How to choose butter and determine its quality. How to find real butter

Hi all! Natural butter is a very useful product. But how to recognize if we are getting a fake? In this article I will tell you how to choose the right oil, what to look for when buying.

So, let's get to the reveal.
100% butter is made from natural cream - that's a fact. But are there many such oils in stores? And what is the price for an absolutely natural product? Most of the products on our market contain various additives, sometimes not at all beneficial to health. So what now, forget about delicious sandwiches with butter?

According to a recent statement from one of the TV channels, about 60% of the butter in Russia is counterfeit! Despite this, the Russians continue to actively use it. According to Mosgorstat, the average Muscovite eats more than 2.5 kilograms of butter per year, that is, a little more than one standard package per month. And in total, Muscovites eat about 30,000 tons of butter a year!

Just imagine a big ship loaded with containers of butter... What if it's all low quality? There is a temptation to drown this load from sin away. But isn't it better to figure out how to recognize a non-natural product and protect yourself from chemicals and various additives?

Let's do an experiment

The most popular additive is vegetable fats, including palm oil. You can conduct a simple experiment at home.

To make artificial butter, we need the same vegetable palm oil, a little powdered milk, an emulsifier for mixing butter with milk, a dye that will tint our butter, and a flavor with the smell of natural butter.

First you need to melt the palm oil in a small saucepan and add the emulsifier there. This white powder is needed to mix the palm fat into a single mass with diluted milk powder. The flavoring will help to give a creamy taste to the fake, and the natural annatto dye will give the fake oil a natural yellow color. The finished mixture must be poured into molds and sent to the refrigerator.

The resulting fake is so similar to butter that most ordinary users are not even able to detect a fake even after tasting!

Five signs of fakes

1. Vegetable fats

   Indeed, some of the packages honestly say “vegetable butter”, and the composition indicates the presence of a milk fat substitute, an emulsifier and other things. Although in the 90s we ate all sorts of “margarine frames” so that it crackled behind our ears, now many of us want to treat ourselves to natural products. Conclusion: carefully study the composition and take only butter made from natural dairy raw materials. Pay attention to the inscriptions made in small letters. Your goal is to buy a product that says "butter" in black and white, not "sandwich product" and the like.

2. Recycling

   It happens that you open the purchased butter, but it is rancid. This means that it is made from recycled old oil. In this case, you can try to revive the product: put the butter in fresh milk, knead it properly, rinse it in water and salt. The hostesses assure that in this way it is possible to rid the oil of an unpleasant taste and smell.

3. antibiotics and preservatives

   Even good butter can contain antibiotics and preservatives. These additives are used to increase the shelf life of foods. In order not to stuff the body with chemicals, just look at the shelf life of the oil indicated on the package. Natural butter is stored for a month at most. If the manufacturer promises that his products can lie in the refrigerator for a year, the conclusion is obvious: it is better to stay away from such oil.

4. Low oil price

   If there are two packages of butter on display at the price of 50 and 150 rubles, how many of us will take the second package into the basket? Alas, most of us strive to save money, but in vain. Most likely, the entire periodic table is present there.

   Remember: natural butter made from raw milk simply cannot be cheap! After all, to get a kilogram of butter, you need to process at least twenty liters of cow's milk. We remembered how much it costs, and calculate the cost of natural butter.

5. Adding water

   Some manufacturers sin by adding large amounts of water to milk and butter. It is easy to check this: if you put such oil in a butter dish or just on a plate, after a while a puddle of water forms under it. What to do in this case? Blacklist the manufacturer's brand.

How to check the quality of the oil?

• Dissolve in water. If the oil is natural, it will be mixed in water evenly without sediment.
• Smell. Good butter smells like milk or cream.
• Pay attention to color. A good oil is yellowish white without a bluish tint.
• Try! The taste of real butter “from under the cow” cannot be confused with anything!

So, now you know: to buy real butter, you need to carefully read the composition and not save on your health.
And best of all.
Enjoy your meal!

Now the opinion is spreading that animal fats are absolutely harmful, they must be abandoned and only vegetable fats should be eaten. Opponents of such a position prove the groundlessness of these statements. Let's try to figure out what quality Peasant or Vologda butter should be in order to meet the requirements of GOST.

