Most frequently made fromcow's milk, butter can also be manufactured from the milk of other mammals, includingsheep,goats,buffalo, andyaks. It is made by churning milk or cream to separate the fat globules from thebuttermilk.Salt has been added to butter since antiquity to helppreserve it, particularly when being transported; salt may still play a preservation role but is less important today as the entire supply chain is usually refrigerated. In modern times, salt may be added for taste[1] andfood coloring added for color.[2]Rendering butter, removing the water andmilk solids, producesclarified butter (includingghee), which is almost entirely butterfat.
Butter is a water-in-oilemulsion resulting from an inversion of the cream, where the milk proteins are the emulsifiers. Butter remains a firm solid whenrefrigerated but softens to a spreadable consistency atroom temperature and melts to a thin liquid consistency at 32 to 35 °C (90 to 95 °F). The density of butter is 911 g/L (15+1⁄4 oz/US pt).[3] It generally has a pale yellow color but varies from deep yellow to nearly white. Its natural, unmodified color is dependent on the source animal's feed and genetics, but the commercial manufacturing process sometimes alters this with food colorings likeannatto[4] orcarotene.
Etymology
Butter spread on a crumpet
The wordbutter derives (viaGermanic languages) from theLatinbutyrum,[5] which is thelatinisation of theGreek βούτυρον (bouturon)[6][7] and βούτυρος.[8] This may be a compound of βοῦς (bous), "ox, cow"[9] + τυρός (turos), "cheese", that is "cow-cheese".[10][11] The wordturos ("cheese") is attested inMycenaean Greek.[12] The Latinized form is found in the namebutyric acid, a compound found inrancid butter[13] and other dairy products.[14]
Churning cream into butter using a hand-held mixer
Unhomogenized milk and cream containbutterfat inmicroscopic globules. These globules are surrounded by membranes made ofphospholipids (fatty acidemulsifiers) andproteins, which prevent the fat in milk from pooling together into a single mass. Butter is produced by agitating cream, which damages these membranes and allows the milk fats to conjoin, separating from the other parts of the cream. Variations in the production method will create butters with different consistencies, mostly due to the butterfat composition in the finished product. Butter contains fat in three separate forms: free butterfat, butterfatcrystals, and undamaged fat globules. In the finished product, different proportions of these forms result in different consistencies within the butter; butters with many crystals are harder than butters dominated by free fats.[citation needed]
Churning produces small butter grains floating in the water-based portion of the cream. This watery liquid is calledbuttermilk, although the buttermilk most commonly sold today is instead directly fermented skimmed milk.[15] The buttermilk is drained off; sometimes more buttermilk is removed by rinsing the grains with water. Then the grains are "worked": pressed and kneaded together. When prepared manually, this is done using wooden boards calledscotch hands. This consolidates the butter into a solid mass and breaks up embedded pockets of buttermilk or water into tiny droplets.[citation needed]
Commercial butter is about 80% butterfat and 15% water; traditionally-made butter may have as little as 65% fat and 30% water. Butterfat is a mixture oftriglyceride, atriester derived fromglycerol, and three of any of severalfatty acid groups.[16]Annatto is sometimes added by U.S. butter manufacturers without declaring it on the label because the U.S. allows butter to have an undisclosed flavorless and natural coloring agent (whereas all other foods in the U.S. must label coloring agents).[17] The preservativelactic acid is sometimes added instead of salt (and as a flavor enhancer), and sometimes additionaldiacetyl is added to boost the buttery flavor (in the U.S., both ingredients can be listed simply as "natural flavors").[18] When used together in the NIZO manufacturing method, these two flavorings produce the flavor of cultured butter without actually fully fermenting.[19]
Types
Chart of milk products and production relationships, including butter
Before modern factory butter making, cream was usually collected from several milkings and was therefore several days old and somewhat fermented by the time it was made into butter. Butter made in this traditional way (from a fermented cream) is known ascultured butter. During fermentation, the cream naturally sours asbacteria convertmilk sugars intolactic acid. The fermentation process produces additional aroma compounds, includingdiacetyl, which makes for a fuller-flavored and more "buttery" tasting product.[20]: 35
Butter made from fresh cream is calledsweet cream butter. Production of sweet cream butter first became common in the 19th century, when the development ofrefrigeration and the mechanicalmilk separator[20]: 33 made sweet cream butter faster and cheaper to produce at scale[21] (sweet cream butter can be made in 6 hours, whereas cultured butter can take up to 72 hours to make).[citation needed]
