Hardness of Butter. II. Influence of Setting

The extent of setting was measured in conventional and continuously made butter 2 representative of seasonal hardness extremes, which have been related earlier to variations in the solid fat content of the butterfat.The extent of setting, which is defined as the hardness increase during storage of the butter, is shown to be largely dependent on initial hardness, the harder butter displaying the greater degree of setting.Setting was always less, however, in continuously made butter when compared with conventional butter made in the same season.Rapid coo~ing of the cream resulted in a harder conventional butter, with an increased extent of setting.The extent of setting may be permanently lessened by printing and, again, the decrease is influenced by the initial butter hardness.A complete interruption of setting is effected by freezing, but setting resumes its normal course on removal of the butter to higher temperature storage.