Butter sweet cream

Traditionally, butter was made by allowing cream to separate from the milk by standing the milk in shallow pans. The cream is then churned to produce a water in oil emulsion. Typically butter contains 15% of water. Butter is normally made either sweet cream or lactic, also known as cultured, and with or without added salt. Lactic butter is made by adding a culture, usually a mixture of Streptococcus cremoris, S. diacetylactis and Betacoccus cremoris. The culture produces lactic acid as well as various flavouring compounds, e.g. diacetyl, which is commonly present at around 3 ppm. As well as any flavour effect the lactic acid inhibits any undesirable microbiological activity in the aqueous phase of the butter. Sweet cream butter has no such culture added but 1.5 to 3% of salt is normally added. This inhibits microbiological problems by reducing the water activity of the aqueous phase. It is perfectly possible to make salted lactic butter or unsalted sweet cream butter if required. In the UK most butter is sweet cream while in continental Europe most butter is lactic. 

Figure D1.2.2 Sample GC chromatogram of the FAME from butter fat (Sweet Cream Butter, Wisconsin Grade AA, Roundy s, Milwaukee, Wise.) prepared using the sodium methoxide method (see Basic Protocol 2). Equipment DB-23 fused silica capillary column, 30 m x 0.32 mm i.d., 0.25 pm film thickness, FID detector. Temperature, injector 225°C detector 250°C. Column (oven) temperature program 100°C initial, hold 4 min, ramp to 198°C at 1.5°C/min, hold 10 min. Total run time was 80 min. Split injection.

Lozano, P. R., Miracle, E. R., Krause, A. J., Drake, M., and Cadwallader, K. R. (2007). Effect of cold storage and packaging material on the major aroma components of sweet cream butter. ]. Agric. Food Chem. 55, 7840-7846. 

The above discussion applies to sweet-cream butter only. Little information is available on cultured butter, but O Connell et al. (1975) found that ripened-cream butter is less prone to the development of hydrolytic rancidity than the corresponding salted or unsalted sweet-cream butter. 

McDaniel, M.R., Sather, L.A., Lindsay, R.C. 1969. Influence of free fatty acids on sweet cream butter flavor.. / Food Sci. 34, 251-254. 

An increasing problem is lipolysis in butter fat after manufacturing, which is caused by thermoresistant hpase enzymes that are created in the milk or cream by psycho-trophic bacteria or by residual native lipases that sirrvive pasteurization. Based on a determination of the lipase activity in cream, the keeping quality of manufactured butter in regard to hpolysis can be predicted with reasonable accirracy. A similar prediction for sweet cream butter can be based on lipase activity in the serum phase (71). The characteristic lipolytic flavors that can develop in milk products are primarily associated with the short- and medium-chain fatty acids that are relatively abundant in milkfat they have lower flavor threshold values than the long-chain fatty acids. As a result of improvements in the quality of raw milk and the standards of processing, lipolytic rancidity is seldom present in the fat source before its use in recombination (72). 

The cream used for butter may be fresh ( pH 6.6) or ripened (fermented pH 4.6), yielding sweet-cream and ripened cream (lactic) butter, respectively. Sweet-cream butter is most common in English-speaking countries but ripened cream butter is more popular elsewhere. Traditionally, the cream for ripened cream butter was fermented by the natural microflora, which was variable. Product quality and consistency were improved by the introduction in the 1880s of cultures (starters) of selected lactic acid bacteria, which produce lactic acid from lactose and diacetyl (the principal flavour component in ripened cream butter) from citric acid, A flavour concentrate, containing lactic acid and diacetyl, is now frequently used in the manufacture of ripened cream butter, to facilitate production schedules and improve consistency. 

NaCl reduces the rate of auto-oxidation in sweet-cream butter but increases it in ripened cream butter (c. pH 5) the mechanism in unknown. 

McDaniel, M. R., L. A. Sather, and R. C. Lindsay Influence of Free Fatty Acids on Sweet Cream Butter Flavor. J. Food Sci. 34, 251 (1969). 

Peterson, D.G., G.A.Reineccius, Determination of the aroma impact compounds in heated sweet cream butter. Flavour Fragrance /., 18(4), p. 320, 2003. 

