—Put the requisite amount of factory “starter” in the ripeners, thoroughly agitate and allow to remain quiet. At the expiration of twelve hours, the milk should be ripened sufficiently for churning and by test it should show, as above stated, six-tenths of one per cent acid. When this acidity has been developed cool to 58° F. and place in churn. At this temperature the butter-fat will form in small, firm globules and separate nicely from the casein. If the temperature is lower than this it takes much longer to separate the fat from the casein and it is impossible to separate all of it, hence some fat is lost. At a higher temperature, the fat, when separate, will be fluffy and soft and will not produce a firm body.
As texture is one of the essential points to be sought after in producing artificial butter, the churning of the milk, in order to produce the proper texture in the butter-fat, is a very important function and one which should be carefully performed. Before putting the milk into the churn it should be stirred thoroughly, as during the twelve hours occupied in ripening, the butter-fat, being the lightest, has come to the top and unless again thoroughly mixed, one churn will contain most of the fat and the others will contain comparatively little, and as each churning of milk going into the mixer constitutes a separate run, the quality of the butterine manufactured will be uneven.
Quality in Butterine.
—Butterine is made in various grades, differing in constituents and proportions, also color, according to selections. Some manufacturers reduce the milk and cream content and add pure butter. Formulas for various methods follow:
In the matter of color large oleo producers select fats in the raw for making high colored oil, keeping it separate in manufacture; also select oil while graining for color, and press it all separately. Another source of a high colored oil is the boiling of large knuckles from shank or leg bones in cutter cattle, cooking them in open tanks and skimming the oil. The bones are cracked and boiled several times and the oil skimmed. The flavor is not sufficient to be detrimental. This is purely an animal oil that can be used in the oleo oil to make tinted mixtures.
Low Grade Butterine.
—This is composed of cotton seed oil, No. 2 oleo oil and No. 2 neutral lard. Straight milk is used for flavor. The oils go into an emulsion churn at the following temperatures: Cotton seed oil at 75° F.; neutral lard, added next, at 95° F., and oleo oil next at 90° F.
The cotton seed oil should be agitated for about fifteen to twenty minutes before the other oils are added, leaving the lid of the emulsion churn open. This has the effect of removing some of the flavor from the oil and while it may be slight, it is an advantage. The neutral lard should be added next, care being taken to see that it is free from flakes and grainy mixtures. In other words, it should be brought to the proper temperature, viz., 95° F. and held there long enough before going to the agitator to be sure that the grain of the lard has entirely disappeared, for if this is allowed to go in it can never be removed in the finished product.
FIG. 165.—CHURN ROOM FOR BUTTERINE.