What is Butter

The product is made from the milk of large and small cattle. In Russia, it is produced by the method of separation or churning of natural pasteurized cow's fresh cream. Due to the high fat content, the product is not consumed on its own. It is used for making sandwiches, added to cereals, in mashed potatoes, in dough, it improves the taste of food. From raw materials - heavy cream - the product is distinguished by a high fat content: from 50 to 99%.

Compound

In addition to fat, the dairy product consists of milk proteins, carbohydrates, and water. Butter contains cholesterol, lecithin, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids:

• oleic;
• palmitic;
• myristic;
• linoleic;
• lauric;
• oil;
• kapron;
• capric;
• caprylic.

The product contains vitamins: A (retinol), C (ascorbic acid), E (tocopherol), PP (niacin), group B (thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid), carotene, calciferols, and minerals:

• selenium;
• magnesium;
• potassium;
• calcium;
• iron;
• sodium;
• phosphorus;
• manganese;
• zinc;
• copper.

GOST

Requirements for the manufacture of the product are contained in GOST 32261-2013. Such numbers, and not others, should be indicated in the labeling on the packaging of a quality product. The standard allows the content of preservatives, food coloring carotene, acidity regulators. The inclusion of vegetable fats in the composition of the product: palm, coconut and other GOST is prohibited. For production as raw materials, the manufacturer can use:

• cow's milk;
• cream;
• buttermilk;
• table salt.

calories

The dairy product is high-energy due to the high fat content - from 50 to 99 percent. Due to the low melting point - 32 degrees - fat is easily absorbed by the body. The calorie content of 100 grams of the product is:

• 552 kcal - for 60% fat;
• 610 kcal - for 67%;
• 626 kcal - for 72.5%;
• 748 kcal - for 82.8%;
• 892 kcal - for 99%.

Kinds

According to the standard, the product must be made from pasteurized cream with or without sourdough, so there are types:

• sweet creamy;
• sour cream.

Within these groups, the production of cow fat can be carried out with or without the addition of salt, so there are types:

• salty;
• unsalted.

The product is distinguished by fat content, the consumer is offered the following fat content of butter:

• Tea - 50% mass fraction;
• Sandwich - 61%;
• Peasant - 72.5%;
• Amateur - 80%;
• Vologda - 82.5%;
• Traditional - 82.5%.

The best varieties

The requirements for Tea and Sandwich oils are not provided for by the terms of the standard; due to their low fat content, they cannot be considered a product of high quality animal origin. They may include harmful vegetable and hydrogenated impurities. Melted cow fat is obtained after evaporation of moisture by thermal processing, so it contains almost no useful bioactive substances and trace elements, but has harmful carcinogenic free radicals.

Peasant oil has good qualities with a fat content of 72.5%. It is characterized by a special sour-cream flavor, because it is made according to a technology different from other types - from unpasteurized cream. With a fat content of 80-82.5% (Amateur, Traditional brands), the manufacturer does not need to use emulsifiers to achieve a uniform consistency.

It is necessary to highlight the Vologda oil. It is produced according to a special recipe, according to special specifications by three manufacturers: the plant named after. Vereshchagin, ZAO Vologda Dairy Plant, OAO Sheksninsky Dairy Plant. Produced from the milk of grass-fed cows, it is characterized by a special sweet creamy smell with a nutty flavor. Among domestic brands, the quality rating of butter can be arranged in the following sequence:

• Vologda with a fat content of 82.5%;
• Traditional and Amateur fat content 80-82.5%;
• Peasant.

Useful properties of butter

Cow solid fat is indispensable for the human body due to its chemical composition:

1. Selenium has anticarcinogenic properties.
2. Cholesterol does not contribute to the appearance of atherosclerosis and heart disease due to the presence of oleic acid and lecithin, which regulate lipid metabolism and prevent the accumulation of plaques.
3. Oleic acid has anti-cancer properties.
4. Cholesterol promotes the production of bile acids necessary for the digestion process, the dairy product is included in the diet for cholecystitis.
5. Vitamin A inhibits the secretion of gastric juice, this component is recommended by medicine in the diet for the healing of stomach and intestinal ulcers.
6. Vitamins A and E are good for vision.
7. Vitamin C helps boost immunity.
8. Lauric acid has antimicrobial and antifungal properties, so the dairy product is recommended for medicinal purposes for colds and tuberculosis.

