THE SPREADING OF BUTTER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 17, 17 December 1932, Page 6

THE SPREADING OF BUTTER.

Few people, possibly, realise how such an apparently insignificant factor as tiie spreading of butter can affect the wellbeing of a country. Yet it is shown tfiat in competition with Danish produce the New Zealand dairyman is at a disadvantage because of the lack of spreading quality in his goods. The fact that Danish butter regularly enjoys a premium over the New Zealand article, the British preferential tariff notwithstanding, stresses the need for even greater efforts in studying market requirements in our output if we are to successfully compete with the foreign product. It is admitted that the spreading qualities of the two alone are not the only reason for the disparity in price, but it is just as readily agreed that there is a good deal to be said for them in influencing'the British housewife, especially in the winter months when the temperature becomes low and the thrifty experience difficulty in practising economy with butter no matter of what make it may be. In view of this, it will be welcome news to dairy farmers that the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research has met with great success in its. experiments to overcome the defect, if it can truly be termed such, in the New Zealand article. It has been found that it is quite possible to produce a butter in the Dominion that has the softness of Danish and is capable of being spread just as easily. It is related that the stiff texture of Dominion * butter is due to a certain method of quick cooling’ of cream. This, the experimentalists point out, can be overcome without heavy expense —a point woi’th noting—to the dairy factories, to which the new system is about to be explained. Caution will, however, be needed, inasmuch as too soft a butter will not find favour during the English summer, but it will be conceded that an important discovery has been made which should materially benefit the consumption of the New Zealand product. Here is another instance of the vital part science plays in the development of industry. By this means it may be found that a good deal of the English housewife’s prejudice against Dominion butter will be broken down. It will be recalled that as far back as February last, when the Danish article was enjoying a premium of twopence to threepence in the retail price per pound over New Zealand, reference was made to the spreading qualities of the two. Then Britain was experiencing wintry weather, and it should be remarked that this price disparity almost inevitably occurs at such a season. That the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research has not overlooked this point but has directed its energies to overcoming the difficulty is a matter for gratification. There is nothing lacking in the wholesomeness of Dominion butter; the production is steadily mounting, and it would appear that the most important course to watch now is the marketing end.