IAHENRY-L Archives

From: "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>
Subject: [IAHENRY] !! Making Gilt-Edged Butter...1879
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2003 13:46:04 -0600

The Free Press
Mount Pleasant, Henry, Iowa
April 3, 1879

Rules for Making Gilt-Edged Butter.
[These rules were recently printed in the "Rural New Yorker," and are so
excellent and concise that we reprint for the benefit of our readers.]

FEEDING,
Select your cows with reference to the quantity and richness of the milk
produced. The best cows are the cheapest for butter, so get the best you can of
whatever breed you select. Give them good pasturage in the summer, and plenty of
pure water, with frequent access to salt. In winter, feed sweet, early-cut hay,
well-cut fodder, roots, cabbages, etc., and a ration of bran, corn-meal, ground
oats, or middlings.
IMPLEMENTS,
Have the implements, and keep them scrupulously clean, well-scalded, and
often exposed to the sweetening influences of the sun. The milk pail and pans
should be of the best quality of tin. A reliable thermometer is a necessity to
every good dairyman.
MILKING,
The milking should be done quietly and at regular times, and the utmost
cleanliness observed. Nothing is tainted quicker than milk by foul odors, and
surely at times with nearly all cows there is enough animal odor to it, without
adding any more.
SETTING,
Strain the milk slowly into the pans, four to six inches deep. It is an
excellent plan to strain the milk into a large can set in cold water, and cool
down to 600 to 650 and not allowed to vary much either above or below.
In hot weather keep a large piece of ice in a tub in the room. Cover it
over with a thick blanket, and if arranged so that the water will run off, it
will keep a long time, and keep the room very uniform.
In cold weather some arrangement for warming the milk room should be
adopted.
SKIMMING,
Skim as soon as the milk begins to turn sour. Do not neglect this rule as
it is impossible to make good butter from cream that has become old and sour.
When you pour your cream into the cream jar, splash as little as possible. Stir
the cream every time you add more to it, and wipe the sides of the pot. Keep the
temperature at about 60 degrees, and the cream pot in the coolest part of the
house, covered with a fine gauze netting strained on a hoop, not with a tight
cover. If covered too tight, fermentation is often too rapid.
CHURNING,
Churn often, as there is nothing gained by long keeping. Bring the
temperature of the cream in the churn to 58 degrees, and not allow it to rise
above 64 degrees. Churn early in the morning, while it is cool. First scald,
turn the paddles a few times, then pour off, and pour in cold water, and turn
the paddles; pour off, and pour in your cream. In churning revolve the paddles
with an easy regular motion, not too fast, not too slow.
The butter should come in about forty minutes, a little more or a little
less if the temperature of the cream when put in was about 58 degrees,
ascertained by the thermometer.
COLORING,
When likely to be deficient in color add a sufficient quantity of The
Perfected Butter Color (made by Wells, Richardson & Co., Burlington, Vt.,) to
keep it up to the June standard.
WORKING AND SALTING,
When it is "broken" and there is a difficulty to make the butter gather,
throw in some cold water, and give a few more turns. Some, and I think a
majority, of the best butter-makers of to-day wash their butter with cold water
before removing from the churn.- Gather your butter with the paddle and lift it
out into the tray, press it gently and incline it, and let the butter milk run
off. Work it gently with the paddle, with a cutting, gentle pressure, but not to
mash it; or, better, put into the butter-worker.
Salt it about an ounce to the pound, or the taste of good customers; only
with the best salt, and free from lumps and coarseness. Work the butter only so
much as to expel the butter-milk but not to work it too dry. This can be done by
the use of a weak brine prepared for this purpose. Put the bowl away in a cool
place. After standing twelve or twenty-four hours, gently press out with a ladle
or machine, the remaining butter-milk, and any brine that will flow out with it,
care being used not to work it much. If this is done the butter has lost its
grain and becomes salvey, and its keeping qualities are greatly injured.
PACKING,
Pack into vessels which impart no impurities to the butter. Fill within
half an inch of the top. Place a thin cloth wholly over the butter. Over that
pour a cold brine as strong as can be made of hot water and the purest salt, or
cover with a layer of fine salt. The whole process of making the butter, form
drawing the milk to the placing of the butter in packages, should be hurried, as
milk, cream and butter are going to decay every moment when exposed to the air,
pure it may be.- Such butter is ready to keep or sell. If to be kept long before
selling, surround every package with coarse salt, by placing them in boxes
prepared for the purpose. This process keeps the butter cool and hard, and free
from sudden changes of air. When all these things are tended to promptly, and
with as much uniformity as is under the power of man to control, there will be a
near approach to uniformity in color, richness and purity. If the beginner
follow these rules and keeps doing so, he will soon command the highest figures.
Cleanliness and common sense applied from the beginning to the end are
absolutely necessary to insure good butter that will bring the highest price in
the market.

Cathy Joynt Labath
Iowa Old Press
http://www.IowaOldPress.com/
Iowa History Project
http://iagenweb.org/history/

This thread:

• [IAHENRY] !! Making Gilt-Edged Butter...1879 by "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>