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I heard that Canadian butter is not as good as New Zealand butter because too much water is added to Canadian butter before it is sold.
Does anyone know enough about agriculture law to find information about water in butter? Does it go back to the introduction of margarine to Canada. Wasn't margarine a post-war thing, something that the USA was pushing, Canada was resisting and then what, watery butter was tested on Indigenous people? Were Indigenous peopleS of Canada forced to eat margarine, like the post-war Germans?
Healthy butter - without the water?
Thoughts?
And yes, Canadians trees can be cut with a saw.
Not all butter is created equal.
Canadian butter standards are probably the same as in the US. The fat content is minimum 80% , same in the US. Most American butter on your grocer’s shelf contains around 80% milk fat, which means it’s about 16 to 18% water and 1 to 2% milk solids other than fat (sometimes referred to as curd). FDA doesn't require that a butter's water content be listed on the packaging.
Also, Canadian butter had the worst omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, it’s double what you see in French butter. Not healthy.
Highest omega-6 content butter is produced in countries with the greatest amount of land devoted to oilseed production, particularly corn, soy, and canola.
In Europe the fat content must be 82+% (some tip the scales at 83 or even 86%).
Australian Butter is typically minimum 82 % milk fat and max 16 % moisture.
Some of the best NZ butter contain up to 92% fat and only 12% moisture. That's quite different compared with just 80% common in the US and Canada.
Three or 4 extra % of fat content may sound like a trifling difference, but it's a massive one in the worlds of baking and chocolate making. Fat content affects butter's flavor (more fat, more flavor), delivers creamier texture, and raises butter's melting point. But most critically, fat content is a zero-sum proposition: The more fat a butter contains, the less room there is for water. Higher fat butter can contain between 10- and 20% less water than the usual stuff.
If you want a high-quality butter - look for Stirling Creamery Ltd. but a good, imported butter is hard to find in Canada due to some butter tariff blockade.
Very informative and explanatory of something I've often wondered about while travelling overseas and tasting another country's butter.
We have access to farmer's market butter where the Mennonites often sell their home churned product. Loved it for years until finding dead flies in more than one sample. So we went back to the (tasteless by comparison) production variety.
You could make your own butter that will for sure taste superior to what you get in the store. I sometimes do that - it takes 15 min of shaking a jar in front of TV. ( I also make tasty farmers/quark cheese - just ask me how... lol)
You barely notice the work. Rinsing it is a bit more labor-intensive, but the result will be well worth it.
To make a great butter you need farm-fresh grass-feed heavy cream (from co-op store, farmers market or such. The stuff you see at your grocery store won't produce anything tasty). The better the cream the better the butter. If you have access to organic, NOT ultra-pasteurized cream, all the better. It feels expensive, but still will be way cheaper than same quality butter from a specialty store.
One quart of cream makes about one pound butter, although it depends on how heavy the cream is.
For 2 lb butter (why make a small batch - its the same work, so make more) you will need 2 quarts of cream, 1 cup of buttermilk, a food processor or twist-off jar, water and ice cubes.
So, two quarts of the best heavy cream you can find and a cup of organic buttermilk - pour it into a bowl, stir, cover with a kitchen towel and let it sit on the kitchen counter till it "feels" solid. (when you stir it if feels like a thick gravy). Probably 24-36 hrs. It should have a pleasant, barely sour aroma. I said kitchen counter - do NOT place it in the fridge!
Now you have two ways to churn (make it clump).
1. You can use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or a food processor with the metal blade. Remember to put on a cover to avoid splashes. Let it run till thick clumps will form (maybe 3-5 min).
When you have a bowl of whey with a big blob(s) of butter, you're almost done.
SAVE the whey!! You can drink it (its tasty buttermilk!!) or use it for baking when the recipe calls for buttermilk.
[2. If you don't have anything that would do the work for you (husband or your kids count too ), then do it manually.
Find a twist-off jar that will fit the amount of the thickened cream - it should be about 2/3 full, you need the empty space to shake. Or use a smaller jar and divide the cream in two batches, close, and go watch a movie. While at it, shake the jar. First, you will feel nothing but after some 10min or so, you will start to hear clumps. Keep shaking till you see that the whey gets separated from the clumps.]
Use a mesh sieve, and fish out all the clumps from the whey. Put the whey aside, and form your butter into one big ball after dropping them into ice water.
Now comes the fun play with the food. You'll need to "wash" the butter!
This simply means kneading the butter in ice water. The ice water begins to solidify the butterfat, forcing out any remaining whey, which will allow the butter to become very firm without whey weeping out. Remember - you want as little as possible moisture in your butter by pressing it out from the fat clump.
So, pour some water into a bowl, add ice and start kneading it like bread dough (or Play-Doh)
First water will be milky-cloudy. Replace it with clean ice water again. Kneed more. Replace ice water again, and again till you get fairly clear water. Probably 4-5 times.
Now is the time to salt if you wish. I wouldn't, but that's just me. Knead in a few pinches. Form and wrap your butter in any shape you wish. You can keep a part of it in the fridge and freeze the rest. Wrap in saran and aluminum foil, then place in a freezer zip-lock bag.
Buy fresh-baked baguette (or any bread of your choice) and enjoy your own, homemade butter with it. So delicious!!! Taste even better with home-baked bread!
Report back and tell us how you liked it!
If you want, you can make flavored butter (before freezing). Add some honey, pumpkin&spices, lemon, or herbs, or fresh garlic paste.
