Preservation of Butter, Lard, Etc.
The following process is the invention of Mr. William Pitt Clotworthy. (Patent No. 284,184.)
The process consists of incorporating with the fat, which may consist of butter, lard, or other grease, a sufficient amount of paraffine. Paraffine is non-oxidizable, without taste or odor, and, as the inventor claims, it is perfectly harmless when used in this manner, just as beeswax is swallowed with honey, although not in such large proportion. Tons of paraffine are manufactured yearly into chewing gum and chewed harmlessly by thousands.
In preserving butter the process is as follows: Take 1 ounce of fresh unsalted butter and incorporate with it 1 ounce of paraffine, and thus form a jelly, and then thoroughly mix this amount of jelly with 1 pound of butter.
In preserving lard combine the paraffine as follows: When the lard is ready to be drawn off from the rendering kettles, and while still hot, add 1 ounce of paraffine to each pound of lard and stir the mass thoroughly.
Compound for Preserving Food.
Theodore L. Corwin of Marathon, N. Y., has invented the following. (Patent No. 253,983):
The invention relates to the class of compounds used to preserve in a healthful state such articles of food as meats, fish, milk, eggs, butter, oysters, cider, and also to be used as a disinfectant and to arrest putrefaction.
“I take of nitrate of potassium, of salicylic acid, and of chloride of sodium, each 1 ounce. These should all be in powder and dissolved in 1 quart of water. Then add 1 drachm of hydrochloric acid previously diluted with 1 ounce of water. To preserve meat immerse for twenty minutes in the hot solution, after which let it drain for one hour; then pack in a well-closed vessel. For the preservation of fish use the same as for meat, only the solution should be allowed to become cold before using. To keep oysters stir into them 3 ounces of the solution (cold) to each gallon of oysters. Cider will be kept sweet if there is added to each barrel 1 quart of the solution immediately after the cider comes from the press. Milk to be kept sweet should have the powder first named, viz.: nitrate of potassium, salicylic acid, and chloride of sodium, each 1 ounce, added to every 16 gallons. As a disinfectant the solution should be sprinkled freely around the place or places to be disinfected. To prevent putrefaction the solution should be copiously applied to the object treated.”