Cultured butter is preferred throughoutcontinental Europe, while sweet cream butter dominates in the United States and the United Kingdom. Chef Jansen Chan, the director of pastry operations at the International Culinary Center in Manhattan, says, "It's no secret that dairy in France and most of Europe is higher quality than most of the U.S."[22] The combination of butter culturing, the 82% butterfat minimum (as opposed to the 80% minimum in the U.S.[23]), and the fact that French butter is grass-fed,[24] accounts for why French pastry (and French food in general) has a reputation for being richer-tasting and flakier.[25] Cultured butter is sometimes labeled "European-style" butter in the United States, although cultured butter is made and sold by some, especially Amish, dairies.[citation needed]
Milk that is to be made into butter is usuallypasteurized during production to killpathogenic bacteria and othermicrobes. Butter made from unpasteurizedraw milk is very rare and can be dangerous. Commercial raw milk products are not legal to sell through interstate commerce in the United States[26] and are very rare in Europe.[20]: 34 Raw cream butter is not usually available for purchase.[citation needed]
Clarified butter has almost all of its water and milk solids removed, leaving almost-pure butterfat. Clarified butter is made by heating butter to itsmelting point and then allowing it to cool; after settling, the remaining components separate by density. At the top,whey proteins form a skin, which is removed. The resulting butterfat is then poured off from the mixture of water andcasein proteins that settle to the bottom.[20]: 37
Ghee is clarified butter that has been heated to around 120 °C (250 °F) after the water evaporated, turning the milk solids brown. This process flavors the ghee, and also producesantioxidants that help protect it from rancidity. Because of this, ghee can be kept for six to eight months under normal conditions.[20]: 37
Whey butter
Cream may be separated (usually by a centrifuge or a sedimentation) fromwhey instead of milk, as abyproduct of cheese-making. Whey butter may be made from whey cream. Whey cream and butter have a lower fat content and taste more salty, tangy and "cheesy".[27] They are also cheaper to make than "sweet" cream and butter. The fat content of whey is low, so 1,000 pounds of whey will typically give only three pounds of butter.[28][29]
Traditional butter-making in Palestine. Ancient techniques were still practiced in the early 20th century. Source:National Geographic, March 1914.
Elaine Khosrova traces the invention of butter back to Neolithic-era Africa 8,000 BC in her book.[31] A laterSumerian tablet, dating to approximately 2,500 B.C., describes the butter making process, from the milking of cattle,[32][33] while contemporary Sumerian tablets identify butter as a ritual offering.[34][35]
In theMediterranean climate, unclarified butter spoils quickly, unlike cheese, so it is not a practical method of preserving the nutrients of milk. The ancient Greeks and Romans seemed to use the butter only as unguent and medicine and considered it as a food of thebarbarians.[8] A play by the Greek comic poetAnaxandrides refers toThracians asboutyrophagoi, "butter-eaters".[36] In hisNatural History,Pliny the Elder calls butter "the most delicate of food among barbarous nations" and goes on to describe its medicinal properties.[37] Later, the physicianGalen also described butter as a medicinal agent only.[38]
Middle Ages
Woman churning butter;Compost et Kalendrier des Bergères, Paris 1499
In the cooler climates of northern Europe, butter could be stored longer before it spoiled.Scandinavia has the oldest tradition in Europe of butter export, dating at least to the 12th century.[39] After the fall of Rome and through much of theMiddle Ages, butter was a common food across most of Europe, but had a low reputation, and so was consumed principally bypeasants. Butter slowly became more accepted by the upper class, notably when theRoman Catholic Church allowed its consumption duringLent from the early 16th century. Bread and butter became common fare among the middle class and the English, in particular, gained a reputation for their liberal use of melted butter as a sauce with meat and vegetables.[20]: 33
In antiquity, butter was used for fuel in lamps, as a substitute for oil. TheButter Tower ofRouen Cathedral was erected in the early 16th century when ArchbishopGeorges d'Amboise authorized the burning of butter during Lent, instead of oil, which was scarce at the time.[40]
