THE WORKING AND KNEADING OF BUTTER. 183 



soon as the salt has been strewn, pieces weighing from 4 to 5 kilos, are 

 gradually added from above in successive layers, and a strong pressure, 

 made by pressing with the one hand on the top of the other, is applied eight 

 or nine times on the side of the trough. Before every new pressure the 

 piece which has been pressed flat is changed to different sides, and pressed 

 again in order to incorporate the salt in the most thorough manner possible. 

 MTien the whole mass has been thoroughly worked, salting and the second 

 kneading is at an end. The single pieces of butter are left in the trough 

 lying beside one another, from 4 to 6 hours, and are not further worked 

 with the hand, but only with a butter-worker or with an American butter- 

 board. A single working on the butter-board at the end of the proper 

 time is sufficient. If the pieces of butter as they come from the working 

 in of the salt lie beside one another and not on the top of one another, the 

 whole mass of the butter receives a similar consistence. If the butter 

 should be too soft in summer, the proper degree of firmness may be 

 imparted to it by cooling it in a suitable method from above with ice. In 

 winter the butter-working should be carried on in a heated room. If the 

 butter is too cold in winter it should be placed in a metal vessel on a damp 

 board, and laid in water at 15 or 16 C. until it has received the necessary 

 amount of softness for working. If the butter has to be worked later on 

 in the kneader, it should be spread in portions or layers not too thick over 

 the table, after being prepared by being treated with sufficiently hot or 

 cold water, care being taken that the holes for permitting the draining 

 away of the butter-milk are not choked up. When the butter-worker is 

 not fitted up for machine use, kneading should be carried on by two 

 persons, one turning the handle at a medium rate, and the other, by means 

 of a wet wooden spatula, spreading the strips of butter on the board of the 

 worker as soon as it has passed once through the rollers, in pieces of about 

 30 centimetres long. These are subjected to a uniform rolling for a 

 quarter of an hour and again placed in the pressing rollers. This rolling 

 and pressing must be carried out with care, in order that the liquid drops 

 on the butter may flow away and be separated. The operation may be 

 regarded as finished as soon as, after strong pressing together of pieces of 

 butter about the size of the fist, no more drops of brine are seen, which is 

 generally the case after the whole mass has passed eight or ten times through 

 the rollers. The room in which the butter lies after salting must be fresh, 

 clean, and free from dirt; care also ought to be taken that the butter 

 should not be exposed for a long time to the action of bright daylight. In 

 summer-time, it is occasionally advisable to cover with gauze the trough 

 in which the butter is lying. The butter should be packed away in the 

 previously prepared box or tub as soon as possible, on its removal from 

 the kneading-board. It is advisable not to touch the butter with the 



