BUTTER. 



with the air. In the course of an 

 hour's churning, more or less accord- 

 ing to circumstances, small kernels 

 of butter appear, which are soon uni- 

 ted by the pressure of the hoard 

 against the bottom of the churn, and 

 form a mass of solid butter. The 

 butter is collected with the hand, and 

 placed in a shallow tub for the next 

 operation. The butter-milk is set 

 aside for the pigs, or for domestic 

 use. The butter is still mixed with 

 some portion of butter-milk; but much 

 of its quality for keeping depends on 

 the perfect separation. The most 

 usual way is to spread it thin in a 

 shallow tub, beating it with a flat 

 ■wooden spoon, and washing it repeat- - 

 edly with clear spring water until all 

 milkiness disappears in the water 

 which is poured off. Some experi- 

 enced dairymen pretend that the but- 

 ter is deteriorated by much wash- 

 ing, and, therefore, express the but- 

 ter-milk by simply beating the butter 

 with the hand, kept cool by frequent- 

 ly dipping it in cold water, or with a 

 moist cloth wrapped in the form of a 

 ball, which soaks up all the butter- 

 milk, and leaves the butter quite dry. 

 This operation requires the greatest 

 attention, especially in warm weath- 

 er ; and no person should work the 

 butter who has not a very cool hand. 

 The less it is handled the better, and 

 therefore a wooden spoon or spatula 

 is much to be preferred. The pres- 

 ence of any curd renders butter liable 

 to putrefaction, and is, to a great ex- 

 tent, the cause of the unpleasant taste 

 of that made carelessly in summer. 



The greatest portion of the butter 

 that is made, especially at a distance 

 from large towns, is immediately salt- 

 ed and put into casks, which usual- 

 ly contain fifty-six pounds, and are 

 called firkins. The quality of the salt 

 used is of great importance ; if it be 

 pure, the butter will keep its flavour 

 for a long time ; but when it is im- 

 pure, and contains bitter and deliques- 

 cent salts, the butter soon becomes 

 rancid. The Dutch are very particu- 

 lar in this point. They use a kind of 

 salt wliich is made by slow evapora- 

 tion, and perfectly crystallized. The 

 1^2 



salt is intimately mixed with the but- 

 ter. From three to five pounds are 

 sufiicient for a firkin of fifty - six 

 pounds. The following mixture has 

 been found superior to salt alone in 

 curing butter : half an ounce of dry 

 salt, pounded fine, two drachms of su- 

 gar, and two drachms of saltpetre, for 

 every pound of butter. It is used in 

 Goshen, Orange county, New-York. 

 The casks are made of clean white 

 wood. They are carefully washed 

 inside with strong brine made hot, 

 and rubbed over with salt. The but- 

 ter, being quite dry, is pressed close 

 into the cask, a small layer of salt 

 having been first put on the bottom. 

 Every addition is carefully incorpora- 

 ted with the preceding portion. If 

 there is not a sufficient quantity to 

 fill the cask at once, the surface is 

 made smooth, some salt is put over 

 it, and a cloth is pressed close upon 

 it to exclude the air. When the re- 

 mainder is added at tlie next churn- 

 ing, the cloth is taken off, and the 

 salt which had been put on the sur- 

 face carefully removed with a spoon. 

 The surface is dug into with a small 

 wooden spade, and laid rough, and 

 the newly-salted butter is added and 

 incorporated completely. This pre- 

 vents a streak which would other- 

 wise appear at the place where the 

 two portions are joined. When the 

 cask is full, some salt is put over it, 

 and the head is put in. If the butter 

 is well freed from all the butter-milk, 

 and the salt mixed with it quite dry, 

 it will not shrink in the cask, and it 

 will keep its flavour for a long time. 

 Should there be an appearance of 

 shrinking, the cask must be opened 

 and melted butter poured round it, so 

 as to rill up the interstices between 

 the butler and the cask ; in this way 

 it will not suffer in its quality. There 

 is a mode of preserving butter for do- 

 mestic use without salt, in the follow- 

 ing manner : the butter is set in a 

 clean pan over the fire and melted 

 very gently ; it is not allowed to boil, 

 but is heated very nearly to the boil- 

 ing point. Experience has shown 

 this heat to be attained when the re- 

 . flection of the white of the eye is dis- 