For the female body

The benefits of butter for a woman's body are provided by the content of the following substances:

1. cholesterol. The presence of this component helps to maintain the balance of female hormones at the required level, and the lack of it leads to the disappearance of menstruation and infertility.
2. Folic acid, lecithin. Contribute to the improvement of the condition of the skin, hair, nails.
3. lipids. The fats accumulated in the cells help protect the skin from wind and frost, and ensure skin health.
4. calcium. Actual for pregnant women and during lactation.

For men

The food product is necessary for the rapid replenishment of energy. Animal fat can be easily absorbed by the body and help restore strength after strenuous exercise. It is a valuable source of cholesterol that men need to produce healthy sperm. A lack of a substance can lead to a decrease or loss of reproductive function.

For kids

Replenishment of calcium by the body is important in childhood. The product has a valuable property - the fat-soluble tocopherols contained in it ensure the complete absorption of this element from milk fat. Cholesterol plays a special role in the development of the child: it is necessary for the renewal of nerve tissues and the normal functioning of the child's brain. Exclusion from the diet of cow fat entails a lack of nutrients, cholesterol, which can cause:

• decreased concentration;
• poor assimilation of the material;
• mental decline.

How much butter can you eat per day

Since the product contains a large percentage of fat and has a high calorie content, it is necessary to observe the norms of its consumption. Children are recommended to eat no more than 7 grams daily. Adult consumption can be increased to 30 grams. You should not give up cow fat in diseases of the liver and pancreas, but only reduce consumption to 20 grams.

Harm of butter

Currently, the benefits and harms of butter are a topic that is the subject of discussion. With proper nutrition, moderate use of fatty varieties of the product, cow fat cannot be harmful. The following must be taken into account:

1. You can not use the product for frying and baking and use ghee, because during heat treatment carcinogens are formed.
2. Cow fat contains a small amount of protein, so allergic reactions are possible. Such cases are less common than with the use of milk.
3. Excessive use of cow fat can lead to overweight, obesity.

How to choose butter

Which butter is better to buy so as not to harm your health? The first information can be obtained from the packaging:

1. The presence of vegetable fats in the composition of the animal product is harmful to the human body.
2. A large implementation term - over 30 days - indicates the presence of a preservative.
3. For the consumer, the best packaging is a metallized film - it prevents the destruction of vitamins.

Signs of good butter

Checking butter for quality is carried out in accordance with GOST. The standard forbids the implementation of the product:

• with extraneous taste and smell (rancid, greasy, musty, moldy, chemicals);
• heterogeneous, crumbling, sticky, loose consistency;
• non-uniform color.

To be released to the consumer, the product must meet the requirements for organoleptic characteristics (taste, smell, texture, color) and labeling. There is a rating scale according to which each of the indicators is given a score. After summing them up, the grade of oil is determined:

• the highest grade - 17-20 points;
• first grade - 11-16 points.

If the score is below 11 points, the goods are not allowed to be sold. When buying a dairy product, remember the following:

1. You need to try its consistency - if the product is pressed through when you click on the package - you can’t buy it, because. this is the result of the addition of vegetable fats.
2. After the refrigerator, high-quality cow fat should be solid, cut into a piece and not crumble.
3. It is not a piece of cow fat that has a natural creamy smell, but a product that melts in your mouth.
4. The color should not be bright yellow - this is a sign of the presence of a dye.
5. A long shelf life indicates the use of preservatives by the manufacturer.
6. A quality product should melt in your mouth, not stick to your teeth, and evenly dissolve in warm water.

Poor quality oil

To produce a kilogram of product, 20 to 30 kilograms of milk is needed, so the low price of the product indicates the presence of ingredients that are not of animal origin. You can identify a defective product by:

• the presence of a pronounced odor - it is possessed by counterfeit products containing flavorings;
• bright yellow;
• soft, friable, non-uniform interspersed with consistency (indicates the presence of milk fat substitutes);
• fission into particles in warm water rather than dissolution.

