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page 383
HINTS ON BUTTER-MAKING.
No sloven can make good butter. The one thing to be kept in mind, morning, noon
and night, is neatness, neatness, neatness. The milking should be done in the
cleanest place that can be found, and the cows should be kept as clean as
possible. Wash the teats and udders thoroughly with plenty of cold water, and
wipe with a cloth or towel. Never wash with the hand moistened with milk from
the cow. The least impurity taints the cream, and takes from the sweetness of
the butter. Milk perfectly clean, (as the last quart is twice as rich in butter
as the first,) and the quicker the milking is done the more milk is obtained.
The milk-room should be clean and sweet, its air pure, and temperature about 62
degrees. As soon as a pail is filled, take to the milk-room and strain the milk
through a fine wire-cloth strainer, kept for the purpose, and not attached to
the pail (the simple strainer being more easily kept clean). Never allow milk to
stand in the stable and cool, as it absorbs the foul odors of the place. The
pans (flat stone crocks with flaring sides are better that tin pans. In winter
hot water should be poured into them while milking is being done, and poured out
just before straining the milk into them) should be set on slats, rather than
shelves, as it is important to have the milk cooled from the animal heat as soon
as possible. Skim each day, or at longest within twenty-four hours. Souring does
not injure the quality of the cream, but the milk should not be allowed to
become watery. Do not use a perforated skimmer, but remove a little of the milk
with the cream, as this does not injure the quality or lessen the quantity of
butter, and gives more well-flavored buttermilk, which is a favorite and
wholesome drink. If there is cream enough each day, it should, of course, be
churned, and this plan makes the best butter, although it takes longer to churn
it. If not, the cream should be set aside in a cool place, covered, and stirred
thoroughly whenever more is added. It ought not to stand more than two days, and
must not be allowed to become bitter and flaky. The best plan is to churn as
soon as it becomes slightly acid. Scald the churn and dash thoroughly, and put
in the cream at a temperature of 58 degrees. The motion of the churn will soon
bring it up to about 60 degrees. When the butter comes put a quart or two of
cold, soft water (or ice is better) into the churn to harden the butter, and
make it easier to gather up. After gathering it as well as possible with the
dash, it should be removed to the table or bowl, and thoroughly worked with a
flat wooden paddle, (never with the hand, as the insensible perspiration will
more or less taint the butter,) using an abundance of cold soft water to wash
out the buttermilk and harden the butter. By this process the buttermilk is
removed quickly, and there is no need of excessive working, which injures the
grain of the butter. This is especially true of that which is to be packed, as
it keeps longer when well washed. If to be used immediately, the washing may be
less thorough. Another and better plan is to remove the butter to a marble slab
and lay on the top of it a piece of ice. As it settles down by its own weight,
work it up around the edges with the paddle, and the water from the melting ice
will wash out and carry off the buttermilk. Before or during the churning, the
bowl (which should never be used for any thing else) in which the butter is to
be salted should be filled with scalding water, which should remain for ten
minutes; pour out and rub both bowl and
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