| Revision as of 21:06, 17 January 2006 view sourceKotjze (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users1,243 edits rv← Previous edit | Revision as of 21:07, 17 January 2006 view source 65.81.210.57 (talk)No edit summaryNext edit → | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| ] | |||
| '''Butter''' is a ] made by ] fresh or ] ] or ]. In many parts of the world, butter is an everyday food. Butter is used as a ], as a ] and in ] applications such as baking, sauce making, and frying. Butter consists of ] surrounding minuscule droplets consisting mostly of ] and milk ]. The most common form of butter is made from ]' ], but butter can also be made from the milk of other ]s, including ], ]s, ], and ]s. ], ]s, or ]s are sometimes added to butter. ] butter produces ] or '']'', which is almost entirely butterfat. | |||
| A firm solid when ], butter softens to a spreadable consistency at ] and melts to a thin liquid consistency at 32–35 °C (90–95 °F). The color of butter is generally a pale ], but can vary from deep yellow to nearly white. The color of the butter depends on the animal's feed and is sometimes manipulated with ]s, most commonly ] or ]. | |||
| The term "butter" is used in the names of products made from pureed nuts or peanuts, such as ], or from fruits, such as ]. Other ] solid at room temperature are also known as "butters"; examples include ] and ]. In general use, the term "butter", unqualified, almost always refers to the dairy product. The word ''butter'', in the ], derives (via ]) from the ] ''butyrum'', borrowed from the ] ''boutyron''. This may have been a construction meaning "cow-cheese" (''bous'' "ox, cow" + ''tyros'' "cheese"), or the word may have been borrowed from another language, possibly ].{{ref|etymology}} The root word persists in the ] found in ] butter and other rancid dairy products. | |||
| == Butter production == | |||
| ] | |||
| :''Main article: ]'' | |||
| ] milk and cream contain ] in the form of microscopic globules. These globules are surrounded by ]s made of ]s (] ]s) and ]s, which prevent the fat in milk from pooling together into a single mass. Butter is produced by agitating cream, which damages these membranes and allows the milk fats to come together and separate from the other parts of the cream. Variations in the production method will create butters with different consistencies, mostly due to the butterfat composition in the finished product. Butter contains fat in three separate forms: free butterfat, butterfat ], and undamaged fat globules. In finished butter, different proportions of these three forms result in different consistencies: butters with many crystals are harder than butters dominated by free fats. | |||
| Almost all commercially-made butter today starts with ] cream, usually heated to a relatively high pasteurization temperature above 80 °C (180 °F). Before it is churned, the cream is cooled to about 5 °C (40 °F) and allowed to remain at that temperature for at least eight hours; under these conditions about half the butterfat in the cream crystallizes. The jagged crystals of fat inflict damage upon the fat globule membranes during churning, speeding the butter-making process. | |||
| Churning produces small butter grains floating in the water-based portion of the cream. This watery liquid is ]—although the buttermilk most common today is instead a directly fermented skimmed milk. The buttermilk is drained off; sometimes more buttermilk is removed by rinsing the grains with water. Then the grains are "worked": pressed and kneaded together. This consolidates the butter into a solid mass and breaks up embedded pockets of buttermilk or water into tiny droplets. | |||
| Commercial butter is about 80% butterfat and 15% water; traditionally-made butter may have as little as 65% fat and 30% water. Butterfat consists of many moderate-sized, saturated ] chain fatty acids. It is a ], an ester derived from ] and three ] groups. Butter becomes ] when these chains break down into smaller components, like ] and ]. | |||
| ==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 ] convert ] into ]. The fermentation produces additional aroma compounds, including ], which makes for a fuller-flavored and more "buttery" tasting product.{{ref|diacetyl}} Today, cultured butter is usually made from pasteurized cream whose fermentation is produced by the introduction of '']'' and '']'' 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 ] during production to kill ] bacteria and other ]s. Butter made from pasteurized fresh cream is called '''sweet cream butter'''. Production of sweet cream butter first became common in the ], with the development of ] and the mechanical cream separator.{{ref|sweetcream}} 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 ], while sweet cream butter dominates in the United States and the ]. 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.{{ref|rawcream}} | |||
| 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 ]s into the butter. '''Whipped butter''', another product designed to be more spreadable, is aerated via the incorporation of ] gas— normal air is not used, as doing so would encourage ] and ]. | |||
| All categories of butter are sold in both salted and unsalted forms. Salted butters have either fine, granular ] or a strong ] 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 ]. | |||
