Types of Butter

Buttersorten

A basic distinction is made between butter produced exclusively from milk-cream, and butter made from a blend of milk-cream and whey cream. According to Swiss food legislation, ‘butter’ can be produced from milk-cream, or from a blend of milk-cream and whey cream. ‘Butter’ must have a minimum fat content of 82%. If a blend of milk-cream and whey cream is used, the product may be described as ‘whey cream butter’. If whey cream butter is produced in a cheese dairy, it may be called ‘cheesemaker’s butter’.

In standard butter products the non-fat dry matter content is low, on average just 1.2–1.5%. If butter produced by churning is washed, said content is actually significantly below 1%. From a nutritional viewpoint, therefore, the non-fat dry matter is of little importance, although it can have a major impact in bacteriological terms. Consequently, in order to avoid detrimental changes in butter products, care must be taken to ensure good distribution of the aqueous phase, with droplet size not exceeding 10 micrometres.

In Switzerland, cultured cream butter produced from cultured cream or with the NIZO process is especially popular, with 99% of all butter sold being cultured cream butter. The following butter products are on the market:

Premium Butter

‘Premium butter’ (Vorzugsbutter in German) is an industry description. It is produced from milk-cream – either cultured cream, or sweet cream – with the addition of a natural lactic acid and flavour concentrate. In smaller quantities, ‘premium butter’ is also sweet cream butter (salted or unsalted, with the salted butter competing for only small shares of the market). It is subject to regular quality control by the butter industry organisation, e.g. it must have a minimum acidity, and a maximum pH of 5.0. This figure applies for cultured cream butter. The maximum legal pH level for soured butter is 5.5. By law, sweet cream butter must have a minimum pH of 6.0.

Cheesemaker’s Butter

This butter is produced in cheese dairies from a blend of milk-cream and whey cream without lactic fermentation. Market shares are very small (local sales). The important point here is that the whey cream is not fermented, so that copper levels in the whey cream butter can be kept low.

"The Butter" ("Die Butter" in German, previously also termed "cooking butter")

"Die Butter"/"The Butter" is a blend of milk-cream and whey-cream butter (e.g. 94:6). Domestic cultured cream butter is used as milk-cream butter. Either freshly produced butter or stored butter can be used, or a blend of milk-cream and whey cream can be churned into butter and moulded immediately.

Anhydrous Milk Fat

Examples of other designations are milkfat, anhydrous milk fat, AMF, anhydrous butteroil, butteroil, frying butter or ghee. Internationally, the different designations are used specifically for quality differentiation. Anhydrous milk fat – AMF for short – meets the highest quality requirements, and consists of 99.9% milk fat. Butter oil and ghee are subject to less stringent requirements.

The bulk of production is from butter. The butter is melted, centrifuged to separate off the serum phase, extracted with steam, and heated to a high temperature under vacuum. If anhydrous butter is to be used for frying, a suitable flavour is produced through the addition of small amounts of buttermilk in the final stage of production. Anhydrous milk fat may be stored unrefrigerated, and can be heated to high temperatures without burning.

Recently, dairies have started making AMF directly from cream. The cream is concentrated and broken in special separators, after which the process can basically proceed as if using butter as the base ingredient. Instead of relying on steam extraction, aeration can be carried out by means of an inert gas such as nitrogen. Although often employed in vegetable oil production, this process has yet to catch on for the manufacture of milk fat.

Anhydrous milk fat is therefore to all intents and purposes pure milk fat, made from milk-cream butter as well as from cheesemaker’s butter or whey-cream butter.

Frying Cream

Frying cream is anhydrous milk, which that is liquid at room temperature. A low-melting milk-fat fraction is obtained through heating, crystallisation and filtration (olein fraction). The high-melting fraction which is separated off (stearin fraction) is very popular for use in puff-pastry production, e.g. for butter croissants.

Butter with a lower fat content.

Three-quarters-fat butter must have a milk-fat content of at least 600 and at most 620 g/kg; half-fat butter, a minimum of 390 and a maximum of 410 g/kg. Half-fat butter contains a higher percentage of milk proteins (3–5%), as well as other ingredients such as thickeners and emulsifiers. It usually spreads very well straight from the fridge. Butter with a lower fat content is made from ‘premium butter’, which is blended with milk components to achieve the required fat content. This type of butter may also be described as ‘low-fat butter’ or ‘light (‘lite’) butter’.

Butter preparations and dairy spreads

These are blended products made from butter and other food ingredients. Butter preparations must have a minimum milk-fat content of 62%; dairy spreads, a minimum of 10% and under 82% To improve their taste and image, some margarines contain butter, e.g. “margarine with 21% butter”. Provisions in the food legislation ordinances go into this subject in greater detail.

