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I spent a long time sorting through packs of butter in the supermarket, muttering in confusion: “The most beautiful butter, the most excellent butter! I love him so much!” I love it for good reason: it is a rare product containing vitamin A in its pure form, and in addition vitamins D and E. Oil is good for the eyes, bones, skin and, attention, nerves - is that why we say “oil”, meaning "calm down"? Butter is a dietary product. As for cholesterol, which is why many people are afraid of oil, it can be “bad” and “good”, and oil has nothing to do with it. Mentally divide the pack into three parts lengthwise and three across. One piece is the daily norm.

What are the differences between types of butter?

Choosing butter is not easy because the labels mostly say the same thing - pasteurized cream. Only from them, converted in an oil-making machine or separator, do the three fattest types of oil consist: traditional - 82.5%, amateur - 80% and peasant - 72.5%. The remaining percentages are water and about 1% buttermilk.

These names, relationships and technologies are inherited from the old Soviet GOST, which in 2010 was replaced by the designation R 52969-2008. If you see it on the label, it means that the contents will delight you with a taste familiar from childhood. Peasant butter, in the old days called “Chukhonskiy,” is the most popular type.

“According to our data, creaminess and pasteurization are most harmoniously combined in peasant butter,” Elena Topnikova, head of the butter-making department at the All-Russian Research Institute of Butter and Cheese Making in Uglich, told me. “It preserves biologically active substances and slows down oxidation processes.”

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Butter made from pure cream is called sweet cream butter. But acidified cream churns faster. If the manufacturer has added lactic acid cultures, the butter is called sour cream.

It may also contain salt. Although I think salt should be avoided where possible, or salted butter should be added to food prepared without salt at all.

GOST R 52253-2004 is on the labels of imported butter packaged in Russia, and means that the package contains butter, and not some mixture of fats of various origins. The same figures are for low-fat oils - sandwich (61.5%) and tea (50%) - they are lighter thanks to skim milk or buttermilk. They may also contain creamy flavors and stabilizers, which Elena Topnikova considers harmless: “These additives are approved by Rospotrebnadzor, are added in microdoses and do not cause significant harm. I like low-fat oils, but they are not produced in our country. They are light, low-calorie, just what you need in middle age. And in taste, smell and consistency they are similar to high-fat types of oil.”

I also haven’t come across such names in stores. But I came across the fattest type of butter - ghee, 99%. This is a frying oil, it does not contain other fats, but I somehow prefer the idea of ​​frying with olive oil.

Butter quality marks

What else, besides the product name, composition and GOST, should you look for on the packaging? Elena Topnikova: “There must be a sign of butter’s compliance with technical regulations. For example, “STR” or the phrase “Complies with federal technical regulations for milk and dairy products.”

There is another sign of the quality of butter - its price. “About 30 liters of milk are consumed to make 1 kg of butter,” Igor Yadroshnikov, press secretary of the Azbuka Vkusa company, explained to me. “It’s easy to calculate that if a pack costs less than 75 rubles, it cannot be butter.”

And finally, shelf life. On the one hand, GOST requires oil to be stored for 30-35 days. On the other hand, for many brands of oil this period is calculated in months. “The manufacturer has the right to deviate from the expiration date according to GOST if it receives the go-ahead from Rospotrebnadzor,” says Elena Topnikova. “So if there is a longer expiration date on the package, it may be completely legal.” However, Igor Yadroshnikov is more skeptical: “There is a high probability that the manufacturer added animal fat to the oil to increase the time. This is practiced by manufacturers from warm countries and manufacturers focused on warm countries.” So, whatever you want, I choose oil with a one-month shelf life.

When buying oil, smell it: the clean, creamy smell familiar from childhood cannot be faked. If you buy loose butter, pay attention to the cut: it should be dry, dense, shiny, without separation. In winter, natural oil is lighter, in summer it is yellower, it depends on the freshness of the grass. High-quality butter spreads easily onto the sandwich. If the oil crumbles, it means there is a lot of water in it.

Butter rating

Denis Bykovskikh

1. The oil rating is deservedly headed by the ancient Russian know-how in butter making - “Vologda oil”. Fat content - 82.5%. Ingredients: cream subjected to high temperature pasteurization. Shelf life - 30 days. 116 rub. / 180 g.

It bears GOST R 52253-2004, which is generally not accepted for oil of such fat content. It is produced according to special technical conditions, only in the Vologda region and only at three enterprises that have the legal right to this name: State Unitary Enterprise “Training and Experimental Dairy Plant of VGMMKhA named after. N.V. Vereshchagina", JSC "Vologda Dairy Plant", JSC "Sheksninsky Creamery". They approved their regional document, TU 9221-001-54002969-2009. And only these designations can be present on real Vologda oil. All other oils with any variations of the word “Vologda” on the packaging differ from the original in the same way as real champagne from Champagne differs from any fizzy drink. For this butter, milk is taken from cows that fed on grass rather than silage, and the skimmed cream is heated to 97-98 degrees. As a result, “Vologda oil” acquires a wonderful nutty flavor. And a very gentle smell!