| Another important aspect of production is the amount of ] 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. ''']''' 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, ] proteins form a skin which is removed, and the resulting butterfat is then poured off from the mixture of water and ] proteins that settle to the bottom. ''']''' 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 ]s which help protect it longer from rancidity. Because of this, ghee can keep for six to eight months under normal conditions.{{ref|ghee_making}} | |||
| == History == | |||
| ]''.]] | |||
| Since even accidental agitation can turn cream into butter, it is likely that the invention of butter goes back to the earliest days of ], perhaps in the ]n area between 9000 and 8000 ]. The earliest butter would have been from ] or ]'s milk; ] are not thought to have been ] for another thousand years or so.{{ref|dairying_origins}} An ancient method of butter making, still used today in some parts of ] and the ], is shown in the photo at right, taken in ]. A goat skin is half filled with milk, then inflated with air and sealed. It is then hung with ropes on a tripod of sticks and rocked to and fro until the butter is formed. | |||
| Butter was certainly known in the classical ] civilizations, but it does not seem to have been a common food, especially in Ancient ] or ]. In the warm Mediterranean climate, unclarified butter would spoil very quickly— unlike ], it was not a practical method of preserving the benefits of milk. The people of ancient Greece and Rome seemed to consider butter a food fit more for the northern ]s. A play by the Greek philosopher ] refers to ] as ''boutyrophagoi'', "butter-eaters".{{ref|anaxandrides}} ]'s ] calls butter "the most delicate of food among barbarous nations", and goes on to describe its medicinal properties.{{ref|pliny}} | |||
| Historian and linguist Andrew Dalby says that most references to butter in ancient ]ern texts should actually be translated instead as ]. Ghee is mentioned in the ] as a typical trade article around the ] ], and Roman geographer ] describes it as a commodity of ] and ].{{ref|greecerome}} In ], ghee has been a symbol of purity and an offering to the gods—especially ], the ] god of fire—for more than 3000 years; references to ghee's sacred nature appear numerous times in the ], circa 1500–1200 BCE. The tale of the child ] stealing butter remains a popular children's story in India today. Since India's prehistory, ghee has been both a ] and used for ceremonial purposes such as fueling holy lamps and funeral pyres. | |||
| ] | |||
| Cooler climates in northern Europe allowed butter to be kept longer before spoiling. ] has the longest history in Europe of a butter export trade, dating at least to the ].{{ref|scandinavia}} Across most of Europe after the fall of Rome and through much of the ], butter was a common food, but one with a low reputation; it was consumed principally by ]s. It slowly became more accepted by the upper class, especially when, in the early ], the ] permitted its consumption during ]. ] and butter became common fare among the new ], and the English, in particular, gained a reputation for their liberal use of melted butter as a sauce for meats and vegetables.{{ref|McGee33}} | |||
| Across far-northern Europe—], ], ], and Scandinavia—butter was sometimes treated in a manner unheard-of today: it was packed into barrels (]s) and buried it in ] ], perhaps for years. Such "bog butter" would develop a strong flavor as it aged, but remain edible, in large part because of the unique cool, airless, ] and ] environment of a peat bog. Firkins of such buried butter are a common archaeological find in Ireland; the Irish National Museum has some containing "a grayish cheese-like substance, partially hardened, not much like butter, and quite free from putrefaction." The practice was most common in Ireland in the 11th to 14th centuries; it ended entirely before the 19th century.{{ref|firkins}} | |||
| ], like Ireland, became well-known for its butter, particularly in the ] and ] regions. By the 1860s, butter had become so in demand in France that Emperor ] offered prize money for an inexpensive substitute to supplement France's inadequate butter supplies. In 1869, a ] claimed the prize with the invention of ]. The first margarine was ] ] flavored with milk and worked like butter; vegetable margarines followed after the development of ] oils around 1900 | |||
| Until the 19th century, the vast majority of butter was made by hand, on farms. The first butter factories appeared in the United States in the early 1860s, after the successful introduction of ] factories a decade earlier. In the late 1870s, the ] cream separator was introduced, marketed most successfully by ] engineer ]. This dramatically sped the butter-making process by eliminating the slow step of letting cream naturally rise to the top of milk. Initially, whole milk was shipped to the butter factories, and the cream separation took place there. Soon, though, cream-separation technology became small and inexpensive enough to introduce an additional efficiency: the separation was accomplished on the farm, and the cream alone shipped to the factory. By 1900, more than half the butter produced in the United States was factory made; Europe followed suit shortly after. | |||
