ON BUTTER.
Butter is an Article in very general use, and numerous are the people employed in making it; and is in great esteem; from observations I have made, it admits of very little variation in the method of preparing, which methods are so generally known, require very little commentary upon them; I profess not to understand them, and therefore shall say very little about it. What little I have remarked in conversing with Dairy-women, is, that care should be taken to set up your Milk when it is of a proper warmth—Milk-warm is the best, regulated the same as for rendling Cheese, applying a little cold Water if too hot, and either warm Water or Milk if too cold; many think Water best, saying, it will throw up Cream sooner; to take care the Utensils it is set up in, are exceeding clean—the utility of which I think is clearly made appear by observing the effect of a contrary remark in making Whey Butter.—Indolence, finds out many ways which Industry never thought of.—Some Butter-Women, whose care is, more, to make a large quantity, than regard the quality, or flavour of Butter, will tell you, that sour Whey, yields more Cream than sweet, and it immediately turns sour, by putting it into the Pans you poured the last meal’s Whey from, without washing them. But in making good Butter, great care must be taken to prevent the Cream’s being sour, or your Butter will be ill flavoured, and will keep good but a very little time—That lead Pans are preferred to every thing, in throwing up, or rising the Cream from Milk. Not to let the Milk stand too long before it is skimmed, especially in hot weather.—If it must stand two meals, it had better be skimmed twice, than to let it stand the whole time for one skimming, as the Milk often turns sour before the expiration of two meals; and if the last meal should change, you may then be enabled to keep all the sweet Cream by itself.—The less time the Cream stands before it is churned, the finer flavoured and sweeter your Butter will be.
Nothing is more commendable in a Dairy-maid than cleanliness, nor will any thing cause them to be more esteemed; every one who perceives extream neatness in a Dairy, cannot help wishing to purchase either Butter or Cheese from so clean and neat a place, and would gladly give a higher price, rather than be exposed to the chance of sluttish nastiness, too common in many Dairys. It is remarked by many Travellers, that in the Isle of Wight, nothing is more pleasing than to see the exceeding neatness of their Dairys; it very rarely goes unnoticed, and to a delicate taste, scarce any thing affords greater pleasure.
As Butter is become a very considerable Article of Trade, it is highly proper every means should be rendered to make it as complete and perfect as possible; it is very different in regard to purchasers of large quantities of Butter, who must take lots as they happen, and in which very often a considerable part of them are very inferior to what they ought to be, and to buyers of fresh Butter in Markets; who can see and taste it before they buy, which is a caution to the makers to have it well made, knowing it will be inspected before sold, those who put it into Casks or Firkins, for distant sale, are apt not to be so very careful about it. I have heard frequent enquiry by Cheese-mongers, or dealers in Butter, what is the cause of Salt Butter being so subject to get rank, strong tasted, or rancid, or what some people call a fishy taste, which is a very great detriment to dealers in Butter, and the cause of the complaint much wants to be known; being well acquainted that the complaint is very frequent, has often led me to enquire into the cause when an opportunity has offered, being lately conversing with a person on the subject, he said it was very common in Suffolk & Yorkshire, to heat the Milk before it was set up for Cream, which is done in order to increase the quantity of Cream. It is well known that every fat substance that is heated, will in course of time turn rancid, or reezy, that when Butter, of the last year, or a year old, is in the Cask through the Summer, the heat will affect it, and so far as the heat gets into it, will reeze or become of a tallowy nature, fat Bacon will reeze so far as the fat melts; and the heating of Milk must certainly alter the nature of it, and in course of time will cause the Butter to turn rancid, and ill tasted. I have heard it observed by a person who is used to buy fresh Butter that was made of heated, or clouted Cream, (which is a method much used in some parts of the South of England) that it is very apt to get strong and will keep good but a very little time. So that from all remarks I have been capable of making, it seems clear to me that the badness or foulness of Butter, is chiefly owing to the Milk being heated, and is a hint worth the enquiry of the public, especially large dealers in Butter, in order that some method may be taken to prevent an evil that is become so very prevalent.
