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Find out butter. Butter or palm oil - how to distinguish a fake. What can you replace butter with?

In Soviet times, there was one, or at best two, types of butter in the grocery store. And there was also a dream - that there would be dozens of varieties of oil to choose from. Better yet, hundreds. The dream came true, there was a lot of oil. But what about its quality?

Unfortunately, most of what lies on store shelves in beautiful packaging can hardly even be called oil. Although the labels say butter.

What's the matter? First of all, a significant part of these products is not butter at all. A variety of vegetable fats, at best whey in the composition, and all this with a label on which a beautiful cow is drawn and it says - butter (peasant, Vologda and whatever else). Unscrupulous manufacturers and lack of proper control lead to such results.

The raw material for the production of butter is milk. But its quality leaves much to be desired. The deplorable state of the dairy herd, too long winter, too hot summer, too polluted pastures and many other reasons.

The cost of producing good oil in our conditions is very high. Good butter at reasonable prices will most likely be imported. Or it will contain many substances that reduce its cost, but it will be difficult to call it good.

How to check the quality of butter at home?

First of all, pay attention to the color of the oil. The pleasant yellowish color is achieved exclusively with the help of dyes. It is generally accepted that the higher the percentage of fat, the yellower the oil. So manufacturers are trying to tint the product. Real high-quality butter is much lighter, almost white, but not snow-white, but somewhat fawn.

The easiest way to determine the quality of butter is to freeze it in the freezer. Real butter, which does not contain any vegetable fat, will break off in chunks rather than cut.

Leave the cold butter at room temperature. The more vegetable fats it contains, the sooner it will become soft. Real butter stays hard for about half an hour. If butter can be spread on bread five minutes after freezing, then you know it’s margarine! Even with the most natural taste in the world.

Cut a piece of butter and place it on a heated frying pan. Watch how it melts. An abundance of foam indicates too high a whey content and too low a milk fat content. You can eat this oil, but it is not recommended to use it for baking.

Natural oil deteriorates quite quickly. If your product sits in the refrigerator for weeks or months without changing color or smell, then you can rest assured that the “no preservatives” label is not true.

The diversity of the assortment of dairy products in stores and on the market, on the one hand, makes it possible to enrich the diet with new tastes, and on the other hand, attracts unscrupulous manufacturers seeking to sell a product under the guise of butter that is not butter. According to experts, every second stick of oil can be considered a fake, so today we will talk about how to choose high-quality natural oil that is tasty, aromatic and healthy. Good oil, a natural source of vitamins, minerals and trace elements, is necessary for brain function, moisturizing and nourishing the skin, strengthening blood vessels, preventing arthritis and increasing immunity. Our ancestors treated butter with respect and repeated: “You can’t spoil porridge with butter” or “Eat butter for your health!” However, in order not to actually spoil the porridge with oil, you should buy only high-quality products!

How to choose the right butter in the store

Since it is not possible to taste the products in the store, we can only deal with the information on the packaging. In this case, we trust the manufacturer, and the final “testing” of the product is carried out at home.

Be sure to pay attention to GOST - however, the inscription “made according to GOST” is not enough, since spreads and margarines can also be produced according to state standards. GOST butter - R 52969-2008, but you can see other numbers, for example R 52253-2004. The last number indicates that you are holding in your hands real Vologda oil, which is produced by only three factories in the Vologda region. In addition, by order of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology dated November 22, 2013 N 2134-st, another interstate standard GOST 32261-2013 was put into effect as a national standard of the Russian Federation from July 1, 2015 (editor's note 02.02. 2016).

Remember that GOST margarine is R 52178-2003, and even if the packaging says “butter”, don’t believe your eyes! However, some types of high-quality butter are produced not according to GOST, but according to technical specifications, so you should pay attention to the composition.

Make sure that the package contains the abbreviation CTP - “compliance with technical regulations”. Study the composition of the butter - it should contain only whole milk and cream, and sometimes salt. If the packaging indicates vegetable oils (peanut, palm, coconut) or some ingredient with the mysterious name “dairy fat substitute,” you can rest assured that it is margarine, even if the manufacturer tries to convince you otherwise.

