Washing Butter.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 7

Washing Butter.

i One of the principal improvements — or ! what is considered by many an improvement — introduced of recent yeais into the manufacture of butter has been the process of washing it while in the granular stage, and before it has gathered into lumps in the churn. After the temperature and "ripeness" of the cream had been looked after at the beginning, and the churn driven at the proper speed, the next thing attended to wa3 to stop the operation as soon as the butter formed into granules as big as pin-heads or grains of wheat: run out the butter-milk from below, and fill up the churn with cold, clean water, a few turns given, the water changed, and the operation repeated until the water came away clear. The object was to remove all traces of butter-milk, which contained the caseine,; albumen, milk sugar, &c.*, originally in the milk. Pure butter-fat , does not readily undergo decomposition or

fermentation of any* kind— in Common with all other fats and oils-^-but the other ingredients of milk do rapidly ohange, producing rancidity and sourness. Tlie more of these latter that were extracted from the butter, therefore, the longer it would keep, and washing did this. Old*fashioned dairymaids, however, held that the operation spoiled the butter, in that it removed or destroyed the fine flavour desired in the firstclass product, 1 and there are not wanting many of the best butter-makers of to-day who are of the same opinion 1 . Further, there is a good deal of scientific evidence against washing. It is difficult to define exactly what the aroma and flavour of butter is, or to state what is the body or chemical product which is the cause of it. Some hold that it is simply the incipient stages of decay (a form of fermentation) of the albuminous substances present, and if this is so it gives a very feasible explanation of the evil effects of washing. > Its" object is to remove, as far as possible, the fermentable substances, and if these are totally washed out then nothing but a mixture of tasteless fat remains, incapable of generating a flavour. Of course too much of these left in would overdo the matter, and make the flavour objectionably strong, so that the proper course appears to be a happy medium between the two. At one time the butter-milk was removed by pounding the lumps by hand, and now we have wooden beaters and butter-workers for the same .purpose, when hand work is no longer admissible. It must be acknowledged, however, that these will not remove the objectionable matter from the butter if it. has once got mixed up in the lumps, so that perhaps washing ' ono3 with water would do what we require without spoiling flavour. Some of the most noted butter-makers, however, do not wash at all, among whom we may mention Mr Fitzgerald, Ireland. Some two or three years ago (1885) a utensil called the •' Delaiteuse " was exhibited at the Dairy Show at Islington. It was constructed on the same principle as the cream separator, and its object was to remove the butter-milk from butter while in the granular stage by the centrifugal tendency generated when the butter was spun round at a great speed. But before its introduction butter was not washed at his creamery, and it is one of the finest brands in the country, and easily commands a good price all the year round. The utensil mentioned, however, is only for use on a large scale, and in its absence we must fall on some other plan. It seems, therefore, that while we cannot do

without washing altogether, it should be done as little as possible, and pounding with beaters or manipulating in the butterworkers carried out as much as may be. The evidence is so strong in this direction that we advise this, notwithstanding all that has been said and done by lecturers and demonstrators of recent years in favour of thorough washing. Where salting is practised there is less need of the thorough removal of the gutter-milk, because the action of salt is antii septic, and prevents the decay which ends in rancidity, but as we do not want to prevent this absolutely—else there is no flavour— we must use means accordingly. — Agricultural Gazette.