Portal:Butter
Portal maintenance status: (October 2018)
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Introduction
Butter is a dairy product containing up to 80% butterfat (in commercial products) which is solid when chilled and at room temperature in some regions, and liquid when warmed. It is made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk. It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water, and often added salt.
Most frequently made from cow's milk, butter can also be manufactured from the milk of other mammals, including sheep, goats, buffalo, and yaks. Salt (such as dairy salt), flavorings (such as garlic) and preservatives are sometimes added to butter. Rendering butter, removing the water and milk solids, produces clarified butter or ghee, which is almost entirely butterfat.
Selected general articles
- Bog butter made in 2012 for the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery.
"Bog butter" refers to an ancient waxy substance found buried in peat bogs, particularly in Ireland and Great Britain. Likely an old method of making and preserving butter, some tested lumps of bog butter were made of dairy products while others were meat-based. Read more...
Clarified butter is milk fat rendered from butter to separate the milk solids and water from the butterfat. Typically, it is produced by melting butter and allowing the components to separate by density. The water evaporates, some solids float to the surface and are skimmed off, and the remainder of the milk solids sink to the bottom and are left behind when the butter fat (which would then be on top) is poured off. This butter fat is the clarified butter.
Commercial methods of production also include direct evaporation, but may also be accomplished by decantation and centrifugation followed by vacuum drying; or direct from cream by breaking the emulsion followed by centrifugation. Read more...
Butter tea, also known as po cha (Tibetan: བོད་ཇ་, Wylie: bod ja, "Tibetan tea"), cha süma (Tibetan: ཇ་སྲུབ་མ་, Wylie: ja srub ma, "churned tea"), Mandarin Chinese: sūyóu chá (酥油茶) or gur gur in the Ladakhi language, is a drink of the people in the Himalayan regions of Nepal, Bhutan, India (particularly in Ladakh, Sikkim) and, most famously, Tibet.
Traditionally, it is made from tea leaves, yak butter, water, and salt, although butter made from cow's milk is increasingly used, given its wider availability and lower cost. Read more...
Dairy salt is a salt product used in the preparation of butter and cheese products that serves to add flavor and act as a food preservative. Dairy salt can vary in terms of quality and purity, with purer varieties being the most desirable for use in foods. Dairy salt has been used since at least the 1890s in England and the United States. In butter preparation, it serves to retain moisture, while in cheeses, it tends to reduce water content and slow the ripening process. Read more...
A cartoon illustration of the thought experiment
The buttered cat paradox is a common joke based on the tongue-in-cheek combination of two adages:- Cats always land on their feet.
- Buttered toast always lands buttered side down.
- Butterfat or milkfat is the fatty portion of milk. Milk and cream are often sold according to the amount of butterfat they contain. Read more...
Vologda butter, or Vologodskoye Maslo (Russian: Волого́дское ма́сло), formerly known as Parisian butter, is a type of butter made in the Vologda region of Russia, known for its sweet, creamy and nutty flavor. It gets its flavor from its particular manufacturing process, which involves an exact set of temperatures and fat content; as well as due to the vegetation and breed of cows found in Vologda. Read more...
The Norwegian butter crisis began in late 2011 with an acute shortage of butter and inflation of its price across markets in Norway. The shortage caused soaring prices and stores' stocks of butter ran out within minutes of deliveries. According to the Danish tabloid B.T., Norway was gripped by smørpanikk ("butter panic") as a result of the butter shortage. Read more...
Beurre blanc—literally translated from French as "white butter"—is a hot emulsified butter sauce made with a reduction of vinegar and/or white wine (normally Muscadet) and grey shallots into which cold, whole butter is blended off the heat to prevent separation. The small amounts of lecithin and other emulsifiers naturally found in butter are used to form an oil-in-water emulsion. Although similar to hollandaise in concept, it is considered neither a classic leading nor compound sauce. This sauce originates in Loire Valley cuisine. Read more...
