Butter has to be made in immaculate conditions, or else it spoils; it is not as forgiving as cheese. In England, butter was usually made for local markets, which was easier, but Holland was sending it out of the province and even out of the country. Dairy rooms had to be kept perfectly clean, and since often a family had only a pair of cows, the dairy was domestic, an extension of the house. When small farms began to be swallowed by larger landowners, when women and men moved from the countryside into all the new towns that were thriving, they naturally brought the habit of careful cleanliness
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