Butter.

Opunake Times, Volume III, Issue 151, 13 December 1895, Page 2

Butter.

Some samples of lactic acid ferment, which is used in Denmark to accelerate and control the ripening of cheese and improve the keeping properties of butter, were sent to the Queensland Government dairy expert, who says, in a test made, 201 b of cream, immediately after separation, was treated with the ferment, and was ready for churning 10 hours and 15 minutes subsequently; while 101 bof unfermented cream, reserved for the purpose of comparison, was not in fit condition for .churning until 38 hours later. The 201 bof cream yielded 121 b of butter, and the 101 b of untreated cream gave slh 12oz, or at the rate of 111 b Boz for 201 b. In a second test made two days later similar quantities of cream were treated, aud this time the artificially-ripened cream was found ready for churning in ,8 hours 20 minutes, while the other required 37 hours longer to mature. The 201 b returned 121 b of butter, and the 101 b gave 51b lOoz, or at the rate of lllb 2oz for 201 b.

It is somewhat generally believed that the temperature at which the cream is churned has a great deal to do with the amount of water left in the butter ; that if the latter comes at a high temperature it will retain more water than when churned at a low temperature. Bearing upon this point wo find a communication from a dairyman, in which the writer says he made three churnings at different temperatures, first at 75 degrees, the second at 58 degress, and the third at 52 degrees. He scut samples of butter from each of these churnings to Prof. Lloyd the well-known English chemist. The latter found that the butter churned at 78 degrees contained 11-91 per cent water,, that churned at 58 degrees contained 12-14 per cent water, that churned at 52 degrees contained 12.19. percent water, showing that the temperature at which churning is done does not necessarily control the percentage of water in the butter.