BORAX FOR PRESERVING BUTTER

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1864, 13 February 1880, Page 3

BORAX FOR PRESERVING BUTTER

The Italian Minister of Agriculture has addressed a communication to the Chamber of Commerce of Milan relative to experiments in treating butter with borax which have been carried out in the agricultural station at Florence. From the account which appears in the “ Giornaio di Agriooltura,” borax would appear to have a most marvellous effect in insuring its absolute preservation. Samples of fresh butter made at the Florence station and purposely not carefu'ly freed of their butter-milk, wore found on the addition of eight per cent, of borax to maintain their natural fine flavor, without the least change whatever, for upwards of three months. To attain this satisfactory result it is necessary that the borax should be perfectly dry and in very fine powder, and care must be taken to insure its thorough mixture with the whole mass of the butter operated on. Among the further advantages of this plan, it is noted that borax imparts no flavor of any kind to the butter, while it is entirely harmless in its nature, and also reasonably cheap. Stiff later experiments have shown that a very much smaller proportion of borax suffices to produce the desired effect, and also that simple solutions of the salt act quite as well as the dried powder.