Video

A variety of butter in the store allows the buyer to choose the product that suits him. But, on the other hand, this encourages unscrupulous entrepreneurs to produce low-quality goods under the guise of butter. According to merchandisers and experts, more than 50% of dairy products, including butter, are counterfeit.

Refusal of butter will bring a lot of harm to the body, because it is an important source of vitamins A, D, E, as well as calcium, iodine and sodium. The use of 10 g of oil daily raises the immune system, strengthens blood vessels and bone tissue, gives hair and nails strength. And the presence of oil in the diet of babies helps to fully develop the brain and skeleton.

But how to choose a real oil among a variety of brands? And what standards should this tasty, fragrant and satisfying milk product meet?

8 criteria for choosing butter

Once in the store in front of a display case with dairy products, it is impossible to assess their quality by taste or smell. The only thing the buyer can do is to study the information on the product packaging and determine the level of compliance of the product with state quality standards.

The product's name

The packaging must clearly indicate that it is "Oil". Any other names, for example, "Baby Butter", "Breakfast Butter", indicate that the product is not manufactured in accordance with the requirements of GOST. We can confidently say that a spread or a fake is hidden under such names. Buying such a product, you will receive a mixture of vegetable fats and chemical flavors instead of butter.

Oil fat content

In the fat phase of butter, only milk fat is normally present. Any additives of vegetable oils are not allowed. Referring to GOST, the oil may have a fat content:

• 72.5% for Peasant Butter;
• 80% - for Amateur;
• 82.5% - for Traditional.

Any other indicators of fat indicate a surrogate.

Some types of butter are made with less fat, but their "naturalness" is regulated by the Technical Conditions and Quality Regulations. These types of oils include Sandwich (61%) and Tea (50%).

In addition to the name, it should be indicated what kind of butter this is - sour cream or sweet cream, as well as salted or unsalted. Sweet butter is made from fresh cream that has been pasteurized. And the marking “sour-creamy” indicates that this is butter from cream with the additional introduction of sour-milk cultures.

Compliance with GOST

The oil label indicates the current GOST 32261-2013. It is the main document that indicates the criteria for the quality of the oil. If TU is indicated instead, you need to study the composition of the product in detail to make sure that there are no synthetic additives. Sometimes, you can meet GOST R 52100-2003 on the packaging. This is technical documentation for cooking margarine, so you are unlikely to find oil in the composition.

Only oil made in accordance with the requirements of the current standard will contain all the useful substances. In addition, GOST butter can be of two grades: first and highest. The variety depends on the assessment of organoleptic indicators and packaging.

Chemical composition

Butter should contain cream as well as whole milk. The content of even a small amount of vegetable fats is not allowed. If the manufacturer wrote vegetable butter on the consumer packaging, then this product is a spread. It contains trans-isomers of vegetable fats, which stimulate the growth of cancer cells and the pathology of the vascular system.

Price policy

It takes an average of 18-19 liters of milk to make a kilogram of butter, so it cannot cost a couple of kopecks. Of course, a high price is not a guarantee of quality, but the sharp cheapness of a pack of oil clearly indicates its low quality.

Date of manufacture and shelf life

The reason for bad oil is not only a fake chemical composition, but also a stitched expiration date. In oil during long-term storage, oxidation of fats and vitamins occurs, which spoils the taste and usefulness of the product.

GOST indicates that the shelf life of oil, which is sold in retail trade, is no more than 35 days, subject to temperature conditions. Many manufacturers who produce oil according to specifications indicate a shelf life of up to several months. They claim that the special production technology and hermetic packaging extend the safety of the oil. But, behind such advertising tricks, a harmful product formulation with preservatives is often hidden.

Package

The oil is packed in foil or parchment paper, which protects the oil from exposure to sunlight. Also, the packaging should not be wrinkled and torn. This indicates that the oil has been frozen.

Consistency

Oil without vegetable additives perfectly freezes in refrigeration units. Before buying, press your finger on the oil: if the structure is hard - buy, if soft - return to the shelf.

Advice! Fresh butter should be light yellow in color, have a dry, uniform surface on the cut, and have a delicate creamy aftertaste and milky aroma.