Across northern Europe, butter was sometimes packed into barrels (firkins) and buried inpeat bogs, perhaps for years. Such "bog butter" would develop a strong flavor as it aged, but remain edible, in large part because of the cool, airless,antiseptic andacidic environment of a peat bog. Firkins of such buried butter are a common archaeological find in Ireland; theNational Museum of Ireland – Archaeology has some containing "a grayish cheese-like substance, partially hardened, not much like butter, and quite free from putrefaction." The practice was most common in Ireland in the 11th to 14th centuries; it had ended entirely before the 19th century.[39]
Industrialization
Until the 19th century, the vast majority of butter was made by hand, on farms, for farm family use or to sell. They used wood presses with carved decoration identifying the producer to press butter into pucks or small bricks to sell at nearby markets or general stores. This practice continued until production was mechanized and butter was produced in less decorative stick form.[41]
Like Ireland, France became well known for its butter, particularly inNormandy andBrittany. Butter consumption in London in the mid-1840s was estimated at 15,357 tons annually.[42]
The first butter factories appeared in the United States in the early 1860s, after the successful introduction of cheese factories a decade earlier. In the late 1870s, thecentrifugalcream separator was introduced, marketed most successfully by Swedish engineerCarl Gustaf Patrik de Laval.[43]
Gustaf de Laval'scentrifugal cream separator sped up the butter-making process.
In 1920,Otto Hunziker wroteThe Butter Industry, Prepared for Factory, School and Laboratory;[44] three editions were printed, in 1920, 1927, and 1940. As part of the efforts of theAmerican Dairy Science Association, Hunziker and others published articles regarding: causes of tallowiness[45] (an odor defect, distinct from rancidity, a taste defect); mottles[46] (an aesthetic issue related to uneven color); introduced salts;[47] the impact of creamery metals[48] and liquids;[49] and acidity measurement.[50] These and other ADSA publications helped standardize practices internationally.
Butter consumption declined in most western nations during the 20th century, mainly because of the rising popularity ofmargarine, which is less expensive and, until recent years, was perceived as being healthier. In the United States, margarine consumption overtook butter during the 1950s,[51] and it is still the case today that more margarine than butter is eaten in the U.S. and the EU.[52]
Worldwide production
World butter production (cow's milk) and main producing countries in 2018
In 1997, India produced 1,470,000 metric tons (1,620,000 short tons) of butter, most of which was consumed domestically.[53] Second in production was the United States (522,000 t or 575,000 short tons), followed by France (466,000 t or 514,000 short tons), Germany (442,000 t or 487,000 short tons), and New Zealand (307,000 t or 338,000 short tons). France ranks first in per capita butter consumption with 8 kg per capita per year.[54] In terms of absolute consumption, Germany was second after India, using 578,000 metric tons (637,000 short tons) of butter in 1997, followed by France (528,000 t or 582,000 short tons), Russia (514,000 t or 567,000 short tons), and the United States (505,000 t or 557,000 short tons). New Zealand, Australia, Denmark andUkraine are among the few nations that export a significant percentage of the butter they produce.[55]
Different varieties are found around the world.Smen is a spiced Moroccan clarified butter, buried in the ground and aged for months or years. A similar product ismaltash of theHunza Valley, where cow and yak butter can be buried for decades, and is used at events such as weddings.[56]Yak butter is a specialty inTibet;tsampa,barley flour mixed with yak butter, is a staple food.Butter tea is consumed in theHimalayan regions of Tibet,Bhutan,Nepal and India. It consists of tea served with intensely flavored—or "rancid"—yak butter and salt. In African and Asian nations, butter is sometimes traditionally made fromsour milk rather than cream. It can take several hours of churning to produce workable butter grains from fermented milk.[57]
Storage
Normal butter softens to a spreadable consistency around 15 °C (60 °F), well aboverefrigerator temperatures. The "butter compartment" found in many refrigerators may be one of the warmer sections inside, but it still leaves butter quite hard. Until recently, many refrigerators sold in New Zealand featured a "butter conditioner", a compartment kept warmer than the rest of the refrigerator—but still cooler than room temperature—with a small heater.[58] Keeping butter tightly wrapped delays rancidity, which is hastened by exposure to light or air, and also helps prevent it from picking up other odors. Wrapped butter has ashelf life of several months at refrigerator temperatures.[59] Butter can also be frozen to extend its storage life.[60]
Packaging
In most countries butter is sold in packets by weight, often in 250 g (8.8 oz) and 500 g (18 oz) packages.
