Preserving Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the butter thoroughly.
Cut the butter in every direction with a serrated knife to remove any impurities.
Spread the butter in a bowl.
Salt the butter
Add salt according to how long you plan to keep the butter: use less for fresh butter and more for long-term storage.
Work the salt thoroughly into the butter.
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
- Butter
- Forms the fatty base that the salt is worked into, giving the finished butter its richness and body.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and slows microbial spoilage, so the butter keeps longer in storage.
The step that matters
Work the salt thoroughly into the butter. Salt dissolves only in the small amount of water within butter and does not spread on its own. If it is not mixed through evenly, pockets become much saltier than the rest, and the preservative effect is uneven, so spoilage can start in unsalted areas.
“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.
You might also like
Green Corn Pudding64 recipes
Cornmeal mush12 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.