Determination of oil quality after purchase: home examination

If an oil meets all the criteria listed above, this does not guarantee that you have bought a good product. If you are not sure that the oil is genuine, you can check it using folk methods at home.

Method number 1

Dissolve a teaspoon of oil with 100 g of hot water. After the butter has melted, mix the contents of the glass thoroughly and let it settle. It should evenly settle on the surface of the water, leaving no sediment.

Method number 2

Place a small piece of butter in the freezer for one hour. During this time, the oil will completely freeze. If you try to cut it, it will crumble. If the oil cuts smoothly, it's a spread.

Method number 3

Put a small amount of oil on a burning pan. Butter, when heated, begins to emit a pleasant aroma, and counterfeit either smells unpleasant or does not emit a smell at all.

Method number 4

If the oil, after you take it out of the refrigerator, is covered with small water droplets, this is definitely not a real product. High-quality butter at room temperature begins to spread and is easily spread on bread.

Oil is the product that can be disguised as a mixture of vegetable oils, flavors and flavor enhancers. It is possible to fully establish the chemical composition only in the conditions of an expert laboratory, but you can suspect a fake even before buying the oil. Carefully study the composition of the oil and its expiration date, so that the use of such a healthy product will only benefit your health.

The GOST inscription on the oil packaging is not a guarantee of its quality, it only indicates that all safety requirements were met during the production of the product. According to GOST, there are three types of butter: traditional butter with a fat content of 82.5%, amateur butter 80% fat and peasant butter fat content 72.5%. If the fat content is below 72.5%, it is not oil.

What should not be in butter?

Real high-quality butter should not contain vegetable fats. Since, by law, the composition of the product must be fully indicated on the packaging, be careful! Sometimes in the folds of the wrapper, additives can be indicated in very small print: “milk fat substitute”, palm, peanut, coconut oil. In this case, the product that you are holding in your hands is not natural butter, but margarine or spread. Natural butter is made exclusively from cream and whole milk.

real butter

Natural butter has the pure creamy taste of boiled milk, peasant and Vologda butter let's say light nutty flavor.

Oil must be plastic, it is easy to melt in the air, when frozen, break off into pieces. If you put a piece of butter in hot water, it should melt completely. High-quality butter is easily spread on bread after spending 15-20 minutes at room temperature.

Real butter has almost no flavor of its own.. If you feel a slightly sour aroma, this should alert you. Buying oil by weight, you can get a very good product, but you can run into a fake, check the original data and the composition of which you will not have any opportunity.

Butter color

High-quality butter has a light creamy tint, too yellow color indicates that a dye has been added to its composition. GOST allows the use of a dye, for example, B-carnitine, a natural dye for butter. If you notice dark spots on the surface of the oil (especially if the oil was bought by weight), most likely this oil is not the first freshness and you are seeing mold spots.

Shelf life of butter up to 35 days at temperatures from 0 to +5. If the butter is frozen, it can be stored for up to 3 months.

When buying butter check the integrity of the packaging, expiration date, composition. Hold it in your hands, it should become plastic.

Spread contains more vegetable fats, vitamins, less cholesterol, the spread price is lower than that of butter. The word "butter" is not written on the front side of the spread packaging - this is prohibited by law. When reading the composition, follow the word order: what is at the beginning prevails. For example: if the word “creamy” is in the 1st place, then it contains up to 50% of milk fats. Flavorings and dyes are always present in the spread. When using a spread, remember that vegetable fats release more toxins when heated, it is better to use it with sandwiches.

Butter with additives

diversify spices, sauces and other additives can taste ordinary butter. To do this, it is enough to soften the natural oil, mix it with additives, wrap it in foil and give it any convenient shape. Check out our tips on how! Knead and place in the refrigerator to solidify any of the suggested additives. Serve with toasted baguette slices, crispbread or crackers.

