Milk in the separating room passing over refrigerating pipes of a dairy
"Right on the border of Pennsylvania, in the central part of the southeastern tier of counties of the "Empire State," is Delaware County. We are in about the center of the county at Delhi, the county seat. Nothing could be more interesting, from a gastronomic point of view, than the equipment we see in the refrigerating and separating room of this up-to-date creamery. It is a far cry from the day when our cream was raised in pans, ripened in the by no means always clean atmosphere of the farmhouse kitchen, cooled in the spring-house and churned laboriously and uncertainly by hand.
Products and Industries. Here on our left is one of the modern types of cream separators. The cream comes out of the upper pipe and slides toward us. It then enters the square pipe and goes in the other direction. The milk comes out of the lower valve at a much faster rate and goes into those large tanks; it is drawn up from them and passes over those refrigerating pipes and back into the tank nearest to us.
It is absolutely essential to keep all these pipes, etc., absolutely clean. Improper cleaning of utensils is often the cause of sour milk. They should first be soaked in lukewarm water, then thoroughly washed in boiling water containing some cleaning material, lastly they should be rinsed in clean hot water. In the case of small utensils - buckets, strainers, dippers, etc. - they should be inverted and drained in the open air, if possible in the sunlight on suitable racks."