Baking Butter

Baking butter is a milk-fat fraction with a high melting point (stearin fraction) produced in parallel with frying cream (olein fraction, see above).

Average chemical composition of butter products

The chemical characterisation is subdivided into major, minor and trace elements. Average values for important products available on the Swiss market are listed in Tables 1 and 2, based on Agroscope data.

Table 1: Average chemical composition of main and minor components of butter products, in g/kg
Contents "Premium Butter" "Die Butter" / "The Butter" "Cheesemaker's Butter"  Light Butter 
Fat

820

820

820

500-515

Dry matter

832-840

832-836

832-838

553-563

Water

160-168

164-168

162-168

437-447

Non-fat DM 

12-20

12-16

12-18

50-60

Protein 

6-8

4-5

3-5

45-55

Lactose 

6-7

6-7

4-6

4-18

Ash 

0.98-2.14

0.80-2.06

0.90-1.64

3.67-5.5

Cholesterol

2.3-2.5

2.1-2.3

2.25-2.65

1.4-1.55

Sodium* 

<0.1

<0.1

<0.1

0.51-0.95

Calcium 

0.165-0.193

0.143-0.167

0.095-0.151

0.156-0.718

Potassium

0.86-0.234

0.166-0.224

0.132-0.232

0.137-0.639

Magnesium 

0.013-0.017

0.012-0.016

0.01-0.016

0.015-0.041

Phosphorus

0.21-0.23

0.2-0.3

0.14-0.2

0.62-0.85

Chloride*

0.12-0.14

0.1-0.13

0.09-0.13

0.15-0.37

*Exception: Salted butter contains table salt (sodium chloride)
Note: According to current requirements in 2019, ‘light’ butter must have a fat content of between 390 and 410 g/kg. Data given here are from a time when the provisions were different.
Table 2: Average chemical composition of trace elements of butter products, in mg/kg
Contents "Premium Butter" "Die Butter" / "The Butter"  "Cheesemakers's Butter"  Light Butter 
Iron

0.1-0.15

0.1-0.15

0.15-0.16

0.22-0.32

Copper

0.015-0.025

0.015-0.065

0.06-0.16

0.055-0.1

Vitamin A 

8.1

8

8

4.8

Vitamin E 

15-26

15-26

18-28

14

Characterisation of the physical properties of butter products

Butter products are categorised not only according to fat content and cream quality, but also according to physical criteria. The physical properties are characterised as described in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Physical properties of butter products and suitable measuring methods

Method

Characteristic

Remarks

Cut resistance (DIN 10331)

Consistency, product hardness, spreadability

Measurement range: 5 to 20°C; cone, disc and needle penetration are also commonly used

Plate and cone rotational viscometer

Viscosity, plasticity (processing properties)

Used chiefly with intermediate products

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)

Melting curve (continuous), softening behaviour

Solid/liquid proportions as a function of temperature

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

‘Melting curve’(selective), softening behaviour

Solid/liquid proportions as a function of temperature

Clear melting point (CMP)

Point of change from cloudy oil into clear liquid. Range: 30°C to 38°C

Proportion of solid triglycerides: < 0.5 to 1.5%. Pure fractions: CMP of 6 to 50°C

Wator grade
(coloured blotting paper)

Water distribution, quality of the emulsion, homogeneity

Traditionally manufactured products may have visible water droplets

Data source: Sieber et al.: Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Zusammensetzung von schweizerischer Butter. FAM INFORMATION, April 1998 352 P/W

Reference List

Weitere Literatur:

Bisig W. und Eyer H., 2010. Technologie der Milchfettprodukte. Kursunterlagen Modul Fette-Öle der Hochschule HAFL Zollikofen, Agroscope. 54 Seiten.

Kessler H.G., 2002. Food and Bio Process Engineering – Dairy Technology. 5. überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. Verlag A. Kessler, München. 679 Seiten.

Spreer E., 2005. Technologie der Milchverarbeitung. 8. neubearbeitete Auflage. Behr’s Verlag, Hamburg. 787 Seiten.

Walstra P., Wouters J.T.M., Geurts T.J., 2006. Dairy Science and Technology. Secon Edition. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, Florida USA  

Tetra Pak, Bylund Gösta, 2015. Dairy processing handbook. Publisher: Tetra Pak Processing Systems AB. Lund, Sweden. 482 Seiten. Online version: http://www.dairyprocessinghandbook.com/ (6.6.2016).