Probably every housewife has ever encountered such a situation: a sandwich hopelessly spoiled by “butter” from a freshly opened pack. It's summer now, and the products sold in stores deteriorate quickly if stored improperly. Especially when it comes to perishable products, which include butter. will tell you how to choose butter and how to determine its quality at home. Let's see what this natural dairy product should be like.

solar oil

Butter is in high consumer demand in our country. Not surprisingly, this product is on our table every day. Everyone knows the saying: “You can’t spoil porridge with butter” is quite justified. What kind of porridge, if it is not seasoned with butter, what kind of sandwich without it, it is an essential ingredient in many recipes when preparing dough, various creams, it goes as a great addition to some soups.

Butter is a very useful product of dairy production, it is rich in vitamins A, E and K, contains proteins and carbohydrates, milk fat, minerals (potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sodium, copper, zinc, manganese). That is, almost all the useful substances that are contained in cow's milk are also found in butter, since it is made by separating or churning cream collected from cow's milk. That is why nutritionists recommend including this valuable product for human health in your diet every day.

Of course, butter should be eaten in moderation, since it is a high-calorie product (748 kcal per 100 g), which is easily absorbed by the body (by 91%). In addition, butter has a rather high percentage of cholesterol (200 mg per 100 g of product, with an allowable rate of 300 mg). As you know, an increase in the level leads to the development of problems with the heart, negatively affects the human vessels.

The recommended norm without harm to health is 10 - 20 g of butter per day. That is, you can put a piece of butter in the porridge that you cooked for yourself or spread a couple of sandwiches (but not with sausage, but, for example, with cheese). Such an amount will not damage your figure, but will bring huge health and beauty benefits. It is especially useful to eat oil in the cold season of the year, it will give your body additional energy.

Rules for buying butter in a store

Going to the store, it is important to buy a high-quality, natural product that has all the benefits for the body. How to choose the right butter? What should you pay attention to first of all?

1. Name. The packaging should be written, for example, "peasant oil" or "traditional oil", etc. If the word BUTTER is not written on the packaging, then according to the law, this product is no longer butter, but is some kind of analogue, or simply a substitute or spread. A spread is just a fatty product made from vegetable fats. The percentage of milk fat in them is less than in natural butter, or may not be at all (then it is pure margarine). Is it worth it to you to take a cheap and low-quality product, of course, you decide. But there is no benefit in such a product, most likely only harm.

2. Fat content. Real butter must have a fat content of at least 72.5%. It is the milk fat of cow's milk contained in a natural product that has the most useful and nutritious properties.

Butter, according to the percentage of milk fat in it, in Russia is divided into:

• traditional, it has the largest percentage of the mass fraction of fat - 82.5%;
• amateur, also has a high percentage of mass fraction of fat - 80.0%;
• peasant, the percentage of mass fraction of fat is 72.5%;
• sandwich with a percentage of mass fraction of fat - 61.0%;
• tea, has the lowest percentage of mass fraction of fat - 50.0%.

If you see a package called "sandwich butter", then you need to understand that having only 61% fat content, this product can no longer be real butter. Therefore, sandwich and tea oils contain, in addition to milk fat: flavors, food colors, emulsifiers, consistency stabilizers.

In addition to the name of the product itself, you can also read the inscription: sweet and sour, which means that the butter was produced from fresh (sweet) pasteurized cream. If, in addition to the word butter, “sour cream” is also written on the pack, this means that the butter is also made from pasteurized cream but using sour milk cultures (it is allowed to add sourdough to such butter). Sour cream butter is considered more useful, as it is produced using lactic acid microorganisms, and it also has a more pleasant taste.

Another oil (traditional, amateur, peasant) is divided into salted and unsalted, which the label can also tell you about.

3. GOST. It is necessary to choose butter on which GOST 37-91 is indicated, the first or highest grade (this is the main GOST, there are also other GOSTs that do not cancel the requirements of the main one, but expand the assortment names). Be careful: on the spread, according to the law of the Russian Federation, published in 2004, GOST R 52100-2003 can now be indicated. That is why you need to be especially careful when choosing, because packages with natural oil also contain GOST. They produced such a low-grade product, in order to still sell it, they write calling slogans on it: “light”, “dietary”, “natural aroma”, “creamy taste”. As you understand, the taste and fabulous aroma of such a product can be due to only one thing - the presence of synthetic flavors and flavors in it.

Only butter produced in accordance with GOST 37-91 contains everything that butter should differ in - vitamins, as well as natural milk fat. These important components help our vision, the beauty of the skin, hair, nails.

