BUTTER MAKING. 77 



injures i>ood flavor, and it may, to some extent, be used 

 to cover up or neutralize bad flavors. We do not recom- 

 mend its use for this latter purpose, preferring that the 

 natural flavor of butter from pure cream should be pre- 

 served. 



SALT A8 A PRESERVATIVE. 



Salt does very little to preserve butter. It retards the 

 decomposition of the caseous and albuminous materials 

 left in it; but if butter is properly made of cream not 

 mixed with loppered milk and is completely washed with 

 pure water, it is a fair question if butter will not keep 

 longer without salt than with it. There are instances on 

 record where butter has been kept sweet without salt for 

 a long time. We half suspect that, though salt at first 

 retards decomposition, the salt itself, in time, decompos- 

 es and becomes sodium and chlorine gas, or enters into 

 new combinations with the constituents of the butter, 

 and thus makes new compounds that do not in the least 

 improve the flavor. We have no positive evidence of this, 

 but have had this suspicion awakened by facts related 

 about the keeping of butter and by a process of general 

 reasoning. It is true that salt is one of the most stable 

 compounds known, but we have proof that it can be re- 

 solved into its original elements, when stronger affinities 

 are presented lor one or both of them to unite with. It 

 would not, therefore, be strange if such decomposition 

 sometimes follows when used in our food preparations. 



TACKING BUTTER. 



It is quite a knack to properly pack butter in large 

 packages, and the work needs to be carefully done. Some 