Denis Bykovskikh

2. Valio. Fat content - 82%. Ingredients: pasteurized cream, milk microorganisms. The shelf life is amazing: 18 months at minus 18 and six months at plus 8! Produced and packaged in Finland. 78.5 rub. / 200 g. Butter made from acidified cream, in my opinion, is difficult to distinguish from sweet cream. It is separately stated that the product meets the Ecotest Plus environmental criteria.

Denis Bykovskikh

3. Beurre d "Isigny. Fat content - 80%. Ingredients: pasteurized cream, salt, leaven from lactic acid cultures. Shelf life - 100 days. 211.3 rubles / 250 g. Butter produced in France. Designation "AOC" (Appellation d" origine controlee) means "controlled appellation" and is assigned to French wines and dairy products produced strictly according to the traditions of the area. For lovers of salted butter, this is definitely a good find.

Denis Bykovskikh

4. President. Fat content - 82%. Ingredients: normalized cream. Shelf life - 8 months. 73.3 rub. / 200 g. Oil produced and packaged in France. However, the price is borderline suspicious. The inscription “Extra” says little: in our classification of oil grades there are only the highest and the first, and what the enthusiastic French meant is a dark matter. For my taste, our traditional one is better.

What is the difference between 72.5% and 82.5% butter?

Yes, now this has become a difficult question. Previously, according to GOST, oil 82.5% was called traditional, 72.5% - peasant. And it was believed that oil with a fat content of 72.5% was healthier, because it seemed to retain all the biological substances. The current popular belief is that anything below 82.5% is not oil! Because trans fats are added. And trans fats are vegetable oils that have hardened as a result of hydrogen being passed through them. Trans fats are very harmful to humans and are very poorly excreted from the body. Personally, I buy 82.5% local oil. I found it through testing, focusing solely on taste. If you choose oil with a fat content of 82.5%, read the packaging carefully, because manufacturers are cunning
. I once bought 82.5% butter and tried margarine. Then on the packaging I found an inscription in small print (in the picture), it’s hard to read that this is a spread with the addition of vegetable fats.

Therefore, be careful when choosing.

Based on personal experience, I advise you to choose oil with a higher fat content.

However, and this is not a guarantee of the right choice, you need to read the composition. It is very important that the purchased oil does not contain vegetable fats. Unfortunately, this is what manufacturers often do.

Well, it is quite obvious that cheap butter will largely contain components that are far from butter, which, in fact, makes it cheaper.

To answer the question directly, the oil is distinguished by its fat content, i.e. different percentage of fat content.

And real oil can have a fat content of 72.5% and 82.5%. This is not what determines the “realness” of butter.

You need to look at the composition of this oil on the packaging (if, of course, you believe the manufacturer). If the butter is made from natural cream, then it is butter. Nowadays, plant components are often included in the composition. This is essentially not an oil, but a spread.

It is also worth paying attention to the manufacturer/brand that you trust. Vologda oil has always been famous. Only the real thing, made in Vologda, and not just having this name. Or Finnish.

The fat content of butter, like other dairy products - sour cream, kefir, fermented baked milk, etc., can be different. The consumer himself will be able to choose the fat content he needs.
I try to buy butter (and kefir/ryazhenka) with less fat content.

Although now I no longer see butter of the same quality as in Soviet times. It became hard in the refrigerator and almost crumbled when cutting, but now any butter is somehow soft and “spreads.”

★★★★★★★★★

How to choose quality butter.

I agree that the fat content and quality mentioned in the question are not directly related.
Reading the label and focusing on taste is also not an indicator. Once I got into trouble when I bought 2 packs of butter: one, a known spread, for baking, the other, made only from cream, for breakfast. The first pack was very tasty, although soft, but the second one tasted like pure margarine.

Apparently, real butter can most likely be bought from a private owner on the market; it is unlikely that the farmer has worked out the process of mixing vegetable and animal fats, and they are fighting for the client.

Because butter with 72% fat content is not creamy

Dear ones, you don’t understand what you are writing about. Real butter CANNOT have a fat content below 80%. In no country in the world, except ours, there is the concept of “Butter 72%”, because it is NOT butter. With a fat content below 80%, the oil a priori contains vegetable fats, WHATEVER IS WRITTEN ON THE PACKAGING. Well, at least Google it before you answer people.

Butter is 82% butter and no other

It is believed that oil with higher fat content is more natural, and, accordingly, more healthy and tasty.

