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Butter - Types of butter

Butter - Types of butter: Encyclopedia II - Butter - Types of 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 from a fermented cream is known as cultured butter. During fermentation, the cream naturally sours as bacteria convert milk sugars into lactic acid. The fermentation produces additional aroma compounds, including diacetyl, which makes for a fuller-flavored and more "buttery" tasting product.^{See also:Butter, Butter - Butter making, Butter - Types of butter, Butter - History, Butter - Worldwide, Butter - Storage and cooking, Butter - Health and nutrition, Butter - Notes}

Butter, Butter - Butter making, Butter - Health and nutrition, Butter - History, Butter - Notes, Butter - Storage and cooking, Butter - Types of butter, Butter - Worldwide

Butter: Encyclopedia II - Butter - Types of butter

Butter - Types of 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 from a fermented cream is known as cultured butter. During fermentation, the cream naturally sours as bacteria convert milk sugars into lactic acid. The fermentation produces additional aroma compounds, including diacetyl, which makes for a fuller-flavored and more "buttery" tasting product.^[2] Today, cultured butter is usually made from pasteurized cream whose fermentation is produced by the introduction of Lactococcus and Leuconostoc bacteria.

Another method for producing cultured butter, developed in the 1970s, is to produce butter from fresh cream and then incorporate bacterial cultures and lactic acid. Using this method, the cultured butter flavor grows as the butter is aged in cold storage. For manufacturers, this method is more efficient since aging the cream used to make butter takes significantly more space than simply storing the finished butter product. A similar and even more efficient method is to add lactic acid and flavor compounds directly to the fresh-cream butter; while this more efficient process simulates the taste of cultured butter, the product produced is not considered real cultured butter.

Today, dairy products are often pasteurized during production to kill bacteria and other pathogens. Butter made from pasteurized fresh cream is called sweet cream butter. Production of sweet cream butter first became common in the 19th century, with the development of refrigeration and the mechanical cream separator.^[3] Butter made from fresh or cultured unpasteurized cream is called raw cream butter. Raw cream butter has a "cleaner" cream flavor, without the cooked-milk notes that pasteurization introduces.

Cultured butter is the most common type of butter in continental Europe, while sweet cream butter dominates in the United States and the United Kingdom. Because of this, cultured butter is sometimes labeled European-style butter in the United States. Raw cream butter is virtually unheard-of in the United States and is rare in Europe as well.^[4]

Several spreadable butters have been developed; these remain softer at colder temperatures and are therefore easier to use directly out of refrigeration. Some modify the makeup of the butter's fat through chemical manipulation of the finished product, some through manipulation of the cattle's feed, and some by incorporating vegetable oils into the butter. Whipped butter, another product designed to be more spreadable, is aerated via the incorporation of nitrogen gas— normal air is not used, as doing so would encourage oxidation and rancidity.

All categories of butter are sold in both salted and unsalted forms. Salted butters have either fine, granular salt or a strong brine added to them during the working. Nations that favor sweet cream butter tend to favor salted butter as well, possibly reflecting the blander taste of uncultured butter. In addition to flavoring the butter, the addition of salt also acts as a preservative.

Another important aspect of production is the amount of butterfat in the finished product. In the United States, all products sold as "butter" must contain a minimum of 80% butterfat by weight; most American butters contain only slightly more than that, averaging around 81%. European-style butters generally have a higher ratio of up to 85% butterfat. Clarified butter is butter with almost all of its water and milk solids removed, leaving almost-pure butterfat. Clarified butter is made by heating butter to its melting point and then allowing it to cool off; after settling, the remaining components separate by density. At the top, Whey proteins form a skin which is removed, and the resulting butterfat is then poured off from the mixture of water and casein proteins that settle to the bottom. Ghee is clarified butter which is brought to higher temperatures (120 °C/250 °F) once the water has cooked off, allowing the milk solids to brown. This process flavors the ghee, and also produces antioxidants which help protect it longer from rancidity. Because of this, ghee can keep for six to eight months under normal conditions.^[5]