The packaging must directly and unambiguously say: “butter,” “peasant butter,” or “amateur butter.” At the same time, keep in mind that the fat content of butter starts from 82.2%, amateur - from 78%, and peasant oil - from 72.5%. All other types of “butter” - sandwich butter (from 61.5%) and tea butter (from 50%) - are not natural, and somewhere on the packaging you can find the inscription “sandwich mass” written in small print. Typically, a sandwich product includes all kinds of flavorings, emulsifiers, stabilizers and preservatives.

The cost of a pack of good butter is never less than 75 rubles, since preparing 1 kg of butter requires at least 20 liters of milk. If you see suspiciously inexpensive oil on the counter, most likely it contains cheap vegetable fats.

Try to choose oil not in paper, but in foil packaging, since paper does not protect such a delicate product from exposure to sunlight, which destroys vitamins.

Another criterion for the naturalness of creamy products is the shelf life, which usually does not exceed a month. If preservatives or vegetable fats are used in the production of oil, the shelf life increases to a year or more. Which butter to choose: natural, perishable or unnatural, but “long-lasting”, it’s up to you!

How to choose real butter on the market

An undoubted advantage of the market is the opportunity to taste the product and evaluate its quality right on the spot, although it will not be possible to make a final verdict right away, since many of the characteristics of the oil appear only after some time. So, you've come to the market - what should you pay attention to?

Try the oil, hold it in your mouth, listen to how you feel. Natural oil has no odor, it is pleasant, tender and quickly melts in the mouth, leaving a milky and creamy aftertaste. Margarine, on the contrary, can take a long time to melt, sticking to your teeth. If you categorically do not like the taste of the oil, it means that low-quality products or vegetable oils were used in production.

The color of natural butter is light yellow, not bright yellow or white - in the first case, most likely, dyes have been added to the product, and in the second case, the composition may contain vegetable fats. When choosing butter on the market, also remember that summer butter lasts longer than winter butter.

Checking the oil at home

High-quality butter spreads well on a sandwich, and if it crumbles, it means there is too much water in it. Butter also does not leave any traces of grease on the paper, unlike vegetable oils.

Place a piece of butter in hot water - the natural product will dissolve evenly, and the margarine will break up into separate pieces. If you leave a piece of butter on the table at room temperature, then the drops of water that appear on its surface are considered strong evidence that this is an ordinary spread. By the way, natural butter slowly defrosts after being frozen and remains solid for at least half an hour, and margarine and spread can be spread on bread after just five minutes.

Due to the high whey content in the product, the manufacturer has to subject it to intensive freezing, so ice crystals form on the cut of the butter. If you see drops of water on the cut, this indicates that the oil contains margarine impurities. Also observe how butter behaves when heated: the natural product will melt without foaming or releasing water.

Natural butter can be sweet cream (made from pasteurized cream) and sour cream (made from fermented cream). The second type of oil has a slightly piquant sourness and a longer shelf life. How to choose good butter? You need to be careful when purchasing and not skimp on your health!

The importance of butter in cooking cannot be overestimated - it is used as an independent product, added to dough, salads, side dishes, desserts, and custard. There are also medical indications for its use, for example in the treatment of candidiasis and other fungal diseases, to improve the condition of the skin and hair. However, this popularity also has a downside, which consists in a large number of counterfeit and low-quality products containing foreign impurities. According to statistics from Rospotrebnadzor, butter is counterfeited more often than other dairy products, and in this sad indicator it is not inferior to vodka and counterfeit video products. In order not to consume such a product, you need to be able to determine the quality and naturalness of butter at home.

The dangers of consuming low-quality oil

Butter adulteration is a global problem. The main danger of such counterfeits is the high (more than 8%) concentration of trans isomers of fatty acids (trans fats). These compounds, according to WHO research, increase the likelihood of developing heart and vascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, liver pathologies, and early dementia. Consumption of trans fats by women during pregnancy increases the risk of fetal macrosomia.

Another danger posed by low-quality oil is food poisoning caused by violations of production and storage technology. Buyers often choose goods contaminated with pathogenic bacteria and fungi in warehouses where the necessary conditions are not met (for example, the temperature is too high). The consequences of consuming spoiled oil can range from mild illness to severe intoxication, including death. This risk is especially great for children and people with reduced immunity (AIDS patients undergoing treatment for cancer).

