334 SALTING THE: BUTTER 



The final drying process of all butter salt is the same. The 

 driers are huge, cylindrical, revolving drums, 32 to 35 feet in 

 length, and six feet in diameter and set at an incline so that 

 the salt may travel slowly from one end of the drier to the 

 other. Heat is supplied by means of steam pipes which pass 

 through the driers. The temperature in these driers is about 

 280 F. The hot salt coming from the driers is then sifted. 

 For butter salt, wire sieves with 25 to 30 meshes to the inch 

 are used. After sifting, the salt is ready to be packed. 



Most of the better butter salts contain these chemical 

 impurities in exceedingly small amounts only, are practically 

 entirely free from insoluble matter and contain less than .5 

 per cent of moisture. The foregoing table shows analyses of 

 diverse salts and indicates their relative freedom from chemical 

 impurities. 



In the consideration of the chemical analyses of butter salts. 

 as shown in table 51, it should be understood that the composi- 

 tion of different lots of one and the same brand not infrequently 

 varies quite considerably, so that an unbiased and fair con- 

 clusion concerning the relative merits of the several salts, 

 based on their standard of chemical purity is possible only, 

 when the respective analyses represent averages of a large 

 number of samples of each brand in question. 



Many of the analyses shown in table 51 represent but one 

 sample of the respective brands and even in the case of figures 

 which do represent averages, only a comparatively few sam- 

 ples of the respective brands served to make up these aver- 

 ages. For these reasons it is obvious that the figures in table 

 51 should be accepted only as a general guide and should not 

 be looked upon as a guarantee of the standard of chemical 

 purity of the brands involved. 



Physical Condition of the Salt. It is very important that 

 the salt be present in the form of crystals of the proper form 

 and size. This factor controls its readiness to dissolve and 

 its ease of being retained in the butter. The crystals must be 

 of medium coarseness. When the crystals are excessively large 

 they dissolve with comparative difficulty, tending toward gritty 



