CHEESEMAKING AND WHEY BUTTER.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XII, Issue 46, 14 April 1910, Page 3

CHEESEMAKING AND WHEY BUTTER.

(At some cheese factories, instead > of returning the by-product, whey, * direct to the farms for pig feeding, it is considered worth while and economical first to abstract the fat and convert this into whey butter,the residue then going to the farmer for feeding purposes. To obtain the butter—fat or cream—the whey is run into large cisterns and allowed to stand for 24 hours, during which time the whey cream rises, and is then skimmed off with an ordinary cream skimmer and scalded to 150 clegs. Fahr. It is then placed in glazed earthenware vessels fitted with a tap or hole and plug at the bottom. After remaining in these vessels for 12 hours the whey which’ was skimmed off with the fat, has separated from it, and,* being heavier, than the fat. has fallen to the bot« tom of the vessel from where it can be drawn of! by means of the tap. Scalding the cream assists the separation of the whey. It also helps to destroy the living lactic acid fer- ‘ ments, and thus increases its keeping properties, having the same effect upon the butter produced. The fat may he abstracted by the use of a separator in the same way that whole milk is separated, but this is seldom practised, as whey ou the average contains such a small perj centage of fat (about 3 per cent.) j that a great quantity has to pass I through the separator to procure a small quantity of cream. Of course, if using a separator which is specially arranged for dealing with whey this difficulty is overcome, and if it is separated by centrifugal force it is best done immediately after drawing it from the cheese vat, as then it is seldom necessary to heat it for separating. The cream is churned in the same way as when making butter from whole milk cream, but as a greater quantity of gas is liberated during the early part of churning extra attention must be giveD to ventilating the churn, or t-lio butter when made will be of exceedingly poor quality. Other processes in the course of its manufacture, such as adding break-water, washing, salting by the addition of dry salt, or brining,, vyorking, etc., are performed in the same way as in ordinary butter-making. Whey butter has. a flavour characteristic oJ whey butter only, and is not by any means considered to be so good as > that made from whole milk cream. In some parts ot the country, however. it finds a fairly ready market, but is commonly used instead of lard for greasing the coats of cheese to prevent them from cracking.—“Fartc and Home,” London.