The salt, after the butter is properly drained, can be carefully mixed
with the butter by stirring. When thoroughly incorporated, barely
pressing the butter together into a solid mass is all that is needed.
If one does not want butter very salty to the taste, it can be evenly
and nicely salted by completely wetting it with saturated brine, then
carefully pressing the granulated butter together and leaving in it as
much of the strong brine as will remain. We have seen butter salted in
this way, and it was very evenly and completely salted, having in it no
undissolved grains of salt, but it was not as salt to the taste as some
like.
About an ounce to the pound is good salting; but more or less salt must
be used to suit the taste of customers. None but refined salt should be
put into butter. No salt is better for this purpose than the Onondaga
F.F., which is American, and the cheapest salt fit for dairy use that
can be obtained.
The principal office of the salt in butter is to impart an agreeable
flavor, in conjunction with the natural aroma of fine butter; but it
is a fact that too much salt injures good flavor, and it may, to
some extent, be used to cover up or neutralize bad flavors. We do not
recommend its use for this latter purpose, preferring that the natural
flavor of butter from pure cream should be preserved.