The buttered toast phenomenon is an observation that buttered toast tends to land butter-side down after it falls. It is used an idiom representing pessimistic outlooks. Various people have attempted to determine whether there is an actual tendency for bread to fall in this fashion, with varying results. Read more...
A French butter dish is a container used to maintain the freshness and spreadable consistency of butter without refrigeration. This late 19th century French-designed pottery crock has two parts: a base that holds water, and a cup to hold the packed butter which also serves as a lid. The cup containing butter is placed into the base, where water creates an airtight seal that keeps the air (and thus oxygen) away from the butter so that refrigeration is not needed, and the butter can be used in its soft form. This method will keep butter for around a month provided it is kept at temperatures below 80 °F (27 °C) and the water is changed regularly.
Other names for this item are: "French butter keeper", "French butter crock", "butter crock", "beurrier à l'eau", "beurrier Breton", "beurrier Normand", "cloche de beurre", "pot à beurre Breton", "französische Butterdose" (German). Two manufactured versions are the Norpro butter keeper and the Butter Bell, a registered trademark of L. Tremain, Inc. Read more...- Yak butter/ "Dri Butter" འབྲི་མར། is butter made from the milk of the domesticated female yak known as Dri འབྲི། (Bos grunniens). It is a staple food item and trade item for herding communities in south Central Asia and the Tibetan Plateau. Many different political entities have communities of herders who produce and consume yak's dairy products including cheese and butter – for example, China, India, Mongolia, Nepal, and Tibet.
Yak butter for sale in Lhasa street market
Whole yak's milk has about twice the fat content of whole cow's milk, producing a butter with a texture closer to cheese.
The English word "yak" is a loan originating from Tibetan: གཡག་, Wylie: g.ya. In Tibetan, it refers only to the male of the species, the female being called Tibetan: འབྲི་, Wylie: 'bri, or nak. In English, as in most other languages that have borrowed the word, "yak" is usually used for both sexes. Read more...
Butter grading involves the grading, inspection, assessment and sorting of butter to quantify its quality, freshness, and conformity to legal requirements. Read more...
Président is a French dairy brand owned by the Laval based Lactalis company. The brand was created in 1968 by André Besnier. It is used for butter and for a range of industrially produced versions of traditional cheeses. Read more...- The Chicago Butter and Egg Board, founded in 1898, was a spin-off entity of the Chicago Produce Exchange. In the year 1919, it was re-organized as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Roots of the Chicago Butter and Egg Board are traceable to the 19th century.
Initially, the Chicago Butter and Egg Board traded only two types of contracts, butter and eggs. Over several decades, it evolved into the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME or the "Merc") which traded futures contracts and options contracts on over 50 products, from pork bellies to eurodollars and stock market indices. Read more... - Beurre monté refers to melted butter that remains emulsified, even at temperatures higher than that at which butter usually breaks down. Beurre monté may refer either to the melted butter sauce itself, or to the method of making it.
Butter is an emulsion of about 2% milk solids, 80% milk fats (clarified butter), and about 18% water. At 70 °C (158 °F), butter normally breaks down into its components parts. But in a beurre monté, the butter is heated in such a way that the butter can stay emulsified even up to 82–88 °C (180–190 °F). It can then be used in many ways, including as a sauce, as an ingredient for other sauces, as a poaching medium, or as a resting medium for cooked meat. Read more... - An "entrecôte Café de Paris", as served in Le Relais de Venise, the first French "entrecôte restaurant" in Paris. In spite of its name, the Café de Paris sauce was born in Switzerland.
Café de Paris sauce is a complex butter-based sauce served with grilled beef. When it is served with the sliced portion of an entrecôte (in American English: a rib eye steak) or a faux-filet (in English: a sirloin steak) the resulting dish is known as "entrecôte Café de Paris". Read more...
Smen (left) with msemen (right).
