40. Clotted Cream.—The rising of the cream can be hastened by heat, which causes it to separate in a much more solid form, when it is called clotted cream.
The milk, after standing ten or twelve hours in a flat metal milk-pan, is placed, without disturbing the cream that has risen, over a stove or clear fire, until a thick scum or cake rises to the surface; a small portion of this is gently removed with the finger from time to time, and when a few small air-bubbles are seen underneath, the whole is immediately removed from the fire, and allowed to stand twenty-four hours. The cream thus obtained is much more solid than usual; it can be gathered off the milk with the fingers, and butter is easily made from it by stirring for a few minutes with the hand. This cream, which is called scalded or clotted cream, will keep several days without turning sour. It, however, requires to be carefully made; for if the milk is allowed to remain on the fire after the bubbles appear beneath the cake of cream the process fails.
The plan of scalding the cream is very useful in small dairies, where only one or two cows are kept, as the cream keeps much longer without becoming sour, and may be kept until a sufficient quantity is collected to make it into butter.