Bulk packaging
Since the 1940s,[61] but more commonly the 1960s,[62] butter pats have been individually wrapped and packed in cardboard boxes. Prior to use of cardboard, butter was bulk packed in wood. The earliest discoveries usedfirkins. From about 1882 wooden boxes were used, as theintroduction of refrigeration on ships allowed longer transit times. Butter boxes were generally made with woods whose resin would not taint the butter,[61] such assycamore,[62]kahikatea,[63]hoop pine,[64]maple, orspruce.[61] They commonly weighed afirkin (56 pounds (25 kg)).[61]
United States
In the United States, butter has traditionally been made into small, rectangular blocks by means of a pair of wooden butter paddles. It is usually produced in4-ounce (1⁄4 lb; 110 g) sticks that are individually wrapped in waxed or foiled paper, and sold as a 1 pound (0.45 kg) package of 4 sticks. This practice is believed to have originated in 1907, whenSwift and Company began packaging butter in this manner for mass distribution.[65]Due to historical differences in butter printers (machines that cut and package butter),[66] 4-ounce sticks are commonly produced in two different shapes:
Eastern-pack shape salted butter
Western-pack shape unsalted butter
The dominant shape east of the Rocky Mountains is the Elgin, or Eastern-pack shape, named for a dairy inElgin, Illinois. The sticks measure4+3⁄4 by1+1⁄4 by1+1⁄4 inches (121 mm × 32 mm × 32 mm) and are typically sold stacked two by two in elongated cube-shaped boxes.[66] Most US butter dishes are designed for Elgin-style butter sticks.[66]
West of the Rocky Mountains, butter printers standardized on a different shape that is now referred to as the Western-pack shape. These butter sticks measure3+1⁄4 by1+1⁄2 by1+1⁄2 inches (83 mm × 38 mm × 38 mm)[67] and are usually sold with four sticks packed side-by-side in a flat, rectangular box.[66]
Butter has been considered indispensable inFrench cuisine since the 17th century.[68] Chefs and cooks have extolled its importance:Fernand Point said "Donnez-moi du beurre, encore du beurre, toujours du beurre!" ('Give me butter, more butter, still more butter!').[69]Julia Child said, "With enough butter, anything is good."[70]
Mixing melted butter with chocolate to make abrownie
Melted butter plays an important role in the preparation ofsauces, notably in French cuisine.Beurre noisette (hazelnut butter) andBeurre noir (black butter) are sauces of melted butter cooked until the milk solids and sugars have turned golden or dark brown; they are often finished with an addition of vinegar orlemon juice.[20]: 36 Hollandaise andbéarnaise sauces areemulsions ofegg yolk and melted butter. Hollandaise and béarnaise sauces are stabilized with the powerfulemulsifiers in the egg yolks, but butter itself contains enough emulsifiers—mostly remnants of the fat globule membranes—to form a stable emulsion on its own.[20]: 635–636
Beurre blanc (white butter) is made by whisking butter into reduced vinegar or wine, forming an emulsion with the texture of thick cream.Beurre monté (prepared butter) is melted but stillemulsified butter; it lends its name to the practice of "mounting" a sauce with butter: whisking cold butter into any water-based sauce at the end of cooking, giving the sauce a thicker body and a glossy shine—as well as a buttery taste.[20]: 632
Butter is used forsautéing andfrying, although its milk solids brown and burn above 150 °C (250 °F)—a rather low temperature for most applications. Thesmoke point of butterfat is around 200 °C (400 °F), so clarified butter or ghee is better suited to frying.[20]: 37
Butter fills several roles inbaking, including making possible a range of textures, making chemical leavenings work better, tenderizing proteins, and enhancing the tastes of other ingredients. It is used in a similar manner to other solid fats likelard,suet, orshortening, but has a flavor that may better complement sweet baked goods.[citation needed]
Butter (salted during manufacturing) is 16% water, 81%fat, and 1%protein, with negligiblecarbohydrates (provided from table source as 100 g).Saturated fat is 51% of total fats in butter (table source).