Smen (from Arabic: سمن or سمنة also called sman, semn, semneh, or sminn) is salted fermented butter, an important cooking ingredient widely used in Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian cuisine and most common in other North African and Middle Eastern cuisines. It is produced using the butter made from the milk of sheep, goats or a combination of the two. The butter is brought to boiling point for about 15 minutes, then skimmed, strained into a ceramic jar called a khabia, and salted before it curdles. Thyme is often added to it to provide a yeast and enzyme starter. Other plants or fruits can be used. The result is then aged, often in sealed containers. It is then traditionally buried in the ground for temperature stability purposes, just like cheese is left to mature in underground caves because they have cooler and more stable temperatures.
It is similar to ghee and niter kibbeh, but has a characteristically strong, rancid, and cheesy taste and smell. Matured smen is very similar in taste to blue cheese because likewise it is a high-fat form of cheese. The older the smen, the stronger—and more valued—it becomes. Smen is traditionally used mainly in the preparation of couscous and trid, as well as of tagines and kdras, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to find due to its increasing replacement by peanut oil, a non-native culinary element introduced from Senegal and other West African countries. Read more...
Bread and butter pudding served with custard
This is a list of butter dishes and foods in which butter is used as a primary ingredient or as a significant component of a dish or a food. Butter is a dairy product that consists of butterfat, milk proteins, and water. It is made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. Read more...
Ornua
from the Irish "Ór Nua" meaning "new gold" (previously known as The Irish Dairy Board) is an Irish agri-food cooperative, which markets and sells dairy products on behalf of its members; Irish dairy processors and Irish dairy farmers. The co-operative is Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products and owns the Kerrygold butter brand as well as Kerrygold Irish Cream Liqueur. In conjunction to the Kerrygold brand, its brand portfolio consists of Pilgrims Choice, Dubliner, Shannongold, and BEO milk powder. On 31 March 2015, Ornua transformed its corporate identity from the Irish Dairy Board to Ornua: "The Home of Irish Dairy". Read more...
Churning is the process of shaking up cream or whole milk to make butter, usually using a butter churn. In Europe from the Middle Ages until the Industrial Revolution, a churn was usually as simple as a barrel with a plunger in it, moved by hand. These have mostly been replaced by mechanical churns.
Butter is essentially the fat of milk. It is usually made from sweet or cream. In the USA, Ireland, the UK and the Nordic countries, salt is usually added to it. Unsalted (sweet) butters are most commonly used in the rest of Europe. However, it can also be made from acidulated or bacteriologically soured cream. Well into the 19th century butter was still made from cream that had been allowed to stand and sour naturally. The cream was then skimmed from the top of the milk and poured into a wooden tub. Read more...
Pâté spread atop bread
This is a list of spreads. A spread is a food that is literally spread, generally with a knife, onto food products such as bread and crackers. Spreads are added to food to enhance the flavor or texture of the food, which may be considered bland without it. Spread food products are prepared in a paste, syrup, or liquid style, often from ground foods such as fruits and nuts. Butter and butter products are commonly used as a spread on various foods, such as bread, toast, and crackers. Read more...
Butter lamps (Tibetan: དཀར་མེ་, Wylie: dkar me; simplified Chinese: 酥油灯; traditional Chinese: 酥油燈; pinyin: sūyóu dēng) are a conspicuous feature of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries throughout the Himalayas. The lamps traditionally burn clarified yak butter, but now often use vegetable oil or vanaspati ghee.
The butter lamps help to focus the mind and aid meditation. According to the Root Tantra of Chakrasamvara, "If you wish for sublime realization, offer hundreds of lights". Read more...