Whatever oil you buy, always look at the composition.
Ideally, there should be cream without a hint of any vegetable fats.
Often butter with a percentage of 72.5% is made using these - vegetable fats that have nothing in common with milk fat.
And, of course, keep in mind that real little will not be cheap. Think about it: to make a kilogram of butter, you need to take twenty liters of milk! It turns out that the price for one kilogram of butter cannot possibly cost less than five hundred rubles.

Know that there are a lot of counterfeits on butter shelves, but 82.5% butter is more difficult to counterfeit than 72.5%.

Yesterday I bought butter at the market, my husband attacked me with reproaches, saying that I’m a teapot, I don’t understand butter, and they slipped me margarine!

I felt offended, because I was 160 rubles. I paid about 400 grams for a piece, and today I decided to scour the internet and interview experienced relatives and friends on butter/margarine issues, and this is what I found:

Butter is a natural product made from cow's milk or cream.
Margarine- This is an artificially created product from animal and vegetable fats.

Differences - butter/margarine:

1. The words “natural”, “environmentally friendly” are not yet an indication that this is oil. “Light butter”, “Sandwich butter”... is essentially margarine. The phrase “Butter” must be written. Also in favor of butter are words like “Cow butter” or “Made from cream.”

2. If GOST number R 52969-2008 is indicated on the pack, this is butter. However, here too you need to be careful and pay attention to the price of such oil. If a 200-gram pack costs 19 rubles, most likely it is a fake. Real oil should cost at least 30-40 rubles per package.

3. Study the composition of the product on the package. Butter is made only from milk or cream. If the composition contains vegetable fats (peanut, coconut, palm oil, or even a “dairy fat substitute”), you have margarine!

4. You can distinguish butter from margarine experimentally, but only at home: leave the purchased pack on the kitchen table for one hour. If drops of water “fog up” appear on it, it is margarine. The same conclusion will be if a piece from a pack dropped into water does not dissolve evenly, but separates into particles.

5. The color of the oil may vary from whitish to pale yellow, but the oil from the same batch should have a uniform color.
The color of margarine is more saturated yellow, but modern margarine producers have learned to lighten margarine by adding a certain percentage of milk to it.

6. Butter has almost no smell. And you certainly shouldn’t feel any odor when you sniff the selected product through the paper packaging.

7. Salt is allowed in butter.

Folk differences - butter/margarine:

1. Butter should be applied to the bread, and margarine should be spread.
2. At home, melt butter and margarine separately. As it hardens, the butter will solidify into a uniform mass - ghee, and the margarine will separate into the fatty part and a layer of milky water.
3. Standing at the refrigerator counter, run your finger along the edge of the package, pressing lightly: the cooled butter will be harder and the edge of the packaged bar will feel hard under your finger. Chilled margarine or spread is much softer; the edge of the package will be crushed under your finger.
4. Frozen butter chips and breaks, but margarine remains plastic and is easy to cut and spread.
5. The butter should not splatter or crumble from the refrigerator. When cutting into a thin layer, the butter should curl:

This effect will not work with margarine. If the oil ripples and crumbles, it means there are artificial additives in it.
6. Oil always contains cholesterol!
7. A piece of butter in the mouth will melt evenly without a trace, and the margarine in the mouth will smear and stick to the palate.
8. Butter leaves a pleasant creamy aftertaste, while margarine leaves a nasty, unnatural aftertaste.
9. In the cold, margarine does not harden like butter, and at room temperature, margarine holds its shape less well than butter.
10. Buy homemade butter from someone in the village, then buy store-bought butter and margarine in the store. Then try option 1, after options 2 and 3, and draw conclusions))

So, what I bought from my grandmother meets all the requirements specifically for butter, and its “butter” looks more like margarine...
When he comes, I’ll teach him... let’s see which of us is a teapot...

What is the difference between cream and sour cream? It would seem that these are different products, but many people confuse these two concepts. But they have different tastes and manufacturing methods. Therefore, for some recipes they use cream, and for others - sour cream. It is believed that it is necessary to eat at least three servings of dairy products per day, as they are beneficial for the human body. Therefore, it is difficult to do without cream and sour cream.

Basic definitions

To understand the difference between sour cream and cream, you need to familiarize yourself with the definitions of these products.

So, cream is a product obtained during the process of settling milk, otherwise called separation. Now, of course, it has been put into production; it is carried out by special devices. However, previously the cream was left to settle in a cool place. Then, by morning, a layer of heavy cream was removed from the barrel of milk.

Sour cream is a fermented milk product. It is made from cream, adding various additives to it.

So, what's the difference between cream and sour cream? Cream is a dairy product, and sour cream is fermented milk, that is, the result of fermentation. You should immediately decide that there is no such thing as vegetable cream. If a product is sold under this name, it means that it has nothing to do with milk, or even natural cream in general.

What are the benefits of cream?

