How to find quality butter. Home experiments: how to choose butter? How to choose butter? What to look out for

The range of products called butter is so wide that sometimes you just want to take the first package that comes to hand and go to the checkout to waste time studying labels.

But in vain: saving time, you risk purchasing a low-quality product or media. Before making a purchase, pay attention to the details:

• According to the current legislation of the Russian Federation product marked on the price tag and label just like “oil” may well not be such. The name of a real cream bar always consists of two words, where the first one denotes a variety - peasant, traditional, Vologda, etc. Ordinary inhabitants usually do not go into such subtleties, which cunning manufacturers use with might and main, disguising completely different goods as butter and unreasonably inflating the price;
• The main indicator of quality is the composition. Ideally, these are just two components - whole milk and cream. The marking “sweet and sour” implies that fresh pasteurized cream was used as a raw material, and sourdough was added to the sour cream. Both options have a delicate taste and literally melt in your mouth;
• The fat content of high-quality butter is 72.5% or more. It is the content of milk fat that determines it. beneficial features. The only exceptions are Tea (61%) and Sandwich (50%) - these types of products are recognized as oils, but they contain consistency stabilizers, dyes, emulsifiers;
• GOST does not always mean high quality , since standards are often divided into basic and additional, expanding the product range. Bars of the highest or first grade are marked with the number GOST 37-91, and GOST R 52100-2003 is designed for spreads. Another common criterion for quality, TS, but it does not guarantee the absence of preservatives and dyes;
• Date of manufacture and expiration date also play an important role in the choice, because the old product will probably not be so tasty. Ideally, if the duration of storage does not exceed 35 days. An increase in this period indicates the presence of preservative additives;
• Package most often made of dense foil, therefore, under the influence of light, the oil oxidizes. Translucent parchment usually hides margarine or spread;
• Tempting price tags should arouse suspicion, because the production of 1 kg of product requires 15 liters of milk. Adding production and transportation costs here, make a conclusion about a reasonable cost.

Right there in the shop check butter for hardness: vegetable fats do not solidify completely even at sub-zero temperatures, and such a bar will be soft to the touch. Take the piece on which it is difficult to push a hole.

Check at home

Even if all the subtleties listed earlier were taken into account when buying, this does not give a 100% guarantee of quality. So it's time to remember the old folk methods to help determine the quality of butter at home:

• Organoleptic check. Let's use the senses - examine, smell and taste the butter to determine its quality. Good chilled butter is necessarily hard, the sides of the bar are smooth. Make a cut with a knife - it is even and slightly shiny, and the structure of the product is uniform.
• Fresh butter is white or very light cream in color, but darkens a little by the end of its expiration date. A pronounced amber hue indicates one of two things: either beta-carotene dye has been added (permitted according to GOST), or the oil has not been stored correctly, it has begun to oxidize. The smell from a quality piece is almost impossible to catch, and it quickly melts in the mouth, leaving a pleasant creamy aftertaste.
• Water test. The easiest way to verify the quality of the purchased product is to drop a small piece of oil into a glass of warm water (about 40 degrees). Within a minute, it will dissolve, forming a film of small grains. The fake will remain solid. IN hot water the piece will dissolve completely without forming a precipitate.
• Hot pan method. Heat up the oil in a frying pan. When it melts, a light foam and a clear aroma of baked milk will appear. If the smell is unpleasant or absent altogether, you are dealing with a spread. Remember that with strong heating, carcinogens are formed from animal fats, so frying in butter is harmful.
• Freezing. Put the butter in the freezer for an hour - during this time it will freeze, and when cut with a knife, it will crumble into small pieces. The surface of the chips is clean, without foreign inclusions. The fake will remain soft.
• Thawing. Leave the butter on the table, let it melt a little. If liquid appeared on its surface, you made a mistake with the purchase.

How to choose oil? (video)

Try to determine the quality of butter at home as soon as you come from the store - this product is perishable and after a day the outlet may refuse to accept the goods back, citing the fact that you stored it incorrectly.

Black list. Phantom firms making 100% palm butter

None of these businesses exist at the address shown on the label.

If you see butter from the following manufacturers in stores, be aware that they produce a fake.

