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Preserve

Brine for Butter

A brine of salt, saltpetre, loaf sugar and water, poured over wrapped rolls of butter in a jar to preserve them.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Brine for Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Make the brine

  1. In a large pot, combine the salt, water, saltpetre, and loaf sugar.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then pour the boiling water over the ingredients.

  3. Allow the mixture to settle and cool.

  4. Strain the brine through a coarse, thick cloth to remove impurities.

Pack the butter

  1. Wrap each roll of butter in a separate cloth and place them in a jar.

  2. Pour the cooled brine over the wrapped butter.

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

Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and inhibits spoilage microbes, which preserves the butter.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the butter and inhibits spoilage bacteria during storage.
Loaf sugar
Softens the harshness of the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the brine.

The step that matters

Let the brine cool before pouring it over the butter. Hot brine would soften or melt the butter and disturb the wrapped rolls, so it must be fully cooled first.

“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.

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