HINTS TO OLD-FASHIONED BUTTER MAKERS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1194, 18 January 1895, Page 6

HINTS TO OLD-FASHIONED BUTTER MAKERS.

Don’t imagine that because you generally make good butter from your. shallow-pan setting, that this is the best method. So far as quality is concerned it is all right, but, as a rule, it is not economical, .too much cream being wasted. Deep setting is more economical— the separator is still better. Always use a thermometer to temper the cream before churning. The oldfashioned way, which is still so often used, of guessing at it by sticking in the finger, *• is unreliable—too often widely misleading. A good thermometer -is-' the only safe way. Although good butter can be made with the old dash churn, it is a laborious method, and is far more inconvenient to operate than the barrel or box churns. In the old dash churn, you skim the butter out—in others you draw off the milk. The former plan requires so much working of the butter to remove the milk that it becomes salv}'—the grain is destroyed and the value decreased. In the box churn, every trace of milk can bo removed without any working, by two—sometimes three—washings. Find out how much salt pour patrons like in a pound of butter and then weigh it out at every churning. The old guesswork plan is a most vicious one—there is nothing more unreliable, and butter made from it will be found to vary from one to three ounces of salt to the pound. Partially filled tubs of butter should have an inch of strong brine on the top of the butter, removing it carefully before more butter is added, then returning it. This keeps the air from the butter and prevents any changes. The butter will not absorb any perceptible quantity of snlt from the brine. —American Farmer.