| Per capita butter consumption declined in most western nations during the 20th century, in large part because of the rising popularity of margarine, which is less expensive and, until recent years, was perceived as being healthier. In the United States, margarine consumption overtook butter during the 1950s{{ref|margarine_us}} and it is still the case today that more margarine than butter is eaten in the U.S. and most other nations that track such data.{{ref|margarine_world}} | |||
| ==Worldwide== | |||
| ] produces and consumes more butter than any other nation, dedicating almost half of its annual milk production to making butter or ghee. In ], India produced 1,470,000 ] of butter, consuming almost all of it. Second in production was the United States (522,000 tons), then France (466,000), ] (442,000), and ] (307,000). In terms of consumption, Germany was second after India, using 578,000 tons of butter in 1997, followed by France (528,000), ] (514,000), and the United States (505,000). Most nations produce and consume the bulk of their butter domestically. New Zealand, ], and the ] are among the few nations that export a significant percentage of the butter they produce.{{ref|world_stats}} | |||
| Around the world can be found many types of butter. '']'' is a spiced ] clarified butter, buried in the ground and aged for months or years. ] butter is important in ]; '']'', ] flour mixed with yak butter, is a staple food. ] is consumed in the ]n regions of Tibet, ], ] and India. It consists of ] served with intensely flavored — or "rancid"—yak butter and salt. In ]n and ]n ], butter is traditionally made from sour milk rather than cream. It can take several hours of churning to produce workable butter grains from fermented milk.{{ref|developing_world}} | |||
| ==Storage and cooking== | |||
| Normal butter softens to a spreadable consistency around 15 °C (60 °F), well above ] temperatures. The "butter compartment" found in many refrigerators may be one of the warmer sections inside, but it still leaves butter quite hard. Until recently, many refrigerators sold in ] featured a "butter conditioner", a compartment kept warmer than the rest of the refrigerator—but still cooler than room temperature—with a small heater.{{ref|butter_conditioner}} Keeping butter tightly wrapped delays rancidity, which is hastened by exposure to light or air, and also helps prevent it from picking up other odors. | |||
| "French butter dishes" or "] butter dishes" involve a lid with a long interior lip, which sits in a container holding a small amount of water. Usually the dish holds just enough water to submerge the interior lip when the dish is closed. Butter is packed into the lid. The water acts as a seal to keep the butter fresh, and also keeps the butter from overheating in hot temperatures. This allows butter to be safely stored on the countertop for several days without spoilage. | |||
| Once butter is softened, ]s, ]s, or other flavoring agents can be mixed into it, producing what is called a ''composed butter'' or ''composite butter''. Composed butters can be used as spreads, or cooled, sliced, and placed onto hot food to melt into a sauce. Sweetened composed butters can be served with ]s; such ]s are often flavored with ]. | |||
| ] served over white ] and ]es.]] | |||
| Melted butter plays an important role in the preparation of ]s, most obviously in ]. '']'' (hazel butter) and '']'' (black butter) are sauces of melted butter cooked until the milk solids and sugars have turned golden or dark brown; they are often finished with an addition of ] or ]. ] and ] sauces are ]s of ] and melted butter; they are in essence ]s made with butter instead of oil. Hollandaise and béarnaise sauces are stabilized with the powerful ] in the egg yolks, but butter itself contains enough emulsifiers—mostly remnants of the fat globule membranes—to form a stable emulsion on its own. '']'' (white butter) is made by whisking butter into reduced vinegar or ], forming an emulsion with the texture of thick cream. ''Beurre monté'' (prepared butter) is an unflavored ''beurre blanc'' made from water instead of vinegar or wine; it lends its name to the practice of "mounting" a sauce with butter: whisking cold butter into any water-based sauce at the end of cooking, giving the sauce a thicker body and a glossy shine—as well as a buttery taste.{{ref|sauces}} | |||
| Butter is used for ] and ], although its milk solids brown and burn above 150 °C (250 °F)—a rather low temperature for most applications. The actual ] of butterfat is around 200 °C (400 °F), so clarified butter or ghee is better suited to frying.{{ref|smokepoint}} Ghee has always been a common frying medium in India, where many avoid other animal fats for cultural or religious reasons. | |||
| Butter fills several roles in ], where it is used in a similar manner as other solid fats like ], ], or ], but has a flavor that may better complement sweet baked goods. Many ] ]s and some ] ]s are ]ed, at least in part, by ] butter and ] together, which introduces air bubbles into the butter. The tiny bubbles locked within the butter expand in the heat of baking and aerate the cookie or cake. Some cookies like ] may have no other source of moisture but the water in the butter. ] like ] dough incorporate pieces of solid fat into the dough, which become flat layers of fat when the dough is rolled out. During baking, the fat melts away, leaving a flaky texture. Butter, because of its flavor, is a common choice for the fat in such a dough, but it can be more difficult to work with than shortening because of its low melting point. Pastry makers often chill all their ingredients and utensils while working with a butter dough. | |||