Black list

KUKHBUTTER (Serpukhov), Cheese House (Taldom), Milka (Mytishchi), MOLCOM (Schelkovo), Milk Trust (Losino-Petrovsky), ProdFas (Pushkino), Unitex ( Domodedovo city district), "Navikom" (Ramensky district).

As the examination showed, in the "butter" oil of these manufacturers, palm occupies a share of 72, 82, or even 100%.

On the this moment, according to the head of the Office of the Rosselkhoznadzor for Moscow, Moscow and Tula regions, Evgeny Antonov, every eighth sample of "milk" shows a fake.

It is noteworthy that examinations that reveal counterfeit do not help bring fraudsters to justice. The police take on such cases in the event that the fact of counterfeiting products under a known name is established. trademark- then it is already classified as the use of someone else's trademark.

Rosselkhoznadzor urges buyers to carefully study the label and pay attention to the following details:

1. Print quality - the originals have clear text, the print is neat, without blurry spots.

2. In the design of the label design, as a rule, there is not one color, but with shades.

3. If the name and address of the manufacturer are unfamiliar to you, it is better not to risk buying oil. Stop your choice on any one proven brand.

Relatively recently, we were worried about how much cholesterol is in butter, and today - how much butter is in it.

There are a lot of butter on the shelves of butter stores. And everything is completely “traditional”, “GOST”, “in the best traditions”, “natural”, “fresh cream”. And buy - no taste, no smell.

Issue price

Many experts suggest focusing on the price of the product. According to manufacturers' calculations, it takes at least 20 liters of whole cow's milk to produce 1 kg of butter.

To date, the cost of a liter of milk is approximately 25-40 rubles per liter, depending on the volume of purchases. But, even at the lowest price, a kilogram of oil for the manufacturer costs at least 500 rubles. Further, buyers, shops, etc. raise this price.

So it turns out that real butter in a pack cannot cost 80 rubles in any way. Does it mean that our eyes are deceiving us? Indeed, on the shelves of supermarkets there are prices from 70 to 100 rubles.

What is in a pack called "butter"? And most importantly: how to determine the quality of the product at home?

Rector of the Moscow state university food production Dmitry Edelev recommends two simple ways find out if the oil you bought is real.

cold method

Cut off a piece of purchased butter and put in the freezer for 1.5-2 hours. Then take it out and try to cut. The correct oil will crumble and break, and the surrogate will be plastically cut.

hot method

Take a piece of butter and send it to a glass with hot water. Real oil will melt into a puddle, and the spread (a product with the addition of vegetable fats and other additives (flavors, flavorings - ed.) will break up into its constituent elements and the puddle will be heterogeneous.

Attention Test

Reading the label will also help you choose the right product.

1. Quality requirements are regulated state standard– GOST R52969-2008 “Butter. Specifications”, which manufacturers are required to indicate on the packaging. On packs of a counterfeit product, the word "GOST" without numbers may be indicated in large letters.

2. Butter is made from cream. On the label, the ingredients should indicate cream, salt, natural dye. The rest is superfluous, making life easier for the manufacturer.

3. The fat content of high-quality butter is 82.5%. If you need less fat, then you will buy margarine.

Irina Kamshilina

Cooking for someone is much more pleasant than for yourself))

Content

How good can a morning be if for breakfast you have delicious sandwich. But are you sure that all its components have really passed all the checks in accordance with GOST? For example, how to distinguish real butter from a fake, what should be the fat content and why is Vologda considered natural? Learn all the secrets of how to distinguish a quality product from a wide range in Russian stores.

What is butter made from

There is only one recipe that does not change over time. The composition of butter according to GOST has nothing but cream. No dairy fats, vegetable components (palm fat), as in coconut oil. If you see additional ingredients on the pack in the “composition” column, then you have an unnatural product. It can be eaten, but you will not receive any beneficial nutrients for the body. In addition, the taste is significantly different from natural.

Production technology

From ancient times, good butter was obtained by whipping cream. Today, the technology remains unchanged, but other tools have been used for this: whipping factories have special machines that can handle large production volumes. To prepare at home, you will need cow's milk fat or, in other words, cream and a teaspoon of yogurt. The components are mixed. The mixture is infused for 12 hours, and then whipped with a mixer. The liquid is separated, and a product is obtained that can be eaten immediately.

