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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



IBomestic IDcpartnunt. 



Sugar for phesekving Butter. — A great deal 

 has been written on preservatives for butter. Some 

 ■writers say, if tlie buttermilk is wholly separated 

 from the butter, that no preservative is necessary, 

 as pure butter will keep well without any addition. 

 Yet very few ever attempt to keep butter without 

 the aid of some preservative ; and most persons pre- 

 fer butter slightly salted, and some would have it 

 sugared also. We have known a few individuals 

 who preferred butter without salt, and at each 

 churning a little has been kept pure for their special 

 use. 



Some persons say that salt is the only proper 

 preservative of butter, as other substances, such as 

 sugar, saltpetre, &c., are injurious to the quality. 

 Now, this reminds us of those dictatorial individuals 

 who would make their taste a standard, though it is 

 at variance with that of the majority of consumers. 

 One pomologist saj's that a vinous-flavored peach is 

 the best, and that a pear of a champagne qualitj' 

 should be preferred, while the majority of mankind 

 are in favor of sweet, luscious fruits. One person 

 prefers tea, another coffee, and a third would like 

 something a little more vinous or spiritous. 



How absurd, then, when tastes are so different, 

 for any one to assume the authority of judging for 

 himself and for others too ! Salt is used in butter 

 both for the purpose of preservation and to render 

 it more palatable. But for long keeping, twice as 

 much salt is used as is necessary to adapt it to the 

 taste of consumers generally. This is evident from 

 the small quantity of salt in lump butter, which 

 usually sells high in market, while tub butter, 

 equally as good, excepting the larger quantity of 

 salt, generally sells twenty-five per cent, lower. 



As the large quantity of salt, used for preserva- 

 tion, is injurious, as to taste, why should we not use 

 a suitable quantity of salt for taste, and add sugar 

 as a further preservative ? For our use, wc prefer 

 butter and meat preserved, in part, by sugar, instead 

 of using salt wholly, and using for preservation 

 twice as much as would render it palatable. Butter 

 and meat, preserved partially by sugar, are more 

 healthful, as well as palatable. 



We copy an article from the Pennsylvania Culti- 

 vator on this subject ; but we do not endorse the 

 recommendation of saltpetre for butter, nor are we 

 prepared to say that it is injurious. But we choose 

 to refrain from articles of doubtful utility, and which 

 may be injurious or dangerous. 



Sugar- Curing of Butter. — Persons who put up 

 keg butter for their own use, or for a distant market, 

 usually salt their butter very high. This high salting 

 necessarily detracts from its quality, injures its ready 

 sale, and reduces its price. If we can modify this 

 excess of salt, by using more palatable substances, of 

 equal efficacy, as preservatives, it will be an improve- 

 ment. Chemists tell us that sugar is one of these 

 substances ; and experience gives us the same infor- 

 mation. Who is not familiar with *' sugar-cured 

 hams " ? If pork can be cured with sugar, why 

 may not butter be so preserved also ? is a common 



sense inquiry. Experience has shown that it may. 

 Dr. James Anderson, the celebrated agriculturist, 

 whose treatise " On the Management of the Dairy, 

 particularly with Respect to the Making and Curing 

 of Butter," is still our highest and best authority 

 on the subject, found, from some years' trial of it, 

 that the following named composition — the proper- 

 ties of which we believe were discovered by his 

 amiable lady — was far preferable to salt alone, as it 

 not only preserves the butter more effectually from 

 all taint of rancidity, but makes it also look better, and 

 taste sweeter, richer, and more marrowy, than por- 

 tions of the same butter cured with common salt : — 



Composition. — Take of sugar, one part ; of nitre, 

 one part ; and of the best Spanish great salt, (or rock 

 salt,) two parts. Beat the whole into a fine powder, 

 mix them well together, and put them by for use. 

 The doctor continues : — 



" Of this composition one ounce should be put 

 to every sixteen ounces of butter; mix this salt 

 thoroughly with the butter as soon as it has been 

 freed from the milk, and put it, without loss of time, 

 down into the vessel prepared to receive it, pressing 

 it so close as to leave no air-holes, or anj- kind of 

 cavities within it. Smooth the surface, and if you 

 expect that it will be above a day or two before you 

 can add more, cover it up close with a piece of clean 

 linen, and above that a piece of wetted parchment, 

 or, for want of that, fine linen that has been dipped 

 in melted butter, that is exactly fitted to the edges 

 of the vessel all round, so as to exclude the air as 

 much as possible, without the assistance of any 

 watery brine : when more butter is to be added, 

 these coverings are to be taken off, and the butter 

 applied close above the former, pressing it down and 

 smoothing it as before ; and so on till the vessel be 

 full. When it is quite full, let the two covers be 

 spread over it with the greatest care, and let a little 

 melted butter be poured all round the edges, so as to 

 fill up every cranny, and effectually exclude the air. 

 A little salt may be then strewed over the whole, 

 and the cover be firmly fixed down, to remain close 

 shut till it be opened for use. If all this be carefully 

 done, the butter may be kept perfectly sound in this 

 climate for many years. How many yeai'S I cannot 

 tell ; but I have seen it two years old, and in every 

 respect as sweet and sound as when it was only a 

 month old. 



" It deserves to be remarked, that butter cured in 

 this manner does not taste well till it has stood at 

 least a fortnight after being salted ; but after that 

 period is elapsed, it eats with a rich, marrowy taste 

 that no other butter ever acquires ; and it tastes so 

 little of salt, that a person who has been accustomed 

 to eat butter cured with common salt only, would 

 not imagine it had got one fourth part of the salt 

 that would be necessary to preserve it." 



It is to be hoped some of our farmers, on reading 

 the above, will follow its recommendations. The 

 composition mentioned is, we have understood, much 

 used in Goshen, Orange county, New York, a place 

 famous for its superb butter. Great care should be 

 taken to got the purest salt and sugar. That known 

 through the country as the " ground alum " is the 

 best salt. The sugar should be of the purest white 

 — either the loaf or "fallen loaf." Those excellent 

 butter-makers in the glades of the AUeghanies, would 

 do well to make some experiments for themselves, 

 in this matter. 



Science in the Kitchen. — Professor Liebig, in a 

 letter to Professor Silliman, says, "The method 

 of roasting is obviously the best to make flesh the 

 most nutritious. But it does not follow that boiling 

 is to be interdicted. If a piece of meat be put into 

 cold water, and this heated to boiling, and boiled 