| == Health and nutrition == | |||
| According to ] figures, one ] of butter (14 ]s) contains 100 ]s, all from fat, 11 grams of fat, of which 7 grams are ], and 30 ] of ].{{ref|nutrition_stats}} In other words, butter consists mostly of saturated fat and is a significant source of dietary cholesterol. For these reasons, butter has been generally considered to be a contributor to health problems, especially ]. For many years, vegetable margarine was recommended as a substitute, since it is an unsaturated fat and contains little or no cholesterol. In recent decades, though, it has become accepted that the ]s contained in ] margarines significantly raise "bad" ] levels, possibly to a worse extent than butter. | |||
| Small amounts of butter contain only traces of ], so moderate consumption of butter is not generally a problem for those with ].{{ref|lactose}} People with milk ] do need to avoid butter, which does contain enough of the allergy-causing proteins to cause reactions.{{ref|allergies}} | |||
| == Notes == | |||
| <!-- Instructions for adding a footnote: | |||
| NOTE: Footnotes in this article use names, not numbers. Please see ] for details. | |||
| 1) Assign your footnote a unique name, for example TheSun_Dec9. | |||
| 2) Add the macro {{ref|TheSun_Dec9}} to the body of the article, where you want the new footnote. | |||
| 3) Take note of the name of the footnote that immediately proceeds yours in the article body. | |||
| 4) Add #{{Note|TheSun_Dec9}} to the list, immediately below the footnote you noted in step3. | |||
| 5) Multiple footnotes to the same reference will not work: you must insert two uniquely named footnotes. | |||
| NOTE: It is important to add the Footnote in the right order in the list. | |||
| --> | |||
| <div style="font-size: 85%"> | |||
| # {{note|etymology}} Douglas Harper's ''Online Etymology Dictionary'' entry for . Retrieved 27 November 2005. | |||
| # {{note|diacetyl}} McGee p. 35. | |||
| # {{note|sweetcream}} McGee p. 33. | |||
| # {{note|rawcream}} McGee p. 34. | |||
| # {{note|ghee_making}} McGee p. 37. | |||
| # {{note|dairying_origins}} Dates from McGee p. 10. | |||
| # {{note|anaxandrides}} Dalby p. 65. | |||
| # {{note|pliny}} Bostock and Riley translation. . | |||
| # {{note|greecerome}} Dalby p. 65. | |||
| # {{note|scandinavia}} Web Exhibits: Butter. . | |||
| # {{note|McGee33}} McGee p. 33, "Ancient, Once Unfashionable". | |||
| # {{note|firkins}} Web Exhibits: Butter. . | |||
| # {{note|margarine_us}} Web Exhibits: Butter. .] | |||
| # {{note|margarine_world}} See for example from International Margarine Association of the Countries of Europe . Retrieved 4 December 2005. | |||
| # {{note|world_stats}} Statistics from ] Foreign Agricultural Service (1999). . Retrieved 1 December 2005. Note that the export and import figures do not include trade between nations within the ], and that there are inconsistencies regarding the inclusion of clarified butterfat products (explaining why New Zealand is shown exporting more butter in 1997 than was produced). | |||
| # {{note|developing_world}} Crawford ''et al'', part B, section III, ch. 1: . Retrieved 28 November 2005. | |||
| # {{note|butter_conditioner}} . Retrieved 27 November 2005. The feature has been phased out for ] reasons. | |||
| # {{note|sauces}} Sauce information from McGee, pp. 36 (''beurre noisette'' and ''beurre noir''), 632 (''beurre blanc'' and ''beurre monté''), and 635–636 (hollandaise and béarnaise). | |||
| # {{note|smokepoint}} McGee p. 37. | |||
| # {{note|nutrition_stats}} Data from . Retrieved 27 November 2005. | |||
| # {{note|lactose}} From data , one ] of butter contains 0.03 grams of lactose; a cup of milk contains 400 times that amount. | |||
| # {{note|allergies}} Allergy Society of South Africa. . Retrieved 27 November 2005. | |||
| <!--READ ME!! PLEASE DO NOT JUST ADD NEW NOTES AT THE BOTTOM. See the instructions above on ordering. --> | |||
| </div> | |||
| == References == | |||
| *{{Book reference | Author=McGee, Harold | Title=On Food and Cooking (Revised Edition) | Publisher=Scribner | Year=2004 | ID=ISBN 0-684-80001-2}} pp 33-39, "Butter and Margarine" | |||
| *Dalby, Andrew (2003). , 65. Google Print. ISBN 0415232597 (accessed November 16, 2005). Also available in print from Routledge (UK). | |||
| *Michael Douma (editor). . Retrieved November 21, 2005. | |||
| *{{Book reference | Author=Crawford, R.J.M. ''et al'' | Title=The technology of traditional milk products in developing countries | Publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | Year=1990 | ID=ISBN 92-5-102899-0}} | |||
| *Grigg, David B. (Nov 7, 1974). , 196-198. Google Print. ISBN 0521098432 (accessed November 28, 2005). Also available in print from Cambridge University Press. | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{cookbook}} | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||