GOST butter is of two types: the first or the highest grade. The highest quality oil is considered the best. At the same time, experts evaluate such organoleptic indicators as: smell, color, taste, consistency, packaging, etc. The product is evaluated on a 20-point scale. If the butter of this manufacturer as a result of such an assessment gains 11-16 points, then it is assigned the first grade. Upon receipt of 17-20 points - the highest grade.

In addition to the variety, an important indicator characterizing butter is the percentage of fat content. For a natural product, as mentioned above, it cannot be lower than 72.5%.

Butter can also be made according to specifications, in which case you need to carefully study the composition on the label.

4. Composition. The composition of real butter should be written: cream and whole milk. This means that in a natural product there can be no vegetable fats at all, which are present in spreads. Spreads are of two types: vegetable-creamy, this is when the content of vegetable fats prevails in them over milk. And vice versa, creamy-vegetable, in this case, the product is dominated by milk fat over vegetable fats. The name spread in translation from English means spreading or stretching, i.e. soft butter. Due to the content of vegetable fats in them (and their share is at least 39%), the spread is easily spread, even when chilled in the refrigerator. Despite the fact that spreads can be enriched with various vitamins, phytosterols and other useful substances, they are less fatty than butter, but the presence of vegetable fats in them cannot make this product healthy. In addition, they can add flavor enhancers, artificial flavors. The most alarming factor is that all spreads contain trans-fatty acids, which can cause the risk of developing tumors, diseases of the cardiovascular system, infertility, Alzheimer's disease. Whether it is necessary to take such a risk by using a spread instead of a natural product is up to you, of course, since no one will be more responsible for your health than you yourself.

5. Price. Butter should have a price of less than 80 - 100 rubles per pack. This is an average figure, a pack can also be of different weights - less than 200 grams. But you need to understand that with a purchase price of milk of 20-23 rubles, in order to produce 1 kg of butter, you need to process more than 20 liters of milk. Therefore, real butter cannot be too cheap.

6. Date of manufacture. It will not be superfluous to look at the date of manufacture if the price of a pack of oil is suspiciously low. Stores often hold promotions at the end of the expiration date of the product, reducing its price. In this case, it is doubtful to talk about the quality of the product, because by the end of its shelf life, it already begins to accumulate harmful substances, oxidation products, and if proper storage rules in the store are not followed, harmful microorganisms. The longer the butter was stored in the store, the more likely it is to buy a low-quality product.

The expiration dates indicated on the packaging can vary from 1 month to several months. GOST clearly prescribes a shelf life of 30-35 days. But on packages of imported oil, you can see a much longer period. Such a deviation from the standard is allowed if the manufacturer receives the appropriate permission from Rospotrebnadzor. However, in this case, there is a high probability that there are additives that are not beneficial for human health in the oil to increase the period. Personally, I buy oil from domestic manufacturers with a one-month expiration date.

7. Packing. In the store, you need to choose butter packed in foil or opaque parchment, then the product will be less susceptible to destruction by light, and hence oxidation. The packaging should not be deformed, if this is observed, then most likely the oil has been thawed and re-frozen, which will adversely affect its quality.

What else can you pay attention to?

8. Hardness test. Try pressing your finger on a stick of butter. If it is solid, then this is a good sign. Since oils containing vegetable fats (palm, coke, rapeseed, sunflower oils) cannot freeze completely even in the freezer.

9. Test for trace. In addition to hardness, you can also check if the butter leaves traces. You need to bend the edge of the package and see if there are traces of oil left on it. Natural buttermilk has a high fat content and cannot leave marks on the foil or other packaging in which it is located.

Examination at home: how to determine the quality of butter

Even if you were able to choose the right butter in the store, according to the above points, there is no full guarantee that you bought a quality product. Cases of detection of low-quality dairy products in the sale, unfortunately, are not uncommon in our time. If you still doubt whether you brought real butter home, there are "home" ways to check. So, how to determine the quality of butter at home?

