Butter

Floris van Schooten

Butter is a dairy food. It is made by moving the cream from whole milk for a long time.^[1] The fat in the milk separates from the liquid. The fat is butter.

Butter is often put on on bread, as a main ingredient in biscuits, as a shortening agent in some baking and cooking recipes, and for frying foods.

Often, butter is made from cows' milk, butter can also be made from the milk of other mammals, like sheep, goats, bison, and yaks.^[2] Salt, flavorings and preservatives are sometimes added to butter.

Many people use butter in their foods instead of oil.

It has a melting point of about 45 °C (113 °F).

There are 717 calories in 100 g (3.5 oz) of butter.^[3]

Types

Cultured butter is a butter made from fermented cream.^[4] Sweet cream butter is butter made from pasteurized fresh cream.^[5] Raw cream butter is butter made from fresh or cultured unpasteurized cream.

Butter Media

Švédský koláč naruby
Butter spread on a crumpet
Churning cream into butter using a hand-held mixer.
Chart of milk products and production relationships, including butter.
Liquid clarified butter
Traditional butter-making in Palestine. Ancient techniques were still practiced in the early 20th century. Source: National Geographic, March 1914.
Woman churning butter; Compost et Kalendrier des Bergères, Paris 1499
Gustaf de Laval's centrifugal cream separator sped up the butter-making process.
Eastern-pack shape salted butter
Western-pack shape unsalted butter