EFFECT OF SALT UPON KEEPING QUALITIES 273 



is most suitable. In whole-milk creameries the salt is often 

 estimated per hundredweight or per thousand pounds of milk. 



To get the butter salted uniformly from day to day is- very 

 important. A variation of i per cent to 2 per cent in the salt- 

 content can very easily be detected by the consumer, while 

 that much variation in any one of the other chief constituents 

 could not be readily noticed. 



The conditions upon which the proper amount of salt depend 

 are: First, the amount and condition of moisture in the butter 

 at the time the salt is added. If there is a great deal of loose 

 moisture in the butter, more salt is necessary. This is due to the 

 fact that the salt will go into solution in the water and be 

 expressed during working. Secondly, it depends upon the 

 amount of working the butter receives, and at what time the 

 bulk of working is done, after the salt has been added. If the 

 butter is medium firm, moisture in the form of brine is being 

 expressed during the working. Consequently, the more butter 

 is worked, up to a certain limit, the more brine is being expressed, 

 and the more salt should be added to the butter. Thirdly, it 

 depends upon the firmness of the butter, the size of the granules, 

 and the method of applying the salt. If the granules be inclined 

 to be soft and slushy more salt must be added than would other- 

 wise be necessary, as more will be carried off during the process of 

 working. 



It is undoubtedly due to these facts that the salt-content 

 and the condition of salt in butter vary so much at the different 

 creameries; they even vary considerably from one churning 

 to another at the same creamery. If conditions are uniform in 

 the creamery from day to day, the amount of salt to add to 

 butter, and the amount of salt retained in the butter when 

 finished, will be comparatively uniform. 



It was thought at one time that heavy salting covered defective 

 flavors in butter. Such is not the case; it really accentuates 

 them. Some of the large creameries make their second-grade 

 cream into sweet or unsalted butter. 



Effect of Salt upon Keeping Qualities. Within certain 

 limits salt acts as an antiseptic and improves the keeping qual- 



