264* An approved method OFCRJRrNG BUTTER. 



TO preferve butter free from rancidity, and without over- 

 powering its natural tafte by the acrid pungency of the 

 antifeptics employed for that purpofe, has long been deemed 

 a great defideratum. Common fait alone has been hitherto 

 ufually employed for that purpofe; but this either does not 

 preferve the butter effeftualiy, or it muft be employed in fuch 

 quantities as to render itexceeding pungent, and difagreeable to 

 moft palates. Thefe inconveniences will be both avoided by 

 employing in its flead the following compofiLion ; 



" Take two parts of the beft fea-falt, (great fait, Avhere it 

 " can be had, fliould in all cafes be preferred,) one part of 

 " faltpetre, and one part of fugar ; beat them fine in a mortar, 

 " and mix them thoroughly together. Of this compolition 

 " employ o!ie ounce for every fixtcen ounces of butter, tak- 

 " ingcare to mix it intimately with it, and to beat it up in the 

 " lame manner as you would employ common fait." 



Butter cured with this compolition never requires a very 

 bard confiftcnce, as it fometimes doth with common fait, when 

 the butter is of a poor quality, but it always appears of a rich 

 mellow confidence, and affumes more of a marrowy tafte, 

 than the fame butter would have, if cured with fait alone, 

 and it taftes much lefs fait, than if one half the quantity of 

 common fait it a(ftually contains had been put into it alone ; 

 though w ith ordinary attention and care, butter thus cured 

 may be preferved in this country for Jcveral years, without 

 difcovcring the fmalleft marks of rancidity, as I have often 

 experienced. 



It is up.neceflary, however, to add, that unlefs the butter 

 fhall have been properly freed from the milk and other impu- 

 rities' before it be put up, it cannot be thus preferved, with- 

 n'jt danger of being tainted ; and that if it be expofed^ long td 

 the open air, in ati improper manner, and fuffered to become 

 dry, it will acquire a ftrong tafte. It is not propofed, that 

 this (houkl operate as 5 charm, but merely as an effeftual pre- 

 fervative when due care is "beftowed upon it ; with that atten- 

 tion, I have known butter thus cured, that has been kept per- 

 fcftly fvveet in this country near three years, and how much 

 longsr it might have been preferved I know not. 



Moft perfons will have a prejudice againft ufing this conipo- 

 (ition, from a preconceived idea, that the taitc of faltpetre- 

 miift prec'cminate and prove difagreeable ; but this I can 

 •ifTure them io an ill founded prejudice ; for, after a little time, 

 the t.iite of the different m.itcrials is fo iniimately blended as 

 ■:o leave nothing of this kind perceptible, though for about a 

 fortnight from the time it has been cured fomething of this 

 fort may be perceived. Let thofe, therefore, who fhall try 

 this mode of curing better, delay uling it till a fortnight or 

 thr<^e weeks after it has been cured, and aft'.-r that period no 

 t (fi'- iifl'v;- l;i"d i-an be Perceived. 



