Page:Home labor saving devices (1917).djvu/122

 after which the water is drawn off and the process repeated several times until the water drawn off is clear.

Salting the Butter.—The butterworker, paddles, and mold or printer are scalded and cooled in the same way as the churn and for the same reasons. The churn is then drawn near the worker and the butter granules removed with paddle or ladle and placed on worker. The hands must never touch butter for sanitary reasons and because they will give the butter a greasy appearance. As soon as the butter is placed on the worker, one ounce of fine, clean salt to a pound of butter is sprinkled uniformly over the butter.

Working the Butter.—Butter should then be worked well to distribute the salt through it and to expel the excess water. Butter is salted to improve the flavor, to serve the market purposes and to some degree to act as a preservative. In working the butter, the pile of granules is pressed flat with the lever, and the flattened mass of butter turned over about 12 or 14 times until the edges of butter, when broken, have a granular appearance similar to a broken half-baked potato. Too much working destroys the grain and the edges when broken apart will have a slightly stringy appearance, while too little working gives a streaked or mottled butter.

Printing and Wrapping the Butter.—The printer is removed from the water as soon as the working has been completed and with both hands it is pressed on the mass of butter until it is packed full. That remaining over the edge is then cut off with a paddle and the print pushed out on a sheet of parchment paper and neatly wrapped. The printing and wrapping of butter cannot be emphasized too strongly, for a good appearance is fundamental to obtaining good markets for the butter. It is very much easier to get a good market for butter packed neatly in parchment paper than it is for that wrapped in a cloth as is the case in so many country homes. It is very important that a good grade of parchment paper should be used for wrapping butter and this can be bought from firms handling dairy supplies or it may be ordered by mail. The brick-shaped mold is used because prints can be handled with convenience and such prints are a standard on