BUTTER FOR OUR BREAD.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 253, 24 October 1919, Page 10

BUTTER FOR OUR BREAD.

AND GREAT BRITAIN'S. HOW QUALITY IS KEPT UP. I , STRICT GRADING PROCESS. 1 Butter is a substance familiar to' • everybody, but beyond knowing -whether t ,'it is downright bad or (what ia more ' usual) quite good and palatable few r people can make fine distinctions about • its quality. It ia far otherwise with the • men who make the article and supervise ' its export and local distribution. There • are many defects (or should one say ' deficiencies?) possible in ibutter —to the expert, especially - the Government I grader. Much of the art and mystery 1 of butter and cheese grading was made 1 plain yesterday at the conference of i - dairy factory managers held with the ; object of securing a higher and more ■ uniform level of quality throughout the » province. The gathering was held in thb 5 grading room of the Auckland Farmers' • , Freezing Company's cool store, near the ' King's wharf. ' i For the purposes of th e conference '-' about eighty export boxes of butter from 1 cool storage had been laid out, end to 1 end, in three lines on the grading room ! floor, in such a way that the labels werc| hidden from view. Samples showing ' most of the characteristics met with in a normal season were included, so that ; the collection represented everything from the very best down to inferior ! second grade. Each grader got a group of managers around him, and soon ' started work. To sample each box, a ' long steel blade, half cylindrical in section, was driven about eight inches into ' the mass of butter, twisted, and pulled • out, bringing with it a yellow plug. Each ! ' sample, resting in the* hollow of the blade, whs passed round, everybody in I the group noting its appearance, con- j sistoncy, and smell. Most of the mana-j gers also took a small portion to taste, i J GOOD AND LESS GOOD. | ) The grader's comments on the different' . samples -were naturally varied. "That is a good butter," h e would say, "firm and t even, and the flavour is all right." The , next sample looked somewhat shiny, and [ was not so firm as the first. "Ah," said, the official, "that is very greasy. See i . how soft it is. The flavour's poor, too. . We graded it three days ago, and it has , deteriorated already. It hasn't 'firmed , up' although it has been in the cool, store, and I don't hesitate to say that, . the flavour will go right off." Another box, which turned out to~be good second grade, gave a sample of good j appearance to the lay eye, but seemingly I smell and taste condemned it. "You notice that flavour," was the grader's comment. "I don't like it. There's something behind" it." The group of managers agreed that the flavour was not firstclass, and endorsed the grading figure, as read from a typed list. So it went on, the managers making pertinent remarks here and there in the brief fashion common to most experts. In general they agreed that the grader's estimate was a fair one. Later on, when the names on the different boxes were disclosed, individual managers took the opportunity of discussing their own products with the graders, thus getting opinions about flavour —the most difficult -.quality to judge. The discussions which took place amongst them above the boxes testified to a healthy spirit of emulation and a real keenness after the good of the industry. In an adjoining room cheese was being tested in a rather similar fashion. Small pieces cut out with a boring tool were kneaded between the fingers until warmed sufficiently to enable the flavour ito be judged by sense of smell, a more ; reliable guide than taste. THE SCORING SHEETS. Tlie grading points for butter, as laid down by the Department of Agriculture, I are as follows: Flavour, 50 points; body, I moisture, and texture, 25; colour, 10; | salting, 10; finish, 5; total, 100. Butter graded at 88 points or over is first grade. ; The moisture content of average butter cannot be gauged by inspection, but only by bringing a weighed sample to the boiling-point and re-weighing it after the water has been driven off. The maximum ! allowed by law in export butter is 1G I per cent. Different degrees of salting iare recognised, as some classes of trade in Britain require a good deal of salt, and others little. Contrary to the general belief .salt has little or no preservative action on butter kept under good conditions. Points arc taken off if the salt is altogether in excess or the butter is gritty with it. AVorking has everything to do with the body and texture' of butter, and th c over-worked article' shows the fact by its greasy consistency | which is due to the breaking down of tha fat globules. "Finish" i n the marking refers to the wrapping and boxinrr of a sample. ° In the case of cheese, flavour counts 50 points, body and texture 30 points colour 15 points, finish 5 points. First grade, again, is 88 points and over out! of the possible 100. When grading a line of butter the officials check weights with a specially sensitive scale, and the official weight, whether under or over th e standard oOlb per box, is taken as the average weight per box of the line represented. Payment is made accordingly ! The need for a constant interchange of ideas amongst dairy factory managers is a very real one. It sometimes happens \ that a new weed makes its appearance! in a district and affects, by slow degrees the flavour of the butter produced there' the inhabitants grow used to it, and unless comparisons are possible or atten. tion is drawn to the fact there may be , an actual financial loss. The value of universally strict grading l las already been proved in this country, for New Zealand butter .brings an average of £4 to £6 a. ton more than Australian on the • Home market. i