Naturalness check

Real butter is a product made exclusively from milk fats (cream) that have been pasteurized and separated. However, stores also sell its substitutes, in particular:

  • Margarine is an emulsion of hardened vegetable oils (sunflower, palm, cottonseed, etc.) with the addition of thickeners, flavors, preservatives, dyes;
  • Spread is a mixture of milk fat and solid vegetable oils with a limited mass fraction of the latter.

They are not a fake of butter, but its surrogate (imitation). Dairy cream is an expensive and rare raw material compared to vegetable fats, which determines the high price of the final product. Because of this, it is unprofitable to use it, for example, in baking and confectionery. In order to replace butter in this niche, as well as to meet customer demand for an inexpensive fat product for everyday use, margarine with a spread was developed. Other reasons for their release include:

  • lack of cholesterol in their composition;
  • lower content of saturated fatty acids;
  • increased concentration of unsaturated fatty acids;
  • less stringent storage requirements;
  • improved ability to spread when cold (natural butter crumbles).

High-quality spread or margarine is no more dangerous than natural butter. Some surrogates additionally contain useful components, such as vitamins and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In Russia, it is legally prohibited to call these products “butter” and use this word on their packaging. If a substitute meets this requirement, it is not a counterfeit, since the buyer is aware of its composition in advance.

At the same time, on the shelves of markets and shops there are also counterfeits, which are the same spread, but labeled as “natural butter.” They can be distinguished by a number of characteristics:

  • when frozen, cut off without forming pieces or crumbs, easily spread on bread;
  • when chilled, they have greater density and hardness compared to butter;
  • They are distinguished by a heterogeneous yellow color in the mass; when stored in the open air, they do not change shade;
  • in a frying pan, the vegetable fat surrogate quickly evaporates with a characteristic crackling sound and the appearance of a sharp unpleasant odor;
  • It melts in the mouth for a long time, has a pronounced taste of vegetable oil and a mealy texture, sticks to the mucous membranes and teeth.

High-quality fakes are practically no different in taste and consistency from natural oil, so it can be difficult to identify them in a store. You can identify a counterfeit in the following ways:

  • place under ultraviolet light - vegetable fat will appear white or bluish;
  • place in vodka - a change in the color of the liquid indicates the presence of dyes in the product.

A detected counterfeit product is not necessarily harmful to the body. However, such a product is sold at the price of natural oil, while its real cost is much lower. In this case, the buyer has every right to present his claims to the store or manufacturer.

Quality checking

The naturalness of butter does not always mean that it is safe and beneficial for the body. Such a product must be manufactured and stored under special conditions; its shelf life is no more than 30 days. Signs of a high-quality, non-expired product:

  • shiny and dry cut surface;
  • whitish or slightly yellowish uniform tint;
  • neutral or slightly creamy odor;
  • delicate taste without bitterness.

If the purchased product has obvious deviations from these signs, you must immediately return it to the store for a refund or exchange. A delay of even a day will allow the seller and manufacturer to accuse you of violating storage conditions and refuse compensation.

It is necessary to store butter in the refrigerator, first placing it in a container with a lid or a plastic bag. In the freezer, the shelf life of the product increases to 50-60 days, but it is better to consume it within a week after purchase - during this period it is guaranteed not to lose its beneficial qualities.

Roskontrol and Roskachestvo

The Russian quality system tested butter with a fat content of 82.5% from 64 brands according to more than 60 quality and safety indicators. The results of the study dated 10.26.16 can be found on the official website: https://roskachestvo.gov.ru/researches/maslo-slivochnoe-82-5-zhirnosti/.

Roskontrol has also repeatedly tested this product. One of the latest studies (dated 05/10/17), in which 6 samples were tested, can be found on the official website:

Testing butter both at home and in the store is quite simple. To do this we need taste, smell, vision and some knowledge. Several simple tests to determine the quality of the product, as well as descriptions of recipes for making homemade oil, can be found in the article.

Requirements for production technology and quality of almost every product are regulated by the relevant GOST standard.

