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Butter Making

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Elwa Szabo
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25 views

Butter Making

Uploaded by

Elwa Szabo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SMALL-SCALE BUTTER MAKING

Butter can be made from fresh or fermented milk. If fresh milk is used, it must first be separated
into skim milk and cream. The cream is churned and the final product is known as sweet butter.

The milk used to make lactic butter does not require separation into skim and cream. Instead milk
is fermented to form yoghurt, and lactic butter is produced directly from churning of the yoghurt.

Sweet cream butter


Raw milk is first separated into skim and cream in a centrifugal separator (electrically or
manually powered). Milk with a high fat content gives a higher butter yield.

The fat content in the cream is determined using a Gerbera cream butyrometer. The cream
should then be standardized to approximately 40% fat content using the separated skim milk.
Standardization of cream to the correct fat content is important, because it affects the churning
efficiency and thus butter yield.

Standardized cream is then pasteurized at 72°C for 15 seconds or 63°C for 30 minutes. These
are minimum pasteurization requirements, and for improved keeping quality of the butter,
especially where the process is not automated and thus temperature holding times are only
approximate, it is advisable to exceed the minimum heat treatment, e.g. 75°C for one minute.

The cream should be continually stirred during heating to ensure even heat distribution, and
timing started when it reaches the correct temperature.

Pasteurized cream is then chilled below 4°C for several hours (or overnight). This 'ages' the
cream and improves its churning efficiency and butter yield.

The next day, aged cream is churned either in a butter churn or a small mixer, (eg Kenwood
Chef). It is important to keep the temperature as low as possible during churning. During
churning, cream viscosity increases, and finally the cream 'breaks'. This is a clear separation
of cream into butter grains and buttermilk. Churning should be continued until butter grains
adhere together into one lump.

The buttermilk is drained off and clean, chilled water added to the butter. Slow churning cleans
the butter from residual buttermilk, which reduces the keeping quality of the butter if allowed to
remain. The water is drained off, and 1-2% salt (of butter weight) is added to the butter during
continued slow churning, to achieve even salt distribution.

The butter is then packaged into grease-proof paper, and stored below 4°C.

Lactic butter
Whole fresh milk is pasteurised (see pasteurisation process for sweet cream butter), and then
cooled to 37°C before adding a starter culture (this may be a small amount of yoghurt left over
from a previous batch). The milk is then incubated for several hours (or overnight) in a warm
place (30-37°C) until set. The resulting yoghurt is chilled for several hours, and then churned
(see churning process for sweet cream butter). The lactic butter is salted and packaged in the
same way as sweet butter. Due to the fermentation process, the keeping quality of lactic
butter is not as good as that of sweet butter.

Quality control
Butter can be made without a refrigerator or the use of chilled water, but this leads to the following
problems:

• If the cream is not allowed to age at a low temperature the fat globules will not develop the
Making Butter Intermediate Technology Development Group

crystalline structure necessary for good separation of cream into butter and buttermilk.
• A high temperature during the churning process reduces the butter yield, as some of the
butterfat liquefies, and is lost with the buttermilk.
• The keeping quality of butter will be reduced if stored without refrigeration. At refrigeration
temperatures, butter will keep for several months, but at ambient temperatures off-odours
develop after only a few days. However, in many countries, a slightly rancid flavour in
butter is found quite acceptable.

The water used for 'washing' butter after the buttermilk has been drained off must be potable, as
otherwise it will re-contaminate the pasteurised butter, and reduce its keeping quality.

An anti-oxidant such as BHA (butylated hydroxy anisole) or BHT (butylated hydroxy toluene) may
be added to butter to extend its keeping quality at concentration not exceeding 0.02%, but this
may not be readily available, and may be expensive.

Lactic butter can be made more easily than sweet cream butter on a small scale, as it does not
require the use of a separator or butyrometer, and the chilling stage is less important

Equipment required
Cream butyrometer
Centrifugal separator (manual)
Thermometer
Heater
Stirrer
Churn or high speed blender (eg Kenwood chef)
Grease-proof paper
Chiller or refrigerator

Equipment suppliers
Note: This is a selective list of suppliers and does not imply ITDG endorsement.

Cream butyrometer
Gallenkamp Limited
Bishops Meadow Road
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE11 0RG United Kingdom

Centrifugal separator (manual), butter churns and other dairy equipment


Smallholding Supplies
Pikes Farmhouse
East Pennard
Shepton Mallet
Somerset
BA4 6RR United Kingdom

Kenwood chef
Kenwood Limited
New Lane
Havant
Hants PO9 2NH United Kingdom

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