SALT IN BUTTER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 431, 17 January 1912, Page 3

SALT IN BUTTER.

For slightly salted butter salt is added by the procass of brining where the butter is made in small quantities. Brine used in butter-making is usually made by dissolving one pound of salt in about one gallon of clean water.A sufficient quantity of brine is made and used to thoroughly float the butter grains in the churn, so that the latter may be rotated several times without danger of the grains going tugether to form a solid mass. Brine, when freshly made, will ba found to be several degrees below the temperature of the water from which it was made. This is due to the salt absorbing heat from the water in dissolving. The low temperature of the brine is a gieat'advantage in rescuing the temperature of the butter in hot weather. It is impossible to incorporate salt in butter by means of brine unless it is churned to small grains. In the case of churning until a large lump of butter is formed in the churn, dry-salting must be resorted t,o. It is usual to soak the butter-grains in the brine for about ten minutes. If the butter grains in the churn are very hard, the brine should be a little stronger, as hard grains do not absorb quite so much brine as do soft ones. Brine should also be stronger when the butter grains are very small, as they then contain a lot of moisture, which is expressed by the butter worker, and which is carries a certain amount of salt away in it. Where butter is churned to fairly large grains the brine may be made a litt'e weaker, as lager butter grains do not require so much working as small ones, and therefore not so much water and salt are expressed. In hot weather, when the butter grains are very soft, the brine of weaker strength may be employed, as the softer the butter the more brine is absorbed and the salter will be the resulting butter. Owing to the expensiveness of brining butter, this can only be practised in private dairies, so that where large quantities of cream are churned the dry-salting process has to be resorted to, and in this case salt is added at the rate of one quarter to three quarter ounces to the pound of butter, according to the degree of saltnesa required in the flavour of the finished article. For mild butter 1 per cent, of salt is present, but the usual proportions of salt are 2 to 3 per cent.