GOST for butter

The quality of butter in Russia can be determined according to GOST R 52969-2008. However, do not think that this criterion alone can be a guarantee of quality. Margarine or spread is also made according to GOST, so take a closer look at the numbers. R 52253-2004 indicates that you have a Vologda product in your hands, which is produced by only 3 factories in the Vologda region. How to distinguish real butter from fakes? Learn GOSTs and navigate them.

GOST margarine - R 52178-2003. Some types are not made according to GOST, but according to TU - technical conditions, so you should pay attention to the composition, which was written above. In addition, the package should not say “sandwich product”, “spread” and so on. Otherwise, you run the risk of acquiring a fake, the price of which is not always lower than a quality product.

The best varieties

When buying, it is not necessary to focus only on the packaging that was advertised, however, such products are not always bad. Take the pack in your hands and familiarize yourself with the composition: it should not contain anything other than milk and cream. It can't be cheap, so look for varieties that are above average. One of the best is Vologda, but dishonest manufacturers can safely call their product the same, producing, for example, in Moscow.

How to check the quality of butter

There are several criteria by which you can quickly navigate and understand what is in front of you and whether it is worth buying. Even if you made a mistake and bought a low-quality one, feel free to use it for baking, and for the future, just remember which manufacturer did not justify itself. You can determine the quality by color, taste, fat content, as well as the expiration dates that are stated on the package. However, there are other criteria:

• Should not crumble while cutting.
• A quality product has a pleasant milky smell.
• The authenticity of the creamy product is confirmed by a homogeneous, dense spread on bread.
• Delicate milky color, without pronounced yellowness.

Color

If you have come to the market where the product is sold by weight, then you have the opportunity to see it without packaging. By color, you can easily understand what you are offered. A natural product does not have a strongly yellow color, as well as, on the contrary, it is not intensely white. High-quality butter should be of a delicate milky hue without plaque or yellowed windy edges, otherwise it may be spoiled.

Taste

Traditional butter made using natural cream does not have a strong taste, rather a pleasant milky aftertaste. It should melt evenly in your mouth, and not break into small pieces, otherwise you eat margarine. After consuming an unnatural product, the mouth seems to be enveloped from the inside with vegetable fat. This shouldn't happen with a good product.

fat content

When choosing an oil, be sure to pay attention to the indicated fat content. A good product should be 82.5% fat, sometimes found from 78%, but extremely rare. All other options indicating a fat content of 72.5% can be safely skipped, because natural oil cannot be like that. It is either margarine or a spread, and both will differ in taste and nutrition. A product with a low fat content will melt faster and droplets will appear on the surface.

Best before date

When choosing butter from the range presented, do not forget to look at the expiration date. Although many people are used to storing this product in the freezer and rarely pay attention to the date of manufacture, there is still a risk of purchasing an expired product. It is stored from 10 to 20 days, depending on the packaging (paper or foil), and it can lie in the freezer as much as you like.

The development of new technologies has not disregarded butter. Now on the shelves of stores there are many other products that are actively fighting oil for a place in the sun. There were spreads and some special margarines with extraordinary qualities and, as it were, much more useful than a natural product. What they contain is a big question. But the fact that the composition of these new products differs significantly from the composition of real butter is an indisputable fact.

Why buy butter at all?

It includes a lot beneficial vitamins and compounds, for example, A, D, E. Eating 20 g of natural butter every day, you can improve skin condition, nervous system, vision and become more concentrated. Substitutes do not carry any benefit, so you need to buy only a natural product.

FIND 10 DIFFERENCES

If you are not ready to sacrifice your health for the sake of newfangled products, find out how to distinguish real oil from its advertised substitutes:

1. Name- the word "oil" should be written on the oil. If you cannot find this inscription, then this pack is best left in the store.

2. Composition- no one has managed to break the chain "cow - milk - cream - butter". Not detectable in cow's milk vegetable fats, which means that they should not be in butter either - it contains only milk and cream. All other ingredients turn the oil into something else.

3. Color- when it is not possible to see the composition of the product, pay attention to its color. Bright yellow or white are a sign that you have a fake in front of you.

4. Texture- natural solid oil. It does not remain on the wrapper and does not stick to the knife. Its surface is smooth, shiny and even.