Although butterfat is typically 82% in Europe, in the US most butter is actually 80% (US dictated minimum). . For a series of performance tests, we selected the butter with the highest fat content (Straus Family Creamery, at almost 86 percent), the butter with the lowest fat content and the highest water content (Land O' Lakes with 80 percent fat and almost 18 percent water) and our favorite table butter, Cremerie Classique (82 percent fat and about 16 percent moisture). We ate them plain and spread them on bread. The crust test illuminates a great debate among some bakers. Lucerne surprised us with its mild dairy notes and fresh taste, which some described as almost floral. It's not subtle. The Land O' Lakes sauce was more uniform in color, with a few flecks and a neutral flavor. One of the advantages of multiple component pricing is: It provides clear pricing signals to dairy farmers in regards to the economic value of milk components. The biggest difference in Kerrygold butter starts with the milk. When it comes to flavor, our panel discovered that how a butter is stored makes almost as much difference as how much flavor-giving butterfat it contains. It has nearly 85 percent butterfat vs. approximately 80 percent for regular (American) butter. Irish butter's superiority in one creamy secret. Butterfat composition and types of butter. Butterfat ranged from the legal minimum of 80 percent to nearly 86 percent. In January 2000, multiple component pricing became the milk pricing system for about 90 percent of federal order milk production. Butterfat, also called Milk Fat, natural fatty constituent of cowsâ milk and the chief component of butter. To determine the difference in moisture content, butterfat, salt and milk solids, we turned to the scientists. Prices generally drop again in January. Full-fat milk is usually homogenized at the dairy, a process that makes the fat globules so small they'll remain evenly dispersed throughout the milk and not separate, as they otherwise would. Clear butterfat rises to the top of melted butter and may be poured off, leaving the albuminous curd and water that favour the growth of organisms promoting rancidity; thus, anhydrous butterfat does not become rancid as readily as butter and can be stored unrefrigerated for several months. Butter tends to be cheaper in November than in December, when more people bake. As you noted, the nutrition facts counts for Land O' Lakes at 80% butterfat and Kerrygold at 82% butterfat are the same. The remaining traces of milk are rinsed out of the butterfat in cold water and the mass is compressed into a solid lump or brick of butter. Many of the butters received low scores because they had off-flavors which we surmised they had picked up during transport or on the supermarket shelf. It is a simpler modification of the Babcock method with special butyrometers for various dairy products. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care: High Dairy Fat Intake Related to Less Central Obesity -- A Male Cohort Study With 12 Years' Follow-up, European Journal of Nutrition: The Relationship Between High-Fat Diary Consumption and Obesity, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease. The Cremerie Classique crust was flaky but not as crisp and had a buttery flavor. While that changes its quality slightly, the savings can sometimes be as much as $1 per pound. Distribution is limited to a few Western states. If you like rich, butter flavor and prefer a courser cake, go for the Straus. Although The Chronicle's Best Way column recommends using equal parts of shortening and butter in a pie crust, we prepared all-butter crusts for our test. The butter we all know and love is of the sweet cream variety. Very wrong. Each butter may have been exposed to any number of problems in shipping, storage, stock rotation or packaging, all of which can affect the delicate taste. Butter is almost entirely fat, as it is made by separating out the fat and then whipping it to encourage it to coalesce into a mass. After much discussion with baking and science experts, we concluded that the high amount of fat in the Straus cake kept it from developing as tender a texture. Plugra, in particular, suffered from this. Grass-fed milk has a richer taste and is creamier, thus why Kerrygold butter has ⦠1. It is a rush of tangy, salty ⦠(And is the reason why European butter is so expensiveâit's often 85 percent fat.) Price: $$ Plugrá is a European style butter that was specifically designed to produce superior baked goods. 3. This butter is not discreet. It was so rich, in fact, that it masked all the other flavors. This French standard, which involves simply melting butter until it browns, is making a comeback as a simple sauce for vegetables and fish. These butters are not cultured, so expect a more neutral flavor. Président. Because the percentage of milk solids differs in each butter, and those solids become dark brown particles in the sauce, each sample looked different. The fat content of whole milk can vary among individual cows, among breeds or even from month to month as the animal's fodder changes. For complete results, see the accompanying chart. -- 1. It is available at markets like Andronico's and Whole Foods. Sweet cream butter is made from butter that is fresh and sweet tasting, rather than aged and tart. This test was so interesting that we ended up repeating it four times. How Is Fat Separated From Milk to Make Skim Milk? Butterfat contains about 3% trans fat, which is slightly less than 0.5 grams per US tablespoon. Here are the results: . Butter fat testing using Gerber method is one of the many quality assurance test procedures carried out in milk. Certainly, Plugra fresh from the Pennsylvania factory might have beaten our favorites in the taste test, but we wanted to compare the sort of butter available to shoppers off the grocer's shelf. The butterfat (also known as milk fat) is found in small, round globules surrounded by a membrane of phospholipids and lipoproteins. We sent them to a laboratory for scientific analysis. European style butter contains more butterfat than the above two varieties. Eventually, the milk solids in the butter sink to the bottom and begin to brown. But the labels for Straus Family Creamery (a Northern California dairy) at 85% butterfat and Vermont Creamery at 88% butterfat are also the same: both read 12 grams of fat and 110 calories per 1 T. serving. European-Style Butter. If you allow unpasteurized milk to stand, it separates into cream (mostly butterfat) and skim milk (mostly water). The Cremerie Classique sauce had what looked like fine pepper sprinkled throughout and a light nutty butter flavor. This mild, sweet butter, made in Hayward, tastes fresh with a slight tang. Consumers can't even count on sell-by dates, since those are not required by law and and can be arbitrarily set by the manufacturer. Decker wrote for the Saint John, New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, and has been published in Canada's Hospitality and Foodservice magazine. -- 2. Along with 80% butterfat, the average butter sold in the United States contains about 16-18% water and 2-4% additional components, such as milk solids and sometimes salt. The theory here is that the fat coats the tongue, canceling out the sharpness of the other ingredients in the sauce. Surprisingly, a high butterfat content wasn't the key to the best-tasting butter. -- 5. The packaging on some sticks of unsalted butter boasts their contents have an 85% butterfat content. Straus Family Creamery, a favorite of Chez Panisse's Alice Waters, had no pull date. The strong flavor appealed to some for eating at the table but others thought it would be too rich for baking. The lipids or fats point into the center of the globule, while the phosphates or proteins like the watery liquid outside of the globules. The Cremerie Classique sauce had a slightly sharper flavor from the wine and vinegar reduction. If you think all butters are pretty much the same, you would be wrong. This keeps them from pooling together like the oil in your vinaigrette, but they're still lighter than the watery whey and will tend to rise to the top of the milk. -- The Bottom Line: Land O' Lakes makes the best beurre blanc. It's creamy and rich from butterfat, but not so high in fat that it is overwhelming. The three cakes we baked couldn't have been more different. 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