Regulatory documents prescribe specific indicators and criteria for their determination. Of course, we will not be able to visually check the butter for quality (water content, impurity content, etc.). However, some indicators can be assessed independently, trusting only your senses (so-called organoleptic analysis).

Each indicator is assessed on a 10-point scale:

  • color;
  • smell;
  • appearance;
  • product consistency;
  • package.

Then these indicators are summed up, on the basis of which a conclusion is made about the type of product.

Even with the naked eye it is clear that the main attention is paid to taste and color - these are the main “indicators” that show us whether this product is worth purchasing or not.

index cause
grassy taste excess feed, garlic, wormwood, onions and other herbs in the animal’s diet
rancid taste the product was stored at high temperatures or its expiration date has expired
greasy taste the product was stored in the open air and ventilated (partial destruction of milk fat occurred due to oxygen)
other off flavors During production, crumbs of cheese, cottage cheese, and other dairy products got into the main product
the surface has turned yellow occurs during long-term storage; the oil acquires a greasy aftertaste
the oil crumbles the animals ate mainly roughage or the production technology was violated (the cream was cooled to too low temperatures)

9 Tips for Buying Quality Butter

So, let's go to the store or market. How can you accurately determine the quality of butter without performing virtually any special tests?

  1. Please pay attention to the packaging - you can find a lot of useful information on it. First of all, the name should only be “Oil”. Peasant, traditional, creamy - whatever. But not “Spread”, “Margarine” or “Vegetable butter”.
  2. Fat content – ​​no less than 72.5%. At the same time, of course, the composition cannot contain 100% fat - a maximum of 82.5% (this is traditional oil). In other cases, the product can also be called oil, but it contains other additives (a minimum of 50% is tea oil).
  3. Lack of GOST mark. Currently, GOST 37-91 is used, but there are other standards that contain additional requirements for composition and production. Please note that the GOST mark is also allowed on the spread. It is important to clarify the product name and composition.
  4. And now about the composition. Butter is made exclusively from cream, so it can contain only 1 or maximum 2 components - the cream itself and whole milk. No other additives are allowed; their presence casts doubt on the quality of the product and even its name.
  5. Price is an equally important indicator. A standard pack (180 or 200 g) today sells for about 70-100 rubles per piece, so the cost of a kilogram is about 350-500 rubles. It is quite obvious that a pack for 40-50 rubles is not a completely natural or even unnatural product.
  6. The packaging should be thick enough (foil or parchment) to keep out light. Otherwise, under the influence of rays, the oil begins to gradually break down.
  7. We also pay attention to the expiration date. The oil can be stored for no more than 35 days. If the intended shelf life is much longer, it means that the composition probably contains additives that allow the product to “live” a long life. But how safe they are for the human body is a separate question.
  8. We check for hardness. Take the package and press it with your finger on any place. If the oil feels solid, then it is most likely natural. If it is deformed severely enough, it contains vegetable fats.
  9. Now let's see what mark our test left on the reverse side. Let's open the package a little: if there is a mark on the foil, it means the product contains foreign additives. Thus, normally the trace is completely absent.

How to check the quality and naturalness of butter at home

So, now let's move on to practice. After all, a visual assessment is one thing, chemical and physical experiments that are easy to carry out at home are another.

Here are a few simple tests that will allow you to check for sure whether the butter in front of us is real or not:

The color of the product should not be yellow, but almost white. In general, butter is made only from cream, and cream is made from milk. So the question is, why does the product have obvious yellow tints in the first place?

Manufacturers just tint it a little, because this color attracts the buyer. In principle, the presence of food coloring does not spoil the taste of the product, but it can no longer be considered completely natural.

To prove this, you can simply try making butter yourself, at home. All you need is heavy cream and a blender, and maybe a pinch of salt or sugar.

Now put a piece of the product in the freezer for 2-3 hours until it is completely frozen. We start cutting with a fairly sharp knife.

Natural oil actively crumbles - it is practically impossible to obtain a perfect, even layer in this way. But if the layer is neat and does not fall apart into small pieces, it means that the composition probably contains vegetable fats, and the product, of course, is not oil.

Melt a piece of butter, leaving it to stand for an hour at room temperature. Let's observe its “behavior”: if it melts too quickly (literally in 15 minutes), then again it contains vegetable fats. And if a piece can be spread on bread within 5 minutes after the start of defrosting, then it is actually margarine.

