Hello Sir
There are four types of butter that can be made from fresh or fermented milk, from cream, or from the whey that remains after cheese making.
Butters are made by separating the fat in milk.
They contain more than 80% fat with a small amount of water dispersed through the fat as tiny droplets, which are so small that the butter looks dry.
Butters have a pale yellow/cream colour, and a smooth consistency so that they spread easily and melt in the mouth.
They are used as spreads, for cooking, or as bakery ingredients. Heat is used to destroy food poisoning bacteria and most spoilage bacteria.
The heat also inactivates some of the enzymes in the cream.
Secondary preservation is due to the low moisture content, by keeping the butter cool and packaging it so that it cannot become recontaminated by dirt, insects or micro-organisms.
This also slows the development of rancidity.
Ghee is a golden oil or fat (depending on the room temperature), made from cow’s or buffalo milk.
It has a high demand in some countries as domestic cooking oil and as an ingredient for bakeries.
It is made by heating cream to boil off the water and then filtering out the solidified proteins.
Ghee is preserved by a combination of heat, which destroys enzymes and contaminating micro-organisms, and by removing water from the oil to prevent micro-organisms growing during storage.
It has a long shelf life if it is stored in a cool place, using airtight, lightproof and moisture-proof containers to slow down the development of rancidity.
Methods of processing
Fresh milk is first separated into skim milk and cream and the cream is then used to make fresh butter or ghee.
These processes are described in more detail below.
To make lactic butter, milk is fermented to yoghurt (see Technical Brief: Soured milk and yoghurt), and this is then churned as for fresh butter.
Whey has a butterfat content of 3.5 - 8.75%, depending on the type of cheese being made (see Technical Brief: Cheese-making).
It may also contain residual starter culture from the cheese whey.
The process is similar to that used to make fresh butter.
Fresh butter preparation
Pre-heat milk to 36-40oC.
Separate into skim milk and cream using an electric or manual cream separator.
Heat the cream to at least 63oC for 30 minutes (or 72oC for 15 seconds) in a stainless steel pan.
For improved keeping quality of the butter, it is advisable to exceed this minimum heat treatment (e.g. 75oC for one minute).
Start timing when the cream reaches the correct temperature and continually stir to ensure even heating and prevent over-heating at the bottom of the pan that would change the flavour of the cream.
At a larger scale of production a jacketed pan may be used, which reduces the risk of overheating.
To below 4oC for several hours (or overnight) to 'age' the cream.
This allows the fat to partly crystallise, which helps the churning process and improves the butter yield.
At a larger scale, a drum churn is rotated to churn the cream.
Fill the churn to 40-50% of capacity to allow space for the cream to foam.
Churn at 25-35 rpm for 5 minutes.
Stop the churn and release the gases that are produced.
Churn again at 25-35 rpm for 20-45 minutes.
The cream gets thicker and it then 'breaks' to form ‘grains’ of butter and buttermilk.
Churn until butter grains stick together into large lumps.
Keep the temperature as low as possible during churning.
If the temperature is too high, there are greater losses of fat into the buttermilk.
Churning at low temperatures makes the fat droplets in cream join together.
Drain off the buttermilk.
It is either used as a drink or fed to animals.
Wash Add the same amount of chilled or cold water as the amount of buttermilk removed (water should be drinking quality).
Churn at 10-15 rpm for 5 minutes.
Drain the water and rotate the churn at 10-15 rpm for 10-20 minutes.
Remove the butter.
For salted butter, add salt (1-2% of butter weight) with continued slow churning to achieve even salt distribution.
Work the butter to the required consistency with butter pats.
Mould it into solid blocks with the butter pats or press it into butter moulds that can have different shapes..
Into greaseproof paper, aluminium foil, or plastic bags or tubs (usually 200 - 500 g) for retail sale.
Small plastic single-serve portion pots (10–15 g) of butter are another type of product that is supplied to airlines and hotels in some countries. Store below 4oC in a refrigerator.