This product contains a large amount of vitamins and minerals. It contains not only fats, but also proteins and carbohydrates. They contain sodium and magnesium. And also a huge amount of B vitamins. They contain iron and potassium, which help the whole body and the heart muscle in particular. It is also worth combining cream with fruit. They enter into a reaction, as a result of which the fruit is better absorbed, and a person can get the maximum amount of vitamins from both of these ingredients.

Cream is used to make sour cream and butter. They are often added when preparing sauces or some confectionery products. Cream also goes well with coffee and coffee-based drinks. This is due to the fact that heavy cream highlights its aroma and gives the coffee softness. For this reason, it is recommended to drink coffee with cream or milk to reduce harm to the stomach.

Contraindications for cream

This product is characterized by high fat content. For this reason, it is prohibited for a number of diseases. Also, cream, especially with a fat content of at least twenty percent, is not recommended for elderly people or those who have suffered a long illness. The body may simply not cope with such a fatty product.

How do you get sour cream?

What is the difference between cream and sour cream? In fact, the latter is made from cream. It all starts with milk, which is separated. The skimmed cream is pasteurized and normalized, then a special starter is added to the already prepared raw materials.

After this action, the sour cream sits for another day, cools and settles, while acquiring its own taste and consistency.

Sour cream is used as a salad dressing and sauces are made from it. Sour cream is also added to the dough. Thanks to this, the baked goods are tender and soft.

What are the benefits of sour cream?

What is the difference between cream and sour cream? If the former go well with fruits, then sour cream goes well with vegetables. Both ingredients help maximize the absorption of beneficial substances.

This product also contains a lot of vitamins, for example, vitamin A. It is also often called the beauty vitamin, since it is difficult to imagine healthy skin and hair without it. Sour cream also contains fatty acids, natural sugar and biotin. It is impossible not to notice the presence of B vitamins, potassium and magnesium, zinc and iodine and, of course, iron. The last element is necessary for proper hematopoiesis and helps fight anemia and weakness. By the way, the latter also directly affects the appearance, helping to form healthy nails.

Taste and fat content

The cream has a pleasant, slightly sweet taste. Sour cream has a pronounced sourness, which depends on the initial taste of the milk. This is one of the points that shows the difference between sour cream and cream. For the same reason, putting, for example, sour cream in coffee is not a good idea. In addition, under the influence of temperatures, sour cream can curdle. The integrity of manufacturers also plays a huge role here. Due to a number of additives and preservatives, some sour cream cannot be used when preparing sauces. Therefore, you should pay attention to what is written on the label. So, the words “sour cream product” should be alarming.

Cream is often offered in several varieties. With fat content of 10, 20 and 30%. The latter are often whipped with a small amount of granulated sugar to form whipped cream. The first ones are considered to be drinkable. It is difficult to thicken them without certain ingredients, such as starch or gelatin. They are also produced and diluted with water to obtain a drinking product. They keep for a long time.

What is the difference between cream and sour cream, based on their fat content? Sour cream is most often sold in several types: 10, 15 and 20% fat. There is also so-called village sour cream. It is distinguished by the fact that it is quite thick without pronounced sourness.

What is the difference between cream and sour cream? A whole range of factors! So, cream is, in fact, settled milk, or rather its top layer. They have a delicate sweetish taste, with distinct milky notes. Sour cream, in turn, is made from cream. It is more sour due to fermentation. It is often used for dressing salads, flavoring dough with sour cream or delicious soups such as borscht.

Take a stroll through the dairy aisle and you'll see a huge selection of butter and margarine. Moreover, both products are equally popular among the population. Each person has his own opinion that explains his choice. However, not everyone knows what the actual difference between butter and margarine is.

Difference between butter and margarine

Although these products are used for essentially the same purposes, they have little in common. The main factors that distinguish butter from margarine are the method of production and composition. First of all, these products contain fats of different origins.

Butter

Butter lovers are probably aware that it is made from milk. That is, it contains exclusively animal fat. The main ingredient is fresh milk or cream. The selected component is foamed to separate the fat. In this case, the liquid hardens.

The butter we buy in stores is usually made from cow's milk, although sometimes other types are substituted. Sheep or goat milk products are also available to the consumer.

The color of the finished oil can vary from white to deep yellow. In fact, the shade does not speak about the quality of the product, but about the diet of the animal from whose milk it was made. Moreover, only one ingredient is required to whip the liquid into a dense mass.

You may have noticed that butter packages are usually labeled as “sweet cream.” Why is this happening? The answer suggests itself. It’s just that the main component of this product is not milk, but cream. In addition, it is pasteurized or heated before churning. This is done to extend the shelf life of the manufactured product. In many countries, such as the USA, it is strictly prohibited to sell oil that has not been pasteurized.

During churning, milk or cream turns into a thick paste. At the same time, the process itself contributes to the fact that air enters the mass, making it lighter. This is why butter contains fewer calories than regular animal fats.