Having opened a pack of butter, housewives quite often can find a dark yellow coating on it. This is due to long storage, the oil becomes covered with staff and its surface acquires a dark yellow color. This is not considered a product defect, the staff can be easily removed with a knife. The oil itself should not be too yellow or too white in color. If the color of the butter is rich yellow, this can only mean one thing, a large amount of food coloring, beta-carotene, has been added to it.

But it happens otherwise, if the butter was stored incorrectly in the store - at a temperature above plus 4 ° C or in the light, then spoilage of the product is inevitable. Under the influence of oxygen, the fats that make up the butter are oxidized, and harmful chemical compounds are formed: aldehydes, ketones, keto acids.

The same can happen if the necessary storage conditions for this product are observed, but with a violation of its expiration dates. After the expiration of the oil sale period, oxidation processes will also inevitably begin, leading to the accumulation of substances harmful to the human body in it. That is why it is important for buyers to carefully look not only at the% fat content of this product (for high-quality oil, this figure should not be less than 72.5%). But also on the expiration date - is it close to the end of the implementation period. You need to be especially careful when the store holds promotions with a discount on butter, in which case the price reduction may be due to this very factor.

Benign oil:

• whitish or light yellow;
• the surface on the cut should be shiny, dry;
• the taste and smell are pure, characteristic of this product.

How to check for fraud at home

The most common way to falsify oil is to add hydrogenated vegetable fats to it or completely replace the product with them. Unfortunately, to determine their presence in butter at home, you will have to rely on your own sense of smell and taste. Since only laboratory analysis is able to determine the exact composition of the purchased product. There are other ways of falsification: cottage cheese or cheese is mixed into the butter.

However, at home, you can also try to determine the quality of butter, if you have doubts about it.

1 way. The easiest is to taste it. Take a small piece and taste it, as already mentioned above, the taste should be clean - with a delicate sweet milky aftertaste. It should not taste bitter, fishy, ​​or too salty (the exception is salted butter, which is specially added with salt, thereby increasing its shelf life). Real butter is also virtually odorless and melts quickly in your mouth, unlike spread.

2 way. Dissolve a tablespoon of oil in a glass of hot water. When it has completely melted, stir the liquid and let it stand. Pure butter should not leave a residue, it should evenly stir, and not break up into “components”.

3 way. Put a piece of butter in the freezer for an hour, this is enough time for it to harden if it is made from cream. Try to cut a frozen piece with a knife, if it starts to crumble into pieces (and not cut with a knife), while the chipped surface is clean and uniform, then you have a really natural product without any additives. In a fake, vegetable fats do not allow the oil to completely harden even in the freezer, it will still be soft and easy to cut with a knife.

4 way. Heat the pan, put a piece of butter in it. It will heat up, begin to melt, a foam will appear that smells good. The spread will melt either with an unpleasant odor or no odor at all.

However, it is not recommended to fry anything in butter, as harmful carcinogens are formed in it when heated strongly. For frying, it is better to use olive or refined sunflower oil.

5 way. If you accidentally forgot to put the oil in the refrigerator and moisture appeared on its surface in the form of water droplets, such oil cannot be real. In this case, natural butter will melt slightly, become plastic, it can be easily spread on a piece of bread.

Now you know how to determine the quality of butter at home.

Butter belongs to the category of perishable products. Therefore, when you discover that you have purchased a defective product, do not hesitate to return it to the store: even if you have a receipt a day later, it will be difficult for you to prove that the product was not damaged due to improper storage at home.
I suggest watching a video from the “Test Purchase” program series from which you will learn how to choose butter, the manufacturer of which “traditional butter” company was recognized as the best, and you will also see how to cook Kiev cutlets from chicken breast and butter.

How to store butter

And at the very end, a few tips on how to properly store butter, which has a short shelf life. Everyone, of course, knows that this perishable product should be stored in. However, when purchasing it for a long time, it is better to place it in the freezer so that it does not deteriorate. If for several days, then put it in a plastic container with a lid, a porcelain or glass oil dish. It is best to keep butter, like all dairy products that are perishable, on the topmost shelf of the refrigerator - where the temperature is lowest. Although in some models of refrigerators such a shelf is located, on the contrary, at the bottom. The oil must be closed with a lid or placed in a plastic bag, otherwise it will quickly absorb odors.