportion of casein or curd left in the product may be
considerable, and such butter has only inferior keeping qualities. At
the same time, the mistake may be made of overworking or of overwashing
the butter, thereby depriving it of the delicacy of flavour which is one
of its chief attractions as an article of consumption if eaten fresh.
The object of washing with brine is that the small quantity of salt thus
introduced shall act as a preservative and develop the flavour. Streaky
butter may be due either to curd left in by imperfect washing, or to an
uneven distribution of the salt.