Here are 30 flavors to choose from: https://www.brit.co/flavored-butter/
You can spread that flavored butter on a cookie sheet, freeze it, then make pretty shapes using cookie cutters. Put the shaped butter into a jar or a bag. Best if separated with pieces of wax paper, so they don't stick together. Leave in the freezer. They look great on a steak.
Uff - a long post, and looks complicated, but isn't. Trust me. Any man can do it...
You could make your own butter that will for sure taste superior to what you get in the store. I sometimes do that - it takes 15 min of shaking a jar in front of TV. ( I also make tasty farmers/quark cheese - just ask me how... lol)
You barely notice the work. Rinsing it is a bit more labor-intensive, but the result will be well worth it.
To make a great butter you need farm-fresh grass-feed heavy cream (from co-op store, farmers market or such. The stuff you see at your grocery store won't produce anything tasty). The better the cream the better the butter. If you have access to organic, NOT ultra-pasteurized cream, all the better. It feels expensive, but still will be way cheaper than same quality butter from a specialty store.
One quart of cream makes about one pound butter, although it depends on how heavy the cream is.
For 2 lb butter (why make a small batch - its the same work, so make more) you will need 2 quarts of cream, 1 cup of buttermilk, a food processor or twist-off jar, water and ice cubes.
So, two quarts of the best heavy cream you can find and a cup of organic buttermilk - pour it into a bowl, stir, cover with a kitchen towel and let it sit on the kitchen counter till it "feels" solid. (when you stir it if feels like a thick gravy). Probably 24-36 hrs. It should have a pleasant, barely sour aroma. I said kitchen counter - do NOT place it in the fridge!
Now you have two ways to churn (make it clump).
1. You can use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or a food processor with the metal blade. Remember to put on a cover to avoid splashes. Let it run till thick clumps will form (maybe 3-5 min).
When you have a bowl of whey with a big blob(s) of butter, you're almost done.
SAVE the whey!! You can drink it (its tasty buttermilk!!) or use it for baking when the recipe calls for buttermilk.
[2. If you don't have anything that would do the work for you (husband or your kids count too ), then do it manually.
Find a twist-off jar that will fit the amount of the thickened cream - it should be about 2/3 full, you need the empty space to shake. Or use a smaller jar and divide the cream in two batches, close, and go watch a movie. While at it, shake the jar. First, you will feel nothing but after some 10min or so, you will start to hear clumps. Keep shaking till you see that the whey gets separated from the clumps.]
Use a mesh sieve, and fish out all the clumps from the whey. Put the whey aside, and form your butter into one big ball after dropping them into ice water.
Now comes the fun play with the food. You'll need to "wash" the butter!
This simply means kneading the butter in ice water. The ice water begins to solidify the butterfat, forcing out any remaining whey, which will allow the butter to become very firm without whey weeping out. Remember - you want as little as possible moisture in your butter by pressing it out from the fat clump.
So, pour some water into a bowl, add ice and start kneading it like bread dough (or Play-Doh)
First water will be milky-cloudy. Replace it with clean ice water again. Kneed more. Replace ice water again, and again till you get fairly clear water. Probably 4-5 times.
Now is the time to salt if you wish. I wouldn't, but that's just me. Knead in a few pinches. Form and wrap your butter in any shape you wish. You can keep a part of it in the fridge and freeze the rest. Wrap in saran and aluminum foil, then place in a freezer zip-lock bag.
Buy fresh baked baguet (or any bread of your choice) and enjoy your own, homemade butter with it. So delicious!!! Taste even better with home baked bread!
Report back and tell us how you liked it!
If you want, you can make flavored butter (before freezing). Add some honey, pumpkin&spices, lemon, or herbs, or fresh garlic paste.
Here are 30 flavors to choose from: https://www.brit.co/flavored-butter/
You can spread that flavored butter on a cookie sheet, freeze it, then make pretty shapes using cookie cutters. Put the shaped butter into a jar or a bag. Best if separated with pieces of wax paper, so they don't stick together. Leave in the freezer. They look great on a steak.
Uff - a long post, and looks complicated, but isn't. Trust me. Any man can do it...
You just made me remember, I got a little butter churner as a gift last year, and put it in the back of my pantry. Forgot all about it...now I'm inspired.
I was curious about that little churner and watched a video how it works. It looks like it will take lots of time to accomplish the task.
I do it in a regular Mason jar, and the time is about 10-15 min max.
Come back and let us know how long it took to make butter in your churner.
Anyway - whatever method you use - your own homemade butter will be cheaper and tastier than the regular butter from your store.
The lady on that video was making sweet butter, but by adding little buttermilk and fermenting it 24-36 hrs - you will get European cultured butter that is way tastier than the sweet butter we are accustomed to.
Another way to churn it, put it in a tightly lidded jar, put the jar in a belly bag around your waist or several jars in a back pack if you want to do more and go for a brisk walk or a light jog for an hour.
When I was a kid our milk was raw milk that we got from the dairy farmer next door and it always had a thick layer of cream floating on the top when they delivered it to our house. We used to have to stir the cream back down into the milk before drinking it.
So - when I was in elementary school we (the neighbour kids and I) had a two mile walk to school from home and the mason jars of milk in our lunch kits would get a good bit of churning, sloshing and bouncing during the walk. By the time we got to school after all that walking motion our jars of lunch milk would always have many big lumps of fairly solid yellowish-white cream like soft butter all sticking together floating at the top. At lunch time we would spoon the lumps out and eat them, then drink the remaining milk. It was all yummy stuff.
Elnina, thanks so much for all the information about butter, it's been interesting reading.
.
Many of the finer pastry and bakery outfits in Quebec use butter imported from Europe or New Zealand.
The reason they give is that it has less water content.
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), then do it manually. 
