SALTING BUTTER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1653, 5 April 1884, Page 2

SALTING BUTTER.

> Why do we salt butter? "We salt it to preserve it." says ;one, " I salt it," says another, "to improve its taste." "Andl," adds a third, "because I ! have been accustomed to, and never thought much about why I did so. I enly suppose I must, or it. would go wrong in some way." This last' reply will answer for the multitude, and it will answer for much that is dono outside of the avocation of butter-making. If one will stop and ask himself at every step why he does.each thing, he lie will be surprised to find 'himself doing about all he does from habit, or by way of imitating the habits ''of others, Man is very properly credited' with being a reasoning animal, because he does somefcimes reason, but he is moved much more by the force of custom than of thought, and our conduct in salting butter is only tho outgrowth of our most prominent' human characteristic, which is thoughtlessly following in a, rut.

The writer saw and examined carefully a considerable number of packages of butter at the Centennial Exhibition, in Philadelphia, which were from one to more than three years old,: an d which were nearly all well preserved without any salting. A half-do&n or so of theso packages were exhibited at the World's International Exposition, held at Vienna three yeai'3 and of course they had acquired some age previous to being shown there, but they were still sound, He also saw.in Central New York a package of salted butter which took a premium for best butter in its class at the local agricultural fairs for three years in succession and was still sound. The flavor, :however, had changed considerably, havin« become intense, and approximating the flavor of cheese, but was not iii the least degree rancid. This butter, we should think, from its taste, had Ibeen salted at the rate of three-qaarters of an oucc of salt to the pound, and what was further of interest in its history was the fact that it was kept during the whole of its long life, except when it was on exhibition, in a common farm cellar, in a half-covered jar, without cloth, or salt, or brine to protect it, its surface being all that time exposed to the cellar air. We have ourselves occasionally come across other samples of equal age, and have had reports of others which wo did not see. Such experiences go to show that salt neither preserves nor spoils butter, but that its keeping or not keeping depends on some other cause or causes, which the average dairyman, at least, certainly has not discovered.; for, while it lias been demonstrated that it can be made j to keep either with or without salt, the | great bulk of tho butter of the country begins to fail the next day after it is made, and we have sometimes suspected it. began to fail two or three days sooner than that.

Perhaps, if the proverbial dairyman should venture to become a little enterprising, and_ strive a little harder to become worthy of the appellation of a reasoning animal, instead of a creature of habit, he might oftoner strike ..the causes which preserve or spoil Jiis goods. It would bo a good idea, anyway, to turn over a new leaf once in a while, and not be reading a soiled page always. " Butter will keep," says one, " if it is excluded from the air. The corroding influences of oxygen decomposes the traces of albuminous matter which adheres to it, and from this beginning the composition of [the fats follow," This is often preached, but like a good deal of other preaching, it is only theory. The case just cited in Central New York disproves it; and besides this, we had a bit of experience in this line at the Centennial, which was rather interesting. Some Western men, who thought the air wholly to blame in the matter of spoiling butter, determined to circumvent it, and show the assembled world that the West could do some things as well as others. So they put up three packages in prepared tin, and scaled them with solder the moment they were filled. Thus protected, it was predicted they would keep, with or without refrigeration anywhere. The butter was made in June and presented for inspection in August- Fortunately, your humblo servant was selected as tho Judge, to decide on its merits. So we carefully opened them before a crowd of curious eyes, only to find every package spoiled and the question, what spoils butter from keeping, is still open for somebody else to guess.

Since salt cannot be relied on, either for preserving or spoiling butter, tho only good purpose loft for its use in butter is for seasoning. As to its use for this purpose consumers are not agreed, Some want much, others little, and others still none. The safest rule to follow in salting for seasoning is the one followed by ahorse jockey in harnessing his horses. He said that when he had an uglylooking horse ho covered him up with all the nice harness he could get on to him, The harness looked better than tho horse, and the latter got tho benefit of the improvement, When he had a fine-looking animal, he used as little harness as he could. The horse looked better than the harness, and it only served to obscure his beauty, If butter must be salted, this is tho true rule to follow, for the flavor of choice butter is very much more pleasing than the taste of salt, and the more of it there is used, the more the butter flavor is hid; but the taste of salt is better than no flavor or bad flavor; so, when the buttor is afflicted with such faults, a liberal salting will improve the defects by disguising them with its prominence.