Budin, J.T., C. Milo, G.A. Reineccius, Perceivable odorants in fresh and heated sweet cream butters, m Food Flavors and Chemistry, Spanier, H., F. Shahidi, T.H. Parliment, C. Mussinan, C.-T. Ho, E. Contis, Eds., Royal Society of Chem., Lxtndon, 2001, p. 85. Meynier, A., D.S. Mottram, Volatile compounds in meat-related model systems Investigation on the effect of lipid compounds on the MaiUard reaction between cysteine and ribose, in Progress in Flavour Precursor Studies, P. Schreier, P. n-terhalter, Eds., Allured Publ., Carol Stream, 1993, p. 383. 

Butter from nonsoured, sweet cream (sweet cream butter). 

BUTTER. Butter is made from cream. As marketed, contains about 80 to 82% butterfat, 14 to 16% water, 0 to 4% salt, and 0.1 to 1.0% curd. Sweet cream butter is made from pasteurized sweet cream to which no starter has been added. Ripened cream butter is made by starter ripened cream. Sweet butter contains no salt. Unsalted butter is butter to which no salt has been added. Salted butter is butter to which salt has been added. 

Most cooks prefer unsalted butter, also called "sweet cream" butter, in part because it s believed to be fresher (salt acts as a preservative) but mostly because it won t add unwanted extra salt to a recipe. Salted butter, though best for buttering toast or baked potatoes, can be tricky to work with, especially in baking, because different butter-makers use different amounts of salt in their product. If you add salted butter to a recipe that calls for unsalted butter, always decrease the amount of table salt called for by % teaspoon (per stick). 

Ice Crea.m, Ice cream is a frozen food dessert prepared from a mixture of dairy iugredients (16—35%), sweeteners (13—20%), stabilizers, emulsifiers, flavoriug, and fmits and nuts (qv). Ice cream has 10—20% milk fat and 8—15% nonfat solids with 38.3% (36—43%) total soHds. These iugredients can be varied, but the dairy ingredient soHds must total 20%. The dairy iugredients are milk or cream, and milk fat suppHed by milk, cream butter, or butter oil, as well as SNF suppHed by condensed whole or nonfat milk or dry milk. The quantities of these products are specified by standards. The milk fat provides the characteristic texture and body iu ice cream. Sweeteners are a blend of cane or beet sugar and com symp soHds. The quantity of these vary depending on the sweetness desired and the cost. 

Most creamery butter is produced by churning sweet cream so that the fat globules coalesce into a soft mass. The federal standard for butter (USDA 1981B) requires not less than 80% milk fat. FAO/WHO standards specify 80% milk fat, as well as no more than 16% water and a maximum of 2.0% nonfat milk solids (FAO 1973). The required fat level is universal. A typical analysis of butter is given in Table 2.3. Whey butter has a similar composition but is derived from the milk fat recovered from cheese whey. 

The churning of sweet cream produces butter. In the United States there are continuous churns, which apply pressure and agitation to cream on a continuous stream, extracting the buttermilk and adding salt throughout the process. There also is the older, batch churn method of butter production. The consumer generally does not understand the difference, and both types of product sell side by side on the shelf. 

The remaining water is finely distributed across the fat phase by a kneading or extrusion process. During this phase aroma compormds, for example, lactic acid fermentation extracts, can be added to modify the taste profile in case sweet cream was used to produce the butter. 

Table 5 shows the sensory evaluation by Schieberle et al. (30) of the different kinds of butter, namely, Irish sour cream (ISC), cultured butter (CB), sour cream (SC), sweet cream (SwC), and farmer sour cream (ESC). It revealed ISC butter and ESC butter with the highest overall odor intensities. Table 5 shows that 19 odor-active compounds were detected by aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA) in a distillate of the ISC butter. The highest flavor dilution (ED) factors have been found for 5-decalactone, skatole, i-6-dodeceno-y-lactone, and diacetyl followed by trany-2-nonenal, cw,c -3,6-nonadienal, c/i-2-nonenal, and l-octen-3-one. 

There are several ways of making cultured butter from sweet cream. Pasilac-Danish Turnkey Dairies, Ltd. developed the IBC method (Figure 10) (81). The main principles of the IBC method are as follows. After sweet cream churning and buttermilk drainage, a starter culture mixture is worked into the butter, which produces both the required lowering of butter pH and, because of the diacetyl content of the starter culture mixture, the required aroma. The starter mixture consists of two types of starter culture (1) Lactococcus lactis and (2) L. cremoris and L. lactis ssp. diace-tylactis. With respect to production costs, the experience with this method shows that, for the manufacture of mildly cultured butter, the direct costs are only about one-third of the costs of other methods (81). 

