Does anyone know if there is a brand of butter that DOESN'T have water in the ingredients? My nana and I used to make the most amazing butterscotch toffee together, and now when I try, it always separates the fat from the sugar/crunch - which I can only put down to there now being water - or more water, in the butter. It's just not the same! Any help much appreciated.
bedazzledjewels,
Aug 11, 6:55pm
Tararua
cookessentials,
Aug 11, 7:25pm
I think also Mainland
fisher,
Aug 11, 8:17pm
I got Anchor yesterday to try... said
Cream, Salt contains Milk. .
beaker59,
Aug 11, 9:24pm
By definition Butter is an inverse emulsion ie water emusified into butter fat. As a result it must have water in it to be butter.
cookessentials,
Aug 11, 10:13pm
I make my own at times and I do not add water- the only "water" that comes out of it is buttermilk.
uli,
Aug 12, 12:27am
Well butter should be washed thoroughly under cold running water, not just left with the remaining buttermilk in it.
If you eat it within a few days it is probably ok but anything kept over a week needs to be washed.
Maybe you can check in your shop for a pair of wooden butterhands to wash it with, you'd be surprised how much better it tastes.
bumblebee13,
Aug 12, 1:44am
mainland has water in it
sarahb5,
Aug 12, 2:03am
and that's why all commercially produced butter has water in it - just that some companies are more honest about putting it on the label than others
uli,
Aug 12, 2:06am
That was my first thought too sarahb5. However when you melt a block of butter (which I do for my Christmas stollen - it gets brushed with melted butter to seal it) then you see how much milky liquid is at the bottom of the pot. I would say out of 500g I got at least 20 to 50g of milky stuff. It certainly isn't water - so I am not sure if that is the reason why the butter here almost always tastes rancid or off. If it would be plain water then it would just boil out wouldn't it?
davidt4,
Aug 12, 2:14am
I have noticed lately when I make ghee that there are more milk solids and water than there used to be. I mainly use Mainland foil wrapped butter because at least it is clean-tasting.
sarahb5,
Aug 12, 3:53am
Its a combination of water and salt - if you melt unsalted butter it doesn't look the same. And if heated the butter high enough to evaporate the water you'd burn the butter - and that wouldn't be good for brushing on anything. I haven't noticed butter tasting rancid at all TBH
raebea,
Aug 14, 4:26am
I accidently melted500gr pack of Budget butter, instead of just soften it , so I let it set overnight & next day there was at least 1/2 cup water under the yellow blob. neveragain.
uli,
Aug 14, 4:03pm
So - if never again - what are you going to do next time? Use margarine?
cookessentials,
Aug 14, 5:12pm
I always rinse well under cold water until the water runs clear, using a pair of beech butter hands.
cookessentials,
Aug 14, 5:15pm
The butter hands are used to force the water/buttermilk from the butter, so there would be no or very little water left in the butter. rancid butter often occurs when the butter has not been rinsed thoroughly. Butterhands are made with grooves so that the liquid is forced out of the butter as you work it. I save the buttermilk and freeze it for baking.
cookessentials,
Aug 14, 5:20pm
There is a vast difference between a very small amount of water left over from the rinsing process to the adding of water to make it go further... . . this is why some of the budget butters ( and manufacturers who think they are fooling us) have water added to them You can read below how to make one stick of butter into two by adding water
I don't think it's differences in the water content that have led to differences in our butter unless very small percentage differences in fatmake a huge difference in butter performance. The legal limitation on describing something as butter is that it has at least 80% fat. I use either the gold wrapped Mainland or Anchor varieties which have 81. 4 and 81. 5% fat respectively and a 1991 Food facts book published by the then DSIR has the fat content ofbutter as 82%. So if Budget, which I agree is different, has more water it's not a lot. It could be the way it's made except I know several of the cheap brands are sourced through Fonterra and probably cut off the same block as others. Maybe the way it's treated after manufacture.
cookessentials,
Aug 14, 6:13pm
anything with too much water added should not be used in baking because it has alot less fat content- as per above link. I use the gold wrapped or Anchor-dependinng on the price at the time. When in it is a good price, I buy extra and freeze it. When I make my own, I am lucky enough to get a pail of Jersey Cream (organic too) which is so thick and creamy. The butter you buy is also coloured to malke it nice and yellow. Home made butter is quite pale.
uli,
Aug 14, 7:09pm
I am glad you figured it all out now ... and told everybody what the butterhands are good for. So next time you make butter it might be more palatable - and not just "I do not add water- the only "water" that comes out of it is buttermilk... . "
Bon appetit.
kiwibubbles,
Aug 14, 7:38pm
butterscotch toffee? ! ? ! ? ! ? mmMMmmm is the recipe a secret? :)
buzzy110,
Aug 14, 7:52pm
More and more I am beginning to doubt that butter is made how it used to be. I wonder if I should write to the Herald and get an investigative journalist onto the scent.
This has probably all come about because of our low fat culture. Fat is removed from milk and now the dairy companies are double dipping by probably using the fat in the milk, to make more butter with. Only, IMO, I don't think the fat from milk has the same qualities as pure cream, thus we are getting more 'milk solids' in our milk.
As anyone who makes their own butter should know, it is the milk solids in butter that makes butter go rancid which is why it is washed, over and over. Only one can only assume that the dairy companies have found a way to get round this little problem. Another poster in here reckons that our butter tastes permanently rancid and that is probably true, just his nose is more sensitive than ours.
I have also noticed that cream is not what it used to be but I think I am the only one. Some of the cheaper and budget brands don't behave as I have previously thought cream should, when it comes to thickening in the cooking process and whipping time.
uli,
Aug 14, 7:56pm
I would be careful with what you say on a public messageboard cooks - big companies have big lawyers and it could get expensive!
NZ butter has NO colouring or flavouring at all... .
Pure New Zealand butter! Mainland butter is made from all-natural ingredients – no added colouring, preservative or artificial flavour. Just the clean, fresh butter taste we all know and love.
cookessentials,
Aug 14, 8:40pm
you obviously cannot comprehend my post. I do not add water - it is rinsed in water. People come here for help uli, not acerbic put downs which seem to be your forte'
cookessentials,
Aug 14, 8:41pm
Your point?
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