We are all too familiar with the presence of butter in our lives. It appears as a key ingredient in dishes or simply as an addition that makes a meal more complete. We’ve eaten plenty of butter and tried various types, but have you ever wondered what butter is made from?
Everything You Need to Know About Butter
All About Butter
Butter, or “Beurre” in French, is a product made from milk and cream by whipping the ingredients or making it with fermented milk and cream. Primarily, butter is made from milk, and any mammal can produce milk to make butter.
The production of butter was entirely manual until 1879 when Gustaf de Laval invented the cream separator.
Primarily, butter is made from milk, and any mammal can produce milk to make butter.
In daily life, butter can be used for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is mainly used with bread, spread on slices. In cooking, butter can be used to make sauces, for frying, or baking.
Butter is usually stored in a cool environment, and can be kept in the refrigerator; however, the cold environment makes butter hard, making it difficult to spread. Butter can be melted at temperatures between 32-35 degrees Celsius.
The Butter Production Process
Butter has three main ingredients: cream, microorganisms, and additives.
Among them, cream is the primary ingredient in the butter production process. During butter making, the cream is evaluated against three main criteria: sensory, physicochemical, and microbiological, with great care. Cream can be collected from fresh milk by centrifugation or purchased from the market through dairy processing facilities.
Next, microorganisms help produce fermented butter, which creates the characteristic flavors of butter. Additionally, the additives used in butter production include three main types: coloring agents, salt, and antioxidants, along with other spices.
The butter production process involves many steps, some simple, some complex, but it is not easy at all. Although it may seem like a simple jar of butter, creating it requires numerous steps and strict requirements.
- Step 1: Starting with milk, butter is usually made from cow’s milk, but as mentioned earlier, any mammal can produce milk, so butter can also be made from other mammals like sheep, goats, or buffalo. However, most people use cow’s milk, separating the cream from the milk using centrifugation.
Under the influence of centrifugal force, the milk is divided into two parts: cream and skim milk, and then pasteurized. Pasteurization helps eliminate most microorganisms. The pasteurization process takes about 30 seconds at temperatures between 85 – 90 degrees Celsius. This timing and temperature are ideal for pasteurizing cream, and it is generally followed to ensure the butter is delicious and meets standards. Not only that, but this time and temperature also ensure the alteration of harmful microorganisms and enzymes.
Cream is the primary ingredient in the butter production process.
Today, methods have been developed to shorten the pasteurization process to just a few seconds at temperatures between 97-98 degrees Celsius. After that, the cream is cooled and matured for about 2-4 hours at temperatures of 4-6 degrees Celsius, which is perfect.
- Step 2: Next, the butter granules are formed and processed. This is when the butter is created. The process of forming and processing butter granules includes several small steps. First is the mixing, which helps form butter granules and separate the water; the mixing process ends when the size of the butter granules reaches 3-4mm, and it is necessary to separate the buttermilk to collect the butter granules.
- Step 3: The next step is to wash the butter granules to reduce the amount of water and impurities still in the cream that could not be fully removed during mixing.
- Step 4: Finally, salt is added to enhance the firmness and durability of the butter during storage, giving it a characteristic salty taste and preventing the growth of microorganisms. Butter typically contains 1-1.5% salt. To process the butter granules, they are turned from a loose state into a smooth block of butter, adjusting the water content to meet standards.
After that, the water is evenly distributed in the form of small droplets, ensuring that the butter achieves its best texture. Additional spices and appropriate additives are included to enrich the product. Finally, there is a simple but extremely important step: reducing the amount of free air in the butter mass.
Types of Butter
Animal Butter
Butter made from animal milk, most commonly from cow’s milk.
Animal butter, also known as butter, is a type of butter made from animal milk, most commonly from cow’s milk. Animal butter has a high fat and cholesterol content, and it also contains other components such as vitamins A, D, and E. In Vietnam, animal butter is divided into two types: salted and unsalted butter.
- Salted butter contains a certain amount of salt, providing a salty flavor; it is often used with bread and beef.
- Unsalted butter lacks salt, has a light aroma and sweet flavor. Unsalted butter is highly nutritious, rich in vitamins A, D, calcium, protein, and contains many probiotics, with a relatively high fat content. Unsalted butter is considered beneficial for bone development and digestive health to help the body become stronger, enhancing flavor and appeal for many baked goods. Unsalted butter is typically suitable for recipes requiring butter, and can be used with bread and various other baked goods. Unsalted butter should be consumed within 2 weeks when stored in the refrigerator, or it can last for 6 months in the freezer.
Vegetable Butter
Vegetable butter, also known as Margarine, is a type of butter made from hydrogenated vegetable oils. Vegetable butter typically has a lower fat content and contains no cholesterol, making it suitable for various diets. Since vegetable butter is primarily liquid, it is often used in cooking or served with bread. However, in baking recipes, vegetable butter may not be ideal because it lacks a sufficient fat content. But if a recipe specifically calls for it, vegetable butter can be used instead of animal butter.
Shortening
Shortening is composed of a combination of lard and vegetable oil, resulting in a 100% fat content. It has a cloudy white color and contains no water, so it does not melt at room temperature like other types of butter.
Shortening helps make baked goods softer and stabilizes the structure of the dough. It is used in making tart crusts, cookies, and more. Furthermore, shortening can also be used for frying and cooking instead of cooking oil. In addition to differentiating types of butter, there are a few things to keep in mind: the best way to store butter is to keep it in the refrigerator, well-wrapped, and any utensils used to cut butter should be clean and not contaminated with other foods.