In a reference amount of 100 g (3.5 oz), butter supplies 717calories and 76% of theDaily Value (DV) forvitamin A, 15% DV forvitamin E, and 28% DV forsodium, with no othermicronutrients in significant content (table). In 100 grams, salted butter contains 215 mg ofcholesterol (table source).
As butter is essentially just the milk fat, it contains only traces oflactose, so moderate consumption of butter is not a problem forlactose intolerant people.[73] People withmilk allergies may still need to avoid butter, which contains enough of the allergy-causing proteins to cause reactions.[74]
A 2015 study concluded that "hypercholesterolemic people should keep their consumption of butter to a minimum, whereas moderate butter intake may be considered part of the diet in the normocholesterolemic population."[91]
A meta-analysis and systematic review published in 2016 found relatively small or insignificant overall associations of a dose of 14g/day of butter with mortality and cardiovascular disease, and consumption was insignificantly inversely associated with incidence of diabetes. The study states that "findings do not support a need for major emphasis in dietary guidelines on either increasing or decreasing butter consumption."[92][93]
^Institute of Medicine. Committee on Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake (2010). "4: Preservation and Physical Property Roles of Sodium in Foods". In Henney, Jane E.; Taylor, Christine Lewis; Boon, Caitlin S. (eds.).Strategies to reduce sodium intake in the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.ISBN978-0-309-14805-4.OCLC676698420.Archived from the original on 9 May 2022.
^Charles Thom, Walter Fisk,The Book of Cheese, 1918, reprinted in 2007 asISBN1429010746, p. 296
^Doane, Charles Francis (12 November 2017)."Whey butter". Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry.Archived from the original on 28 May 2017. Retrieved29 December 2017 – via Internet Archive.
^Soyer, Alexis (1977) [1853].The Pantropheon or a History of Food and its Preparation in Ancient Times. Wisbech, Cambs.: Paddington Press. p. 172.ISBN978-0-448-22976-8.
^Most nations produce and consume the bulk of their butter domestically.
^"Envoyé spécial".francetv info.Archived from the original on 18 December 2010. Retrieved24 October 2014.
^Statistics fromUSDA Foreign Agricultural Service (1999).Dairy: Word Markets and TradeArchived 23 September 2005 at theWayback Machine. Retrieved 1 December 2005. The export and import figures do not include trade between nations within theEuropean Union, and there are inconsistencies regarding the inclusion of clarified butterfat products (explaining why New Zealand is shown exporting more butter in 1997 than was produced).
^From data here[1]Archived 24 December 2005 at theWayback Machine, oneteaspoon of butter contains 0.03 grams of lactose; a cup of milk contains 400 times that amount.
Crawford, R. J. M.; et al. (1990).The Technology of Traditional Milk Products in Developing Countries. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.ISBN978-92-5-102899-5.Full text onlineArchived 6 December 2016 at theWayback Machine
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