Handy Facts at a Glance

Production

  1. Despite the passage of many thousands of years, the essential process of making butter has remained the same.
  2. The old standard margarine-making process – or ‘hydrogenation’ - saw hydrogen added to buttermilk to make a semi-solid mass.
  3. The watery by-product produced when churning cream to make butter is known as ‘buttermilk’ and this is used to make margarine and other buttery-flavoured spreads.
  4. The melting point of butter is between 90 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit (32 and 35 Celsius).
  5. Modern butter-making involves tightly-controlled production methods. Fresh milk is first inspected for quality and the amount of fat it contains. The cream is then separated and heated – or ‘pasteurised’ – to reduce the amount of bacteria which can cause the cream to spoil, potentially shortening the shelf-life of the butter. Once pasteurisation is complete, the cream is churned until it becomes solid. The butter is then packaged and ready for the stores.
  6. During the Middle Ages, butter was given an extra golden colour by being mixed with marigold flowers. The marsh marigold is better known as the ‘Buttercup’.
  7. To make butter, cream is shaken – or ‘churned’ – to separate its constituent fat from the water it also contains.
  8. In ancient times, the ‘churning’ of butter was done by pouring cream into bags made by animal skin or into hollow logs. They were then suspended from trees, slung across a trotting horse or shaken by hand to achieve separation.
  9. Cows produce the best, sweetest butter, but it has also been made from the milk of many other animals, including goats, sheep, camels, llamas, reindeer, water buffalo, yaks and even horses.
  10. Butter was wrapped in vine leaves in Normandy during the Middle Ages and mixed with herbs as well as being stored in Irish peat bogs in the days before the invention of the refrigerator.

Butter Facts

Choose from the list below

  1. History
  2. Nutrition
  3. Production
  4. Trivia