Studies on the manufacture of sweet cream starter butter: II. Effect of variation in proportion of starter added to cream

Abstract

SummaryProduction of diacetyl and acetoin by starters in cold skim-milk and cream was shown to increase with increase in the proportion of starter culture added, with some limitations at the higher rates of starter addition.With Streptococcus diacetilactis starter in skim-milk at 50°F the relation between proportion of starter added and production of diacetyl was linear up to addition at the 4% level, whereas at 43°F it was approximately linear up to the 10% level. At both 50 and 43°F the relation between the proportion of starter added and the production of acetoin was linear up to the 10% level.With Camb starter in skim-milk at both 50 and 43°F there were regular increases in production of diacetyl up to the 4% level of addition, but only minor changes thereafter with increase in the proportion of starter added up to 10%. At both temperatures the maximum production of acetoin was reached with the 7% rate of addition.Production of diacetyl and acetoin in skim-milk was greater at 50°F than at 43°F with both starters for all proportions up to 10%, and it was greater for Str. diacetilactis than for the mixed cultures.Except at the higher rates of addition of starter and at the higher temperature there were no concomitant increases in the acidity of the milk or lowering of the pH values. It appears that at low temperatures production of diacetyl by starters in sweet milk and cream proceeds independently of production of lactic acid.Similar results were obtained in a series of experimental buttermaking trials and some small commercial-scale trials, in which varying proportions of starter were added to creams after pasteurizing and before holding overnight for churning. With the cream-holding temperatures used, mainly 40–50°F, the pH values of the butters were not appreciably lowered by the starter additions to the cream. At all the rates of addition there were with Str. diacetilactis starter higher contents of diacetyl in the butter than with Camb starter. There was no indication of any relationship between the proportion of starter added and the keeping quality of the butter.