Ventilate the churn freely and frequently during churning, until no air rushes out when the vent is opened.
Stop churning immediately the butter comes. This can be ascertained by the sound; if in doubt, look.
The butter should now be like grains of mustard seed. Pour in a small quantity of cold water (1 pint of water to 2 quarts of cream) to harden the grains, and give a few more turns to the churn gently.
Draw off the buttermilk, giving plenty of time for draining. Use a straining-cloth placed over the hair-sieve, so as to prevent any loss, and wash the butter in the churn with plenty of cold water: then draw off the water, and repeat the process until the water comes off quite clear.
To brine butter, make a strong brine, 2 to 3 ℔ of salt to 1 gallon of water. Place straining-cloth over mouth of churn, pour in brine, put lid on churn, turn sharply half a dozen times, and leave for 10 to 15 minutes. Then lift the butter out of the churn into sieve, turn butter out on worker, leave it a few minutes to drain, and work gently till all superfluous moisture is pressed out.
To drysalt butter, place butter on worker, let it drain 10 to 15 minutes, then work gently till all the butter comes together. Place it on the scales and weigh; then weigh salt, for slight salting, ¼ oz.; medium, ½ oz.; heavy salting, ¾ oz. to the ℔ of butter. Roll butter out on worker and carefully sprinkle salt over the surface, a little at a time; roll up and repeat till all the salt is used.
Never touch the butter with your hands.
Well-made butter is firm and not greasy. It possesses a characteristic texture or “grain,” in virtue of which it cuts clean with a knife and breaks with a granular fracture, like that of cast-iron. Theoretically, butter should consist of little else than fat, but in practice this degree of perfection is never attained. Usually the fat ranges from 83 to 88%, whilst water is present to the extent of from 10 to 15%.[11] There will also be from 0.2 to 0.8% of milk-sugar, and from 0.5 to 0.8% of casein. It is the casein which is the objectionable ingredient, and the presence of which is usually the cause of rancidity. In badly-washed or badly-worked butter, from which the buttermilk has not been properly removed, the proportion of casein or curd left in the product may be considerable, and such butter has only inferior keeping qualities. At the same time, the mistake may be made of overworking or of overwashing the butter, thereby depriving it of the delicacy of flavour which is one of its chief attractions as an article of consumption if eaten fresh. The object of washing with brine is that the small quantity of salt thus introduced shall act as a preservative and develop the flavour. Streaky butter may be due either to curd left in by imperfect washing, or to an uneven distribution of the salt.
Equipment of the Dairy
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| Fig. 1.—Milking-Pail. | Fig. 2.—Milk Sieve. |