What is the difference between cream and sour cream? It would seem that these are different products, but many people confuse these two concepts. But they have different taste, ways of making. Therefore, for some recipes, it is cream that is taken, and for others, sour cream. It is believed that it is necessary to eat at least three servings of dairy products a day, as they are good for the human body. Therefore, it is difficult to do without cream and sour cream.

Basic definitions

To understand how sour cream differs from cream, you need to familiarize yourself with the definitions of these products.

So, cream is a product obtained in the process of settling milk, otherwise it is called separation. Now, of course, it is put on stream, it is carried out by special devices. However, before the cream was defended in a cool place. Then in the morning a layer of heavy cream was removed from the barrel of milk.

Sour cream is sour milk product. It is made from cream, adding various additives to them.

So what's the difference between cream and sour cream? Cream is a dairy product, and sour cream is sour milk, that is, the result of fermentation. Immediately it is worth deciding that vegetable cream does not exist. If the product is sold under this name, then it has nothing to do with milk, and natural cream in principle.

What are the benefits of cream?

This product contains a large amount of vitamins and minerals. It contains not only fats, but also proteins with carbohydrates. They have sodium and magnesium. And also a huge amount of B vitamins. They have iron and potassium, which help the whole body and the heart muscle in particular. It is also worth combining cream with fruit. They enter into a reaction, as a result of which fruits are absorbed better, and a person can get the maximum amount of vitamins from both of these ingredients.

Cream is used to make sour cream and butter. Often they are added in the preparation of sauces or some confectionery. Cream also goes well with coffee and drinks based on it. This is due to the fact that heavy cream sets off its aroma, gives coffee softness. For this reason, it is recommended to drink coffee with cream or milk to reduce harm to the stomach.

Contraindications for cream

This product is high fat. For this reason, it is banned for a number of diseases. Also, cream, especially with a fat content of twenty percent, is not recommended for the elderly or those who have suffered a long illness. The body may simply not cope with such a fatty product.

How is sour cream obtained?

What is the difference between cream and sour cream? In fact, the latter is made from cream. It all starts with milk, which is separated. The skimmed cream is pasteurized and normalized, then a special leaven is added to the already prepared raw materials.

After this action, the sour cream stands for another day, cools and settles, while acquiring its own taste and texture.

Sour cream is used as a dressing for salads, sauces are made on its basis. Sour cream is also added to the dough. This makes the bread soft and tender.

What are the benefits of sour cream?

What is the difference between cream and sour cream? If the first go well with fruits, then sour cream - with vegetables. Both ingredients help maximize the absorption of beneficial substances.

Also, this product contains a lot of vitamins, for example, vitamin A. It is also often called the beauty vitamin, since it is difficult to imagine healthy skin and hair without it. Sour cream also contains fatty acids, natural sugar and biotin. It is impossible not to notice the presence of B vitamins, potassium and magnesium, zinc and iodine and, of course, iron. The last element is necessary for proper blood formation, helps fight anemia and weakness. By the way, the latter also directly affects appearance helping to form healthy nails.

Taste and fat

Cream has a pleasant, slightly sweet taste. Sour cream is a pronounced sourness, which depends on the initial taste of milk. This is one of the points that shows how sour cream differs from cream. For the same reason, putting sour cream in coffee, for example, is not a good idea. In addition, under the influence of temperatures, sour cream can curdle. The integrity of the manufacturers also plays a huge role here. Due to a number of additives and preservatives, some sour cream cannot be used when preparing sauces. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to what is written on the label. So, the words "sour cream product" should be alarming.

Cream is often offered in several varieties. With fat content of 10, 20 and 30%. The latter are often whipped with a small amount granulated sugar getting whipped cream. The first is considered to be drinking. It is difficult to achieve their thickening without certain ingredients, for example, without using starch or gelatin. They are also released and diluted with water, a drinking product is obtained. They are stored for a long time.

What is the difference between cream and sour cream, if we take their fat content? Sour cream is most often sold in several types: 10, 15 and 20% fat. There is also the so-called village sour cream. It differs in that it is quite thick without a pronounced sourness.

What is the difference between cream and sour cream? A whole host of factors! So, cream is, in fact, settled milk, or rather its upper layer. They have a delicate sweetish taste, milky notes are clearly felt in it. Sour cream, in turn, is made from cream. It is more acidic due to fermentation. It is often used for dressing salads, flavored dough with sour cream or delicious soups such as borscht.

Probably every housewife has ever encountered such a situation: a sandwich hopelessly spoiled by “butter” from a freshly opened pack. It's summer now, and the products sold in stores deteriorate quickly if stored improperly. Especially when it comes to perishable products, which include butter. will tell you how to choose butter and how to determine its quality at home. Let's see what this natural dairy product should be like.

solar oil

Butter is in high consumer demand in our country. Not surprisingly, this product is on our table every day. Everyone knows the saying: “You can’t spoil porridge with butter” is quite justified. What kind of porridge, if it is not seasoned with oil, what kind of sandwich without it, it is an essential ingredient in many recipes when preparing dough, various creams, it goes as a great addition to some soups.