A friend who has been much used to Dairying, lately communicated to me a method to give Winter made Butter, which is often made from Fodder, either Hay or Straw, the countenance and relish of Summer Butter, made in the prime of the Season; which is done by taking the juice of carrots, being bruised, or pounded to a pulp & then press’d or squeezed out, putting it into the Cream before Churn’d. And also, a method to take off the disagreeable taste of Butter made from Turnips, viz. let your Cream be warmed and poured into a Tub or Pail of cold Water, then skim the Cream off the Water, which will rise to the top, the same as in Milk, and by this means leave the foul taste behind it in the Water, this last method will much improve Whey Butter, taking off the disagreeable sourness that often attends it, and by adding the juice of carrots as above, will help its colour and give it an agreeable relish, and by this means you may salt Whey Butter, down in pots, that will do very well for paste in Winter. In a very sensible, and practical Essay printed in the third Volume of the Bath Society’s Letters and Papers on Agriculture, &c. by Mr. Hazard, some useful remarks are made on Dairying, and also on the Dairy-house, which he says, should always be kept in the neatest order, and so situated, that the Windows or Lattices never front the South, South-east or South-west; Lattices are also prefer’d to Windows, as they admit a more free circulation of Air, than glazed lights possible can do, and to prevent the cold Air in Winter, a sliding frame coverd with oil’d cap paper, pasted on packthread strained thereon, will admit the light and keep out the Sun and Wind. It is hardly possible in the Summer to keep a Dairy-house too cool, on which account none should be situated far from a good spring or current of Water: They should be neatly paved with red brick or smooth hard stone, and laid with a proper descent, so that no Water may lodge, this pavement should be well wash’d in summer every day; and all the Utensils belonging to the Dairy should be kept perfectly clean, nor should the Churns even be suffer’d to be scalded in the Dairy as the steam that arises from hot Water will injure the Milk, nor do I approve of Cheese being kept therein, or Rennet for making Cheese, or having a Cheese Press fixed in a Dairy, as the Whey and Curd will diffuse their acidity throughout the Room. He is of opinion the proper receptacle for Milk are Earthen-pans or Wooden-vats, but not lined with lead, as that mineral certainly contains a poisonous quality and may in some degree affect the Milk, but if people still persist in using them, he advises that they never forget to scald them, scrub them well with salt and Water and to dry them thoroughly before they deposit the Milk therein, indeed all Utensils should be cleaned in like manner before they are used, and if after this, they in the least degree smell sour, they must undergo a second scrubbing before they are fit for use, he also recommends Pans with a large-surface, or wide at top; during the Summer Months he recommends skimming the Milk very early in the Morning before the Dairy becomes warm, and not in the Evening till after Sun set; churning he recommends to be done in a Morning before the Sun appears, taking care to fix the churn where there is a free draft of Air, if a pump churn be used it may be plunged a foot deep into a tub of cold water to remain there the whole time of churning, which will very much harden the Butter; a strong rancid flavour will be given to Butter, if the churn be so near the fire as to heat the wood, in the Winter season.
After Butter is churned, it should be washed in many different waters till it is perfectly cleansed from the Butter-milk, but he observes a warm hand will soften it and make it appear greasey: The Cheese-mongers use two pieces of Wood (or Spaddles) for their Butter, and if those who have a very hot hand were to have such, they might work the Butter, so as to make it more saleable.
Butter will require, and endure, more working in Winter than in Summer, but he remarks he never knew any person, whose hand was warm by nature make good Butter.
Those who use a pump churn must endeavour to keep a regular stroke, nor should they admit any person to assist them, except they keep nearly the same stroke, for if they churn more slowly, the Butter will in Winter, go back, as it is called, and if the stroke be more quick and violent, in the Summer it will cause a fermentation, by which means the Butter will imbibe a very disagreeable flavor. Where many Cows are kept, a barrel churn is preferable, but it requires to be kept very clean or the bad effects will be discover’d in the Butter, to be fixt in a warm place in Winter, and where there is a free Air in the Summer.
As many of my acquaintance wished to have an enlarged account, of the Art of making Butter: I was very glad to have the opportunity, of collecting these annex’d, which are most of them worthy observation, and as I have before mention’d the method some people use in making Butter from what is generally call’d clouted cream; I shall now give you the process as laid down by Mr. Hazard.