The Causes of Leaky Butter

Abstract

The moisture and salt content of most butter packed and stored in the usual way gradually decreases as the butter becomes older. The brine comes to the outside of the butter and either runs away or evaporates. This movement of brine from within the butter to the outside is commonly spoken of as leakage, and butter in which this movement is especially pronounced is called leaky butter. Leaky butter loses rapidly in weight due to the loss of brine, and this loss in weight is known as shrinkage. When leaky butter is cut into prints considerable brine is forced out which results in a marked decrease in.weight. Wet looking butter is butter that shows much free brine on i t s surface in the chum, and especially when a sample is taken with a butter trier after the butter has hardened in the refrigerator. Wet looking butter is commonly called leaky although no experimental work has been done to show that the two are the same. A review of the dairy literature reveals the fact that no systematic attempt has ever been made to determine all of the conditions of manufacture that make butter leaky. Text books on butter making give a variety of reasons for the causes of leaky butter. McKay and Larsen, in their book, Principles and Practices of Buttermaking, state: . . . . this leaky condition i s brought about chiefly by churning the butter to small granules, washing the butter very little in cold water, salting heavily while butter granules are still small and firm, and working the butter frequently in the presence of brine. Martin H. Meyer in h i s