BUTTER

BUTTER

Butter is the product made from churning fresh cream. It consists of more than 80% butterfat and contains vitamins A and D and small amounts of protein, minerals and milk sugar (lactose).  Butter must have a minimum milk fat content of 80%, a maximum of milk solids other than fat of 2% and a maximum water content of 16%.

            The flavor and colour of the butter produced will vary depending on:

1.      the breed of cow from which the milk was obtained.

2.      the type of feed that was available for the cow

3.      the method of manufacture of the butter , ie., whether it was made from fresh to ripened cream

4.   the efficiency of manufacture, e.g., overworking or wrong manufacturing temperatures can affect the colour and texture of the butter;

5.      whether the butter is blended or not;

6.      whether salt or colouring matter has been added;

7.      the grade of the butter

8.      the method of packaging and storing

Butters can be classified under the following four headings:

(a) Fresh or sweet cream butter      

(b) Ripened cream or lactic butter / creamery butters

(c) Blended or milled butter

(d) 'Special ' butters

although the first two are the main types.

Fresh and Ripened Cream Butter: The manufacture of creamery butters is in four main stages.

'Holding':  Cream used for butter making will contain 35% butter fat content.  It is pasteurized at 95^oC (203^oF) for 2-4 seconds and then cooled to a temperature of about 4.5^o C (40 degree F) and held there for several hours to ensure a uniform hardening of the fat globules and to prevent any fat losses in the buttermilk.

'Ripening':  When the end-product is going to be a ripened cream butter, a 'starter' will be added during the holding stage, in which case the holding temperature will be 15.5 - 18.5 ^oC (60 -65 ^oF) for 3-4 hours before being cooled to 4.5^o C(40^o F)   A starter is a laboratory prepared culture of an acid-producing bacteria which will give the butter produced by this method a much fuller flavour.  Unfortunately the flavour 'fades' and the butter has therefore a shorter keeping quality compared with sweet cream butter.

N.B:  This stage is omitted in the manufacture of sweet cream butter.

'Churning':  The churning of the cream is done in large stainless steel churns containing at least 1,000 gallons of cream at a temperature of about 4 degree C.  The churns are rotated whilst internal rollers pass through the cream.  The effect of ;this is to break the envelope of solids- non-fat around each of the very small fat globule in the cream so that they coalesce and form larger groups of butterfat.  The envelope is then dispersed in the thin liquid part of ; the cream and becomes the buttermilk.  After about 30 minutes the butter separates out in the form of grains and floats in the buttermilk.  The buttermilk is then carefully drained off and is a useful by-product.

'Washing and Salting':  The butter grains are then washed with iced water to remove any butterlmilk left on the surface of each grain in order to maximize the keeping quality of the butter produced.  The washing with iced water also assists int he hardening of the  butter grains.  If the butter is to be salted it is done at this stage in one of two says, either by adding fine dairy salt, or by adding a brine water for some 10 - 15 minutes and allowing the butter grains to absorb it.  The quantity of salt added will depend on the particular part of the country fro which butter is being manufactured, but will usually average 1% for ripened cream butter and 1.5% for fresh (sweet) cream butter.  The butter grains are then worked into a smooth solid mass by rotating the churns  slowly for some 10 – 15 minutes before being packaged for sale.

Sweet cream butter is produced in the U.K. and imported from New Zealand and Ireland.  Ripened cream butter is imported from Denmark and other European countries.

Blended or Milled Butters:  This is a blend of butters from  different countries and of varying quality grades which are mixed together to produce a product which is of a fairly standard quality for the consumer at a competitive price.  Blended butters are frequently sold under a brand name label, usually as a salted butter.

`Special’ Butters:  This group includes the butters that are not so commonly available and those which are not true butters.

Whey Butter:  Whey is the watery liquid which separates from the curd in cheese making.  The butter fat recovered from the whey may be made into butter, or it can be added to cream or fresh milk prior to it being processes into butter.  Due to its origin, whey butter will have a slight cheesy aroma.

Milk Blended Butter:  This is imported butter to which a quantity of milk has been added in this country, increasing it moisture content up to a maximum of 25%

Butter / Vegetable Fat Spreads:  A butter product, which will spread at normal refrigerator temperature, developed using cream and lower melting point vegetable oils such as soya.  The manufacture is similar to that for butter with the vegetable oil comprising 15% of the final fat content of approximately 85%.

Compound Butters:  These are made by adding a particular natural flavor and coloring to butter which is to be served as an accompaniment usually to a savory type dish, e.g., with grilled meat and fish.  It is made, for example, by passing blanched fresh herbs through a fine sieve, adding a small quantity of lemon juice, mixing with softened creamery butter and correcting the seasoning.  It is then shaped into a roll of about 1 inch Diameter, wrapped in grease proof paper and placed in a refrigerator to harden.  It may also be made using raw lobster coral, tinned anchovy fillets, fresh horse radish, fresh garlic, etc.

Cocoa Butter:  This is not a true butter.  It is a pale colored solid brittle fat obtained by pressing the ground cocoa nib during the manufacture of cocoa powder.  It is used almost exclusively for the manufacture of chocolate and is the most expensive ingredient.  It is a hard and brittle substance at ordinary room temperature but has the particular property of melting sharply at a few degrees below that of the human body temperature.  Because of its high cost cocoa butter substitutes are now man-made using palm oil.

Peanut Butter:  This is not a true butter.  It is a straw colored paste-like substance obtained from grinding roasted peanut kernels that may be further emulsified and flavored.  It may be used in place of preserves on bread or scones.