Recipe: Assorted Sweet & Savory Butters

Hi! I'm Butter!

"I'm a byproduct of churned cream used in cooking and as a spread for bread. I'm really yummy when I'm melted and poured over freshly popped popcorn! You don't have to "butter me up" (flatter me) to get me to add richness to your food!"

History & Etymology

• According to Elaine Khosrova, author and pastry chef, butter may have originated 8,000 years ago in Africa. A shepherd had tied a bag of warm sheep's milk to the back of a sheep and found that after traveling a few miles, the milk had curdled, creating a tasty substance. She claims butter would have come from the milk of sheep and goats before cow's milk. 
• The method of churning butter eventually changed from having bags of milk dangling from domesticated animals' backs to hanging them from tree branches. 
• In places where olive oil was preferred with bread and cooking, as in ancient Greece and Rome, butter was seen as a food for barbarians. However, it was accepted as a medicinal ointment. 
• A 4,500-year-old Sumerian tablet describes making butter from cows. 
• Scandinavia was exporting butter by the 12th century. Butter did not spoil as quickly in northern Europe as in southern climates. In Ireland, in the 11th to 14th centuries, butter was placed in firkins (wooden vessels or casks) and buried in peat bogs to preserve it. Archaeologists can still find buried butter firkins in Ireland.
• Butter was churned by hand on farms until the 19th century. Farmers would make enough for themselves and to sell in brick form for extra income.
• In the 1860s, butter factories started up in the United States. In 1894, Gustaf de Laval patented the first centrifugal milk-cream separator, which sped up the butter-making process. 
• At home, you can make butter by shaking or whipping heavy cream, causing the butter fats to separate from the liquid until it turns into butter and buttermilk!
• The latter half of the 20th century would see margarine overtake butter in popularity because it was less expensive and seen as healthier. That changed somewhat in the early 2000s, but both products have been surpassed in recent years with healthier fats, like canola and olive oils. 
• The United States produces the most butter worldwide, followed by New Zealand and Germany. 
• The word "butter" is from the Old English "butere," of West Germanic origin, from the Latin "butyrum," from the Greek "bouturon."

Composition

• Butter is a dairy product made from cream, which is typically 80 percent butterfat. It is a solid substance when refrigerated, and at room temperature, it is semi-solid. When heated, it melts and becomes a liquid.
• Butter is most often made from cow's milk, although it can also be made from goat, sheep, buffalo, and yak milk. 

How to Buy & Eat

• In the US, butter is typically purchased in 1-pound packages with four 4-ounce sticks. The sticks may come in the Elgin or Eastern-pack shape: 4 3/4 x 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 inches. This form was named for a dairy in Elgin, Illinois. Or, they will be in the Western-pack shape: 3 1/4 x 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches. Butter dishes are generally designed for the Elgin shape. 
• Most butter has 80 percent butterfat. If your recipe calls for butter with more butterfat content, look for a European-style butter. It is churned longer and has 82 to 90 percent butterfat. 
• You can purchase salted or unsalted butter. In baking, recipes often call for unsalted butter. If you use salted butter in a recipe that calls for unsalted, you may not need as much or any additional salt. 
• The culinary uses for butter are extensive. You can spread it on bread, toast, and other baked goods. It is a cooking fat that adds flavor to pan-fried foods. Cooking vegetables in a little butter allows the sugars in the veggies to carmelize. Adding butter when finishing a sauce makes the sauce rich and creamy. Baking with butter will add texture and richness to cakes, cookies, and pastries and make them more tender. Mix it with powdered sugar, and you have buttercream frosting!
• Several foods have "butter" as an ingredient and in their names, including butter cookies, butter cake, butter chicken, butter rice, butter pecan ice cream, buttercream, butterscotch (candy), butter pie, bread and butter pudding, and cookie butter (a sweet food paste). The French "beurre blanc" ("butter white") is a rich white butter sauce. 

Nutrition

• One tablespoon of butter has 102 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams saturated fat), one-tenth gram of protein, and no carbohydrates, fiber, or sugar. It has 355 IU of vitamin A and small amounts of calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Salted butter has 91 milligrams of sodium.
• Eating butter may increase the absorption of other nutrients in the foods it is in. 
• Butter is not a heart-healthy fat, so it should be eaten in moderation.