Butter is made by churning milk fat. It has a solid, waxy texture and varies in color from almost white to deep yellow. It is mostly made from cow's milk, but water buffalo milk is used in the Indian subcontinent, yak milk in the Himalayas, and sheep milk in central Asia. Butter is an important food in North America, Europe, and western and central Asia but is of lesser importance in the rest of the world.
The mechanism of butter production is not fully understood. The process inverts cream, an emulsion of minute fat globules dispersed in a liquid phase (water), to become butter, an emulsion in which minute drops of liquid are dispersed in a solid phase (fat). Churning first traps air in the cream, producing foam. Continued agitation destabilizes the fat globules, disrupting the fine membranes that surround them and releasing naturally occurring emulsifiers such as lecithin. As agitation continues, the foam collapses, and the fat droplets are forced together in grains. Gradually they increase in size and become visible.
The origins of butter are unknown. One theory is that migrating nomads discovered that milk they carried with them became butter (much as American pioneers made butter by allowing the motion of the wagons to churn milk as they traveled). Butter has been known in Eurasia since ancient times. The classical Greeks regarded it as barbarian food. Later friction arose over Lenten food prohibitions by the church in medieval Europe. Oil, a southern staple, was allowed, but butter, derived from animals, was forbidden, creating difficulties for northerners who had to buy expensive imported oil or pay a fine to use butter.
Until the late nineteenth century, butter was made by traditional small-scale methods. Milk was "set" in bowls until the cream rose and could be skimmed off. It was used fresh for sweet cream butter or "ripened" (soured) as the bacteria it contained converted the lactose (milk sugar) to lactic acid. Sometimes clotted (scalded) cream was used, and milk fat retrieved from whey after cheese making can also be used for making butter. Below are some are some of the different kinds of butter that are available:
1.
Clarified Butter (Ghee): Clarified butter (also known as
ghee) is made from rendering butter; the water evaporates, and the milk solids
float to the surface and are skimmed off, leaving just the butter fat.
Clarified butter has a higher smoke point than regular butter because of the
lack of easily burnable milk solids (485° F vs. 325-375° F), so you can use it
for higher-heat applications, like frying things.
Commonly used in
Indian and Southeast Asian cuisines, clarified butter stays fresh longer
than regular butter since it has less water (and water encourages spoilage).
This is what you’re usually going to have with something like lobster.
2.
Clotted Cream: Similar to butter, but made in
an entirely different fashion, with milk or cream indirectly heated and then
left to cool in shallow pans, where clumps or “clots” of cream rise to the top
and are separated.
It’s an
essential part of cream tea in England (a break for tea and scones with jam and
clotted cream). In the U.S., its high fat content means this dairy treat
is technically butter.
3.
Cultured Butter:When people originally started
making butter, they collected cream that they skimmed off their fresh milk over
a few days before they had enough to churn into butter, and that time allowed
the cream to start to ferment; that’s cultured butter.
Most cultured
butter today is made from added bacteria instead of natural fermentation, but
the end result is basically the same, with additional aroma compounds from
the fermentation and a more “buttery” taste according to many. You can
treat cultured butter just like regular butter in terms of use and cooking
(again, there are salted and unsalted varieties), but it can definitely add an
extra tang to your dish, so make sure that’s what you want.
4.
European Butter: IN the U.S., this is often what
cultured butter is labeled as, and if you go to Europe you’re likely to find
cultured butter. There are a lot of variations of “European butter” though, so
check the ingredients to get an idea of what’s going on.
A few European
butters have special legal geographical designations like Beurre d’Isigny from
France and Beurre d’Ardenne from Belgium. Since most European butter is
cultured, make sure you take that tanginess into account when you cook with it.
5.
Goat and Sheep Butter: its butter made from goat’s or
sheep’s milk. It’s thought that the first butters ever made were made from
either goat or sheep, since they were both domesticated about 1,000 years
before cows.
Just make sure
you taste these first before you jump right in as they’re not going to taste
like the butter you’re used to. They’ll have a certain farm-y note like you’d
taste in goat or sheep cheese.
6.
Grass-fed Butter: GRASS-fed butter is the same as
normal butter, but the milk or cream is from grass-fed cows. This gives it a
yellower hue and a more vibrant, grassy flavor. Grass-fed butter is healthier
than regular butter, possibly equal to olive oil in terms of fatty acids.
Grass-fed butter
tastes great. You can get salted or unsalted grass-fed BUTTER and the same
basic rules of regular butter apply. I generally don’t keep regular butter
around, just salted and unsalted versions of grass-fed.
7.
Homemade Butter: Quite possibly the best butter
you’ve ever had. Get some high-quality cream (grass-fed if you can find it),
throw it in a food processor or blender or stand mixer,
turn on and let
run about seven minutes. You have butter. Just pour off the liquid and season
with salt to taste. It’s a spreadable, delectable treat that will seriously
take your toast to new heights you didn’t even know existed. You can cook
with this if you want.
8.
Regular Salted and Unsalted Butter: Salted butter is great on
waffles, pancakes, and toast, salted butter is a versatile finishing
butter you most likely know, love, and have in your fridge right now.
Commercial butter in the U.S. has to contain at least 80 percent butter
fat and is considered “sweet cream” butter, which means it’s made from fresh pasteurized
milk versus cultured or fermented milk.
Unsalted butter
has no salt. If you’re doing some baking or making a pan sauce, you’ll want to
use unsalted butter to make sure your end product isn’t overly salty; it’s hard
to control how much salt is in the butter so using unsalted butter ensures that
you can properly control the salt in your dish. Unsalted butter on toast
or waffles is bland so if this is all you have for available sprinkle a bit of
salt on it.
“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and
good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” (James Beard) [i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“What Are the Different Kinds of
Butter (And How Do I Use Them)?” by Paul Harrison
·
BUTTER” by Encyclopedia.com
This post is
dedicated to my wife, Bobbi, who loves butter.
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