History Regional Differences European USA Types of butter Sweet cream Cultured Clarified Ghee Spreadable Make Your Own Butter

History

Butter’s origins go back about 10,000 years to the time when our ancestors first began domesticating animals. The earliest butter would have been made from sheep or goat’s milk; cattle weren’t domesticated for another thousand years. Scholars disagree over the name’s origin, some believing it originates from the bou-tyron, Greek for “cow cheese”, others from the language of cattle-herding Scythians

In ancient Rome, butter was valued cosmetically. Not only was it used as a cream to make skin smooth, but they massaged it into their hair to make it shine. Esteemed for its perceived healing properties, butter was also used in poultices to fight skin infections and burns. The ancient Egyptians even valued it as a cure for eye problems. In Northern Europe, in centuries past, butter was credited with helping to prevent kidney and bladder stones as well as eye maladies.

There is a strong celtic tradition surrounding butter. Scandinavia has the oldest tradition in Europe of butter export trade, dating at least to the 12th century. Ancient Irish, Scots, and Norsemen loved butter so much they were buried with barrels of it.

Regional Differences

The taste and texture of butter varies around the world. This is due to the different manufacturing methods, how the cow’s are fed, but the most obvious difference is the percentage of butter fat. By law, American butter must contain at least 80 percent, in practice, most American butters contain only slightly more than that, averaging around 81% butterfat. while the minimum for French butter is 82 percent. The quantity of butter fat affects the taste and texture, so 2% is not to be sniffed at.

European

Outside of the United States, butter is packaged and sold by weight , not by volume. In the UK and Ireland this was traditionally ½lb and 1 lb packs, but since metrication, pack sizes have changed to similar metric sizes such as 250g or 500g.

I suppose it should come as no surprise that the French, who consume the most butter per person globally, also make the best butters.  Beurre d’Echire, with a minimum of 84 percent butterfat, is prized among French chefs as its high butter fat content makes it perfect for baking.  Beurre d’Isigny, a type of cow’s milk butter made in the Veys Bay area, has protected designation of origin status.

USA

For a long time, Americans consumed more margarine than butter. Where margarine and other spreads were once hailed as healthier alternatives to butter, the pendulum may now be swinging back in butter’s favour. Wisconsin and Minnesota produce the most butter in the country and usually packaged in 4-ounce (volume) sticks. Over the last 10 years or so, a few companies have started producing 82 percent butter fat and above.

Types of Butter

Sweet Cream

Dairy products are often pasteurised during production to kill pathogenic bacteria and other microbes. Butter made from pasteurised fresh cream is called sweet cream butter.

Sweet cream butter dominates in the  United Kingdom, and also in the United States where the term sweet butter is often used to describe unsalted butter. Production of sweet cream butter first became common in the 19th century, with the development of refrigeration and the mechanical cream separator.

Cultured

Butter made from a fermented cream is known as cultured butter and is preferred throughout continental Europe. It is sometimes labelled “European-style” butter in the United States.

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. During fermentation, the cream naturally sours as bacteria convert milk sugars into lactic acid. The fermentation process makes for a fuller-flavoured and more “buttery” tasting product.Today, cultured butter is usually made from pasteurised cream whose fermentation is produced by the introduction of Lactococcus and Leuconostoc bacteria.

Clarified

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; 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, leaving and remaining milk solids to settle to the bottom.

Ghee

Ghee is clarified butter which is brought to higher temperatures of around 120 °C (250 °F) once the water had evaporated, allowing the milk solids to brown. This process flavours 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.

Spreadable

Several “spreadable” butters have been developed in recent years; these remain softer at colder temperatures and are therefore easier to use directly out of refrigeration. Some modify the make-up of the butter’s fat through chemical manipulation of the finished product, some through manipulation of the cattle’s feed, and others by incorporating vegetable oils into the butter.

Make Your Own Butter

You’re unlikely to want to make your own butter day in, day out, but for a special occasion, to go alongside home-made crumpets or sour-dough bread, perhaps, it’s the icing on the cake.

For 400-450g of butter you’ll need 900ml double cream. Let this come to room temperature while you prepare a few litres of ice-cold water. Use some of this to chill a large mixing bowl, two stiff spatulas and the blades of an electric whisk. Empty out the mixing bowl, pour in the cream and beat it at a medium speed for about 10 minutes. First the cream will thicken, then it will make soft peaks and eventually it will become stiff and form crumbly-looking clumps. Keep on whisking and suddenly you’ll find a whitish liquid pooling at the bottom of the bowl. The liquid is buttermilk which you can our off to use in baking.

Carry on whisking for a minute or two, until there’s no more liquid to liberate, then remove the whisk. Now you need to wash your developing butter of any remaining buttermilk, which will make it spoil more quickly. Pour in enough ice-cold water to cover the butter comfortably and use the spatulas to press it down as hard as possible. You’ll quickly see that the water you poured in becomes cloudy. Tip this away and repeat the washing and squeezing process five or six times until the water runs fairly clear. Don’t be afraid to lift up and turn the butter as you go, but work as fast as you can so it doesn’t have time to heat up.

Once the washing is finished, sprinkle over a teaspoon of crumbled sea salt and  mix in. Either shape the butter into two or three blocks with the spatulas, or cram it into a couple of glass pots. It will keep for a week in the fridge, or six months in the freezer.