Land O'Lakes, Inc. is a member-owned agricultural cooperative based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Arden Hills, Minnesota, focusing on the dairy industry. The co-op has 1,959 direct producer-members, 751 member-cooperatives, and about 10,000 employees who process and distribute products for about 300,000 agricultural producers; handling 12 billion pounds of milk annually. It is ranked third on the National Cooperative Bank Co-op 100 list of mutuals and cooperatives. The co-op is one of the largest producers of butter and cheese in the United States through its dairy foods business; serves producers, animal owners and their families through more than 4,700 local cooperatives, independent dealers and other large retailers through its Purina Animal Nutrition business; and delivers seed, crop protection products, agricultural services and agronomic insights to 1,300 locally owned and operated cooperative and independent agricultural retailers and their grower customers through its WinField United business. Read more...- Anchor is a brand of dairy products that was founded in New Zealand in 1886, and is one of the key brands owned by the New Zealand based international exporter Fonterra Co−operative Group. In Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, the Fernleaf brand is used in place of Anchor. Read more...
A plate of skate with beurre noir
Beurre noir (French: black butter) is melted butter that is cooked over low heat until the milk solids turn a very dark brown. As soon as this happens, acid is carefully added to the hot butter, usually lemon juice or a type of vinegar. Some recipes also add a sprig of parsley, which is removed from the hot butter before the acid is added.
Beurre noir is typically served with eggs, fish, or certain types of vegetables. Read more...
Ornua
from the Irish "Ór Nua" meaning "new gold" (previously known as The Irish Dairy Board) is an Irish agri-food cooperative, which markets and sells dairy products on behalf of its members; Irish dairy processors and Irish dairy farmers. The co-operative is Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products and owns the Kerrygold butter brand as well as Kerrygold Irish Cream Liqueur. In conjunction to the Kerrygold brand, its brand portfolio consists of Pilgrims Choice, Dubliner, Shannongold, and BEO milk powder. On 31 March 2015, Ornua transformed its corporate identity from the Irish Dairy Board to Ornua: "The Home of Irish Dairy". Read more...
A butter churn is a device used to convert cream into butter. This is done through a mechanical process, frequently via a pole inserted through the lid of the churn, or via a crank used to turn a rotating device inside the churn. Read more...- Manteiga-de-garrafa (butter-in-a-bottle) or manteiga-da-terra (butter of the land) are terms in northeastern Brazil to refer to a clarified butter product, similar to Indian ghee. The product is also known as manteiga de gado (ox butter) and manteiga de cozinha (kitchen butter).
Manteiga de garrafa is a dairy product made from the cream of cows' milk. The cream is processed by physical agitation, as in a blender or beating by hand, followed by cooking at a temperature of 100 °C (212 °F) to 130 °C (266 °F). Salt may also be added. Some recipes for making manteiga de garrafa include a step prior to cooking in which the congealed cream is washed in cold water. The cooking process separates the cream into two components, the manteiga (butter) and the "borra" (a watery precipitate). The manteiga is separated from the borra by filtration, and then placed in bottles. The finished product is almost pure fat, with a low water activity. Accordingly, it is inhospitable to microbial growth and can be kept at room temperature. Read more... - The Butter Rebellion, which took place at Harvard University in 1766, was the first recorded Harvard student protest in what is now the United States. In the decade preceding the American Revolution, economic difficulties made the acquisition of fresh food difficult at Harvard.
A satirical account of the "Butter Rebellion," written in biblical style, was penned during the American revolutionary crisis. According to this account, one meal with particularly rancid butter led Asa Dunbar (the grandfather of Henry David Thoreau) to tell a tutor, "Behold, our butter stinketh!" In the account, Dunbar was punished for insubordination, and the next morning his fellow students protested by leaving their hall, cheering in Harvard Yard, and dining in town. Read more...
Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated from the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly used in Middle Eastern cuisine and cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, traditional medicine, and religious rituals. Read more...
