🧈 Butter

Butter is a solid dairy product, an emulsion of water in milk fat made by churning cream. ²⁴ Under the Codex Alimentarius standard it has at least 80% milk fat, no more than 16% water and up to 2% milk solids-not-fat. Besides milk, only salt, starter cultures and drinking water are allowed. ²

Names in the EU. In the EU "butter" means a product with 80–90% milk fat, up to 16% water and up to 2% milk solids-not-fat. Butter with 60–62% is "three-quarter fat butter" and with 39–41% "half fat butter". Anything else is a "dairy spread" with its percentage. ³ A product of vegetable fats with no more than 3% milk fat is margarine, and a mix of vegetable and milk fat is a "blend". ³

How it is made. Cream is usually pasteurised at 85 °C for at least 15 seconds to destroy enzymes and microbes that would spoil the butter. ⁴ It is then held for 12–15 hours on a temperature programme chosen for the fat's composition, so the butter gets the right consistency. ⁴ In churning the fat globules break, the fat clumps into butter grains and the liquid, buttermilk, drains off. The grains are worked into a uniform mass, and salt is added for salted butter. ⁴

Sweet and cultured. Butter is made from sweet cream or from bacterially soured cream, and may be unsalted, salted or extra salted. ⁴ Cultured butter smells of diacetyl, has a richer aroma and a higher yield, but oxidises more easily and can develop a metallic taste. Sweet cream butter tastes of cream. ⁴

History. Until well into the 19th century butter was churned by hand from cream that had soured naturally. Once milk could be cooled, sweet cream was used. ⁴ The separator of 1878 made skimming fast and started large-scale buttermaking, followed by pasteurisation in the 1880s, pure bacterial cultures in the 1890s and the butter-making machine at the turn of the century. ⁴

Colour and composition. Butter contains vitamins A and D, and its colour depends on carotenoids in the milk; butter from buffalo milk is white because that milk has none. ⁴ According to USDA, 100 g of unsalted butter has 717 kcal, 81.1 g of fat, 50.5 g of it saturated, 215 mg of cholesterol and only 0.85 g of protein. ¹

Ghee. Remove almost all the water and non-fat solids from butter and you get ghee, which under the Codex has at least 99.6% milk fat. ⁶⁷ Butter is spread on bread, used in baking and sauces, and for frying. ⁴

Butter or margarine? They differ in what they are made from. Butter comes from cream and, in the EU, must have 80–90% milk fat and up to 16% water. Margarine is made from vegetable fats with no more than 3% milk fat, while a mix of vegetable and milk fat is called a "blend". Anything between, for example 72% fat, is a "dairy spread" with its percentage. Ghee is something else again: butter with almost all the water removed, at least 99.6% milk fat under the Codex. So compare by the name and the fat percentage on the pack, not by how it looks in the tub.

Look for the word "butter" and the fat percentage: in the EU that name is reserved for 80–90% milk fat. "Dairy spread", "blend" or "margarine" on the pack means a different product, even if the tub looks similar. Check whether the butter is sweet cream or cultured, and whether it is unsalted, salted or extra salted. You will find it in the chilled dairy aisle of a supermarket, in dairy shops and at markets; keep it cold at home too.

Why it matters to you. Read the name on the pack: in the EU "butter" means 80–90% fat, and 72% is a "dairy spread". ³ The NHS points out that butter is high in saturated fat and suggests choosing lower-fat spreads more often. ⁵ After packing, butter is kept cold at +5 °C so it keeps its consistency and appearance. ⁴