Now let’s put the same piece in a heated frying pan. If a huge amount of foam is formed during melting, it means that there is very little milk fat itself, and too much liquid (milk whey).

However, this news can be both good and bad. It is quite possible to eat such oil - on the contrary, it is even better for your figure, because the main source of calories is fat.

But you can’t use it for baking and frying; it’s better to buy another variety. In fact, when heated, all the moisture will quickly evaporate, and there will be very little fat, so the product may burn. True, you can have time to fry scrambled eggs in such oil, because it will take about 2 minutes.

Another simple way to determine the quality of butter at home. You just need to put it in the refrigerator and forget about it for 3 weeks.

After this time (and in the case of the freezer it is 9 weeks), the natural product begins to deteriorate and may even become covered with dark spots. Of course, deterioration in quality can also be determined by off-flavors. But if a piece lies as if nothing had happened, it means that it definitely could not have happened without preservatives.

And finally, the most obvious test. Cut a piece and pour boiling water on it. The natural product spreads across the water, the droplets are yellow, with sparkling fatty bits (glossy surface).

If we have margarine in front of us, it will simply remain a large lump. Moreover, even if you stir, the product will break up into several small lumps, but will not disperse through the water.

A very interesting picture is emerging. On the one hand, it seems that the oil should be beautiful, yellow and stored for a long time. But almost any natural product “lives” for a short time, and it is advisable to eat it in the very first days.

And the color of the butter is white, milky, because it is made exclusively from cream. It’s nice to eat natural butter and enjoy a truly creamy taste, so the main way to give yourself this joy is to make the product yourself, at home.

A video commentary on the topic can be seen here.

Bon appetit!

Black list. “Phantom” companies making butter that is 100% palm oil

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

If you see butter from the following manufacturers in stores, know that they are producing counterfeits.

Black list

"KUKHBUTTER" (Serpukhov), "Cheese House" (Taldom), "Milka" (Mytishchi), "MOLKOM" (Shchelkovo), "Milk Trust" (Losino-Petrovsky), "ProdFas" (Pushkino), "Unitex" ( Domodedovo urban district), "Navicom" (Ramensky district).

As the examination showed, in the “butter” oil of these manufacturers, palm accounts for 72, 82, or even 100%.

At the moment, according to the head of the Rosselkhoznadzor Office for Moscow, Moscow and Tula regions, Evgeniy Antonov, every eighth milk sample shows counterfeit.

It is noteworthy that examinations that reveal falsifications do not help to bring fraudsters to justice. The police take on such cases if the fact of counterfeiting of products under a well-known trademark is established - then this is 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 printing is neat, without blurry spots.

2. In the design of the label, 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 take risks when buying oil. Stop your choice on one, proven brand.

Relatively recently, we were worried about how much cholesterol there was in butter, and today we were worried about how much butter there actually was.

There is a lot of butter on store shelves. And everything is completely “traditional”, “GOST”, “in the best traditions”, “natural”, “made from fresh cream”. And if you buy it, there is no taste, no smell.

Price issue

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

Today, the cost of a liter of milk is approximately 25-40 rubles per liter, depending on the volume of purchases. But, even at the minimum price, a kilogram of oil costs no less than 500 rubles for the manufacturer. This price is then raised by buyers, stores, etc.

So it turns out that real butter in a pack cannot cost 80 rubles. It turns out that our eyes deceive us? After all, on supermarket shelves there are prices from 70 to 100 rubles.

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

Rector of the Moscow State University of Food Production Dmitry Edelev recommends two simple ways to find out whether the oil you bought is real.

Cold method

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

Hot method

Take a piece of butter and place it in a glass of hot water. Real butter will melt into a puddle, and the spread (a product with the addition of vegetable fats and other types of additives (flavors, flavorings - ed.) will break down 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 by the state standard - GOST R52969-2008 “Butter. Technical conditions”, which manufacturers are required to indicate on the packaging. On packs of counterfeit products, the word “GOST” without numbers may be indicated in large letters.

2. Butter is made from cream. The ingredients on the label should include cream, salt, and natural coloring. 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.