The temperature of pasteurization of cream in Europe is 180° F. while lower temperatures are extensively used in this country. Rogers, Berg, and Davis say that in the continuous pasteurization of sweet cream for butter making, a temperature not lower than 166° F. nor higher than 175° F. should be used. Examination of the butter after storage indicates that pasteurization at 150° F. or lower leaves in the cream some factor causing a deterioration of the butter. The flavors of butter made from cream pasteurized at 180° F. is somewhat affected by heat. 

Use fresh heavy cream, ideally at room temperature (about 60°F/15°C), for a sweet cream hutter. If you want a more subtle continental flavor, culture the cream first before churning add two tablespoons of plain yogurt, sour cream, or creme fraiche to 17 fl oz (500 ml) of fresh heavy cream. Leave the cream for 24 hours at a warm room temperature (about 75°F/24°C) and then cool it back down to 60°F (15°C) to make the butter. A digital food thermometer is a useful way of enabling you to control the temperature correctly without having to rely on guesswork. 

Recent studies of photooxidized butter and butter oil identified by aroma extract dilution analysis, 3-methylnonane-2,4-dione, a potent volatile compound derived from furanoid fatty acids (see Section C.4) (Figure 11.7). Six different furanoid fatty acids were established as dione precursors, and were found in various samples of butter made from either sweet cream (116 76 mg/ kg), or from sour cream (153-173 mg/kg), or from butter oil (395 mg/kg). Similar precursors of the dione were identified in stored boiled beef and vegetable oils. This flavor defect arising by photooxidation of butter or butter oil is apparently different from the light-activated flavor in milk,that involves the interaction of sulfur-containing proteins and riboflavin. However, more sensory comparisons are needed to distinguish between these two flavor defects due to light oxidation. 

Table 3.24. Free fatty acids in butter (sweet cream) samples of different quality...

Butter from sweet cream, which is soured in a subsequent step (soured butter). 

The Booser process and the NIZO process allow a subsequent souring of butter from sweet cream. Both processes are of economic interest, because they yield a more aromatic sour butter and sweet buttermilk, which is a more useful by-product than sour butter-milk. 

Lactic acid and a flavor concentrate are obtained by separate fermentations during the first step of the NIZO process. In a second step they are mixed and incorporated into the butter granules from sweet cream. 

The aroma of butter made from sweet cream is affected primarily by free fatty acids (especially capric and lauric acids), S- and y-lactones, dimethylsulfide, (Z)-hept-4-enal and the degradation products of tryptophan (indole and skatole). The butter obtained from sour cream contains mainly metabolic products of microorganisms (so-called starter cultures). Especially important compounds are biacetyl, lactic and acetic acids. 

Lipases in stored butter gradually release fatty acids from tri-acylglycerols, and their presence can be detected as a rancid and soapy flavour when they reach 30-40% of their threshold concentrations, which is a result of their synergism. The reaction is called hydrolytic rancidity. Responsibe for the rancid flavour is mainly butyric acid, followed by caproic acid. Caprylic acid has a rancid soap-like flavour, capric and lauric acids only have soapy flavours. Odour (and taste) threshold concentrations in butter made from sweet cream are 50 (60) mg/kg for butyric acid, 85 (105) mg/kg for caproic acid, 200 (120) mg/kg for caprylic acid, >400 (90) mg/kgfor caprinic (capric) acid and >400 (130) mg/kg for lauric acid, respectively. In long term stored butter, active oxidative rancidity products are (E)-non-2-enal, (Z)-non-2-enal in particular, while less active products are (Z)-hept-4-enal, oct-l-en-3-one and others. The rancid and soapy odour in butter can also be caused by contamination with anion active detergents, such as natriumdodecyl sulfate. 

Odorants and tastants in foods interact in complicated ways. For instance, strawberry odor enhances the sweetness of whipped cream, while peanut butter odor does not, and strawberry odor did not enhance the saltiness of sodium chloride (Frank and Byram, 1988). 

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