Name: For Packing Butter
Ingredients: 1 gallon water; 2 quarts coarse sea salt; 1 ounce sugar; 1 ounce saltpetre

For Packing Butter

Ingredients

1 gallon water
2 quarts coarse sea salt
1 ounce sugar
1 ounce saltpetre

Directions

Boil 1 gallon of water in a large pot.
Add 2 quarts of coarse sea salt and stir until dissolved.
Mix in 1 ounce of sugar and 1 ounce of saltpetre.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Water: Dissolves the salt, sugar and saltpetre so they spread evenly through the liquid.
Coarse sea salt: Seasons and preserves by drawing water out of food and slowing spoilage.
Sugar: Balances the sharpness of the salt with a mild sweetness.
Saltpetre: Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve and gives a stable colour.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.