One pattern, four different knives. From top to bottom: Solid sterling master butter knife, hollow handle master butter knife, solid handle individual butter spreader, hollow handle individual butter spreader, in the Chantilly pattern by Gorham
In common usage, a butter knife may refer to any non-serrated table knife designed with a dull edge and rounded point; formal cutlery patterns make a distinction between such a place knife (or table knife) and a butter knife. In this usage, a butter knife (or master butter knife) is a sharp-pointed, dull-edged knife, often with a sabre shape, used only to serve out pats of butter from a central butter dish to individual diners' plates. Master butter knives are not used to spread the butter onto bread: this would contaminate the butter remaining in the butter dish when the next pat of butter was served. Rather, diners at the breakfast, the luncheon, and the informal dinner table use an individual butter knife to apply butter to their bread. Individual butter knives have a round point, so as not to tear the bread, and are sometimes termed butter spreaders. If no butter spreaders are provided, a dinner knife may be used as an alternative.
Colloquially, bread knives are sometimes referred to as butter knives, though technically incorrect. Read more...
The Butter mountain refers to the supply surplus of butter produced in the European Economic Community due to government interventionism, beginning in the 1970s. The size of the surplus changed significantly over time, and had mostly disappeared by 2017. Read more...- Artificial butter flavoring may contain diacetyl, acetylpropionyl, or acetoin, three natural compounds in butter that contribute to its characteristic flavor. Because of this, manufacturers of margarines or similar oil-based products typically add diacetyl, acetylpropionyl and acetoin (along with beta carotene for the yellow color) to make the final product butter-flavored, because it would otherwise be relatively tasteless.
Chronic industrial exposure to diacetyl fumes, such as in the microwave popcorn production industry, has been associated with bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare and life-threatening form of non-reversible obstructive lung disease in which the bronchioles (small airway branches) are compressed and narrowed by fibrosis (scar tissue) and/or inflammation. Read more...
Beurre Maître d'Hôtel, also referred to as Maître d'Hôtel butter, is a type of compound butter (French: "Beurre composé") of French origin, prepared with butter, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It is a savory butter that is used on meats such as steak (including the chateaubriand sauce for chateaubriand steak), fish, vegetables and other foods. It may be used in place of a sauce, and can significantly enhance a dish's flavor. Some variations with a sweet flavor exist. It is usually served cold as sliced disks on foods, and is sometimes served as a side condiment. Read more...
Dreaming Iolanthe, by Caroline Shawk Brooks, depicting Yolande, Duchess of Lorraine, the heroine of Henrik Hertz's play King René's Daughter. It was this 1876 masterpiece that ignited popular interest in butter sculpting as a public art form. The bowl was kept cool with ice underneath it.
Butter sculptures often depict animals, people, buildings and other objects. They are best known as attractions at state fairs in the United States as lifesize cows and people, but can also be found on banquet tables and even small decorative butter pats. Butter carving was an ancient craft in Tibet, Babylon, Roman Britain and elsewhere. The earliest documented butter sculptures date from Europe in 1536, where they were used on banquet tables. The earliest pieces in the modern sense as public art date from ca. 1870s America, created by Caroline Shawk Brooks, a farm woman from Helena, Arkansas. The heyday of butter sculpturing was about 1890-1930, but butter sculptures are still a popular attraction at agricultural fairs, banquet tables and as decorative butter patties. Read more...
Did you know...
- ... that the compound butter Beurre Maître d'Hôtel is named according to how it was commonly prepared by a restaurant's maître d'hôtel at diners' tables?
- ... that butter for consumer use is graded "AA", "A", or "B" in the United States, but in Canada is graded "Canada 1", "Canada 2", or "Canada 3"?
- ... that the ancient Sanskrit text Dhyanabindu Upanishad states there is a soul in every living being just as there is fragrance in flowers and butter in milk?
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Selected images
Butter made in a barn; German painting by Jan Spanjaert.
Butter is often served for spreading on bread with a butter knife.
Butter market, Lhasa, Tibet. 1993
Mixing melted butter with chocolate to make a brownie.
Liquid clarified butter
Traditional butter-making in Palestine. Ancient techniques were still practiced in the early 20th century. National Geographic, March 1914.
Gustaf de Laval's centrifugal cream separator sped up the butter-making process.
Hollandaise sauce served over white asparagus and potatoes.
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