Butter

What is Butter?

Butter is a dairy product made from churning milk and/or cream. It is regularly used as a spread or for baked goods.

Health Risks: Butter has a high level of Saturated Fat, which may lead to High Cholesterol!

Butter Grades (USDA Grades)

U.S. Grade AA

1. Delicate, sweet flavor, with a fine, highly pleasing aroma
2. Made from high-quality fresh, sweet cream
3. Smooth, creamy texture with good "spreadability"
4. May possess a slight feed and a definite cooked flavor.

U.S. Grade A

1. Pleasing flavor
2. Made from fresh cream
3. Fairly smooth texture
4. Rates close to top grade
5. May possess any of the following flavors to a slight degree: Acid, aged, bitter, coarse, flat, smothered, and storage.
6. May possess feed flavor to a definite degree.

U.S. Grade B

1. May have slightly acid flavor
2. Readily acceptable to many consumers
3. May possess any of the following flavors to a slight degree: Malty, musty, neutralizer, scorched, utensil, weed, and whey.
4. May possess any of the following flavors to a definite degree: Acid, aged, bitter, smothered, storage, and old cream; feed flavor to a pronounced degree.

Since even accidental agitation can turn cream into butter, it is likely that the invention of butter goes back to the earliest days of dairying, perhaps in the Mesopotamian area between 9000 and 8000 BCE. The earliest butter would have been from sheep or goat's milk; cattle are not thought to have been domesticated for another thousand years or so. An ancient method of butter making, still used today in some parts of Africa and the Near East, is shown in the photo at left, taken in Palestine. A goat skin is half filled with milk, then inflated with air and sealed. It is then hung with ropes on a tripod of sticks and rocked to and fro until the butter is formed. [1]