Butter is very useful product dairy production, it is rich in vitamins A, E and K, contains proteins and carbohydrates, milk fat, minerals (potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sodium, copper, zinc, manganese). That is, almost all the useful substances that are contained in cow's milk are also found in butter, since it is made by separating or churning cream collected from cow's milk. That is why nutritionists recommend including this valuable product for human health in your diet every day.

Of course, butter should be eaten in moderation, since it is a high-calorie product (748 kcal per 100 g), which is easily absorbed by the body (by 91%). In addition, butter has a rather high percentage of cholesterol (200 mg per 100 g of product, with an allowable rate of 300 mg). As you know, an increase in the level leads to the development of problems with the heart, negatively affects the human vessels.

Recommended norm without harm to health 10 - 20 g butter in a day. That is, you can put a piece of butter in the porridge that you cooked for yourself or spread a couple of sandwiches (but not with sausage, but, for example, with cheese). Such an amount will not damage your figure, but will bring huge health and beauty benefits. It is especially useful to eat oil in the cold season of the year, it will give your body additional energy.

Rules for buying butter in a store

Going to the store, it is important to buy a high-quality, natural product that has all the benefits for the body. How to choose the right butter? What should you pay attention to first of all?

1. Name. The packaging should be written, for example, "peasant oil" or "traditional oil", etc. If the word BUTTER is not written on the package, then according to the law, this product is no longer butter, but is a kind of analogue, or simply a substitute or spread. A spread is just a fatty product made from vegetable fats. The percentage of milk fat in them is less than in natural butter, or may not be at all (then it is pure margarine). It is up to you to decide whether you should take a cheap and low-quality product. But there is no benefit in such a product, most likely only harm.

2. Fat content. Real butter must have a fat content of at least 72.5%. It is the milk fat of cow's milk contained in a natural product that has the most useful and nutritious properties.

Butter, according to the percentage of milk fat in it, in Russia is divided into:

• traditional, it has the largest percentage of the mass fraction of fat - 82.5%;
• amateur, also has a high percentage of mass fraction of fat - 80.0%;
• peasant, the percentage of mass fraction of fat is 72.5%;
• sandwich with a percentage of mass fraction of fat - 61.0%;
• tea, has the lowest percentage of mass fraction of fat - 50.0%.

If you see a package called "sandwich butter", then you need to understand that having only 61% fat content, this product can no longer be real butter. Therefore, sandwich and tea oils contain, in addition to milk fat: flavors, food colors, emulsifiers, consistency stabilizers.

In addition to the name of the product itself, you can also read the inscription: sweet and sour, which means that the butter was produced from fresh (sweet) pasteurized cream. If, in addition to the word butter, “sour cream” is also written on the pack, this means that the butter is also made from pasteurized cream but using sour milk cultures (it is allowed to add sourdough to such butter). Sour cream butter is considered more useful, as it is produced using lactic acid microorganisms, and it also has a more pleasant taste.

Another oil (traditional, amateur, peasant) is divided into salted and unsalted, which the label can also tell you about.

3. GOST. It is necessary to choose butter on which GOST 37-91 is indicated, the first or highest grade (this is the main GOST, there are also other GOSTs that do not cancel the requirements of the main one, but expand the assortment names). Be careful: on the spread, according to the law of the Russian Federation, published in 2004, GOST R 52100-2003 can now be indicated. That is why you need to be especially careful when choosing, because packages with natural oil also contain GOST. They produced such a low-grade product, in order to still sell it, they write calling slogans on it: “light”, “dietary”, “natural aroma”, “creamy taste”. As you understand, the taste and fabulous aroma of such a product can be due to only one thing - the presence of synthetic flavors and flavors in it.

Only butter produced in accordance with GOST 37-91 contains everything that butter should differ in - vitamins, as well as natural milk fat. These important components help our vision, the beauty of the skin, hair, nails.

GOST butter is of two types: the first or the highest grade. The highest quality oil is considered the best. At the same time, specialists evaluate such organoleptic indicators as: smell, color, taste, consistency, packaging, etc. The product is evaluated on a 20-point scale. If the butter of this manufacturer as a result of such an assessment gains 11-16 points, then it is assigned the first grade. Upon receipt of 17-20 points - the highest grade.

In addition to the variety, an important indicator characterizing butter is the percentage of fat content. For a natural product, as mentioned above, it cannot be lower than 72.5%.

Butter can also be made according to specifications, in which case you need to carefully study the composition on the label.

4. Composition. The composition of real butter should be written: cream and whole milk. This means that in a natural product there can be no vegetable fats at all, which are present in spreads. Spreads are of two types: vegetable-creamy, this is when the content of vegetable fats prevails in them over milk. And vice versa, creamy-vegetable, in this case, the product is dominated by milk fat over vegetable fats. The name spread in translation from English means spreading or stretching, i.e. soft butter. Due to the content of vegetable fats in them (and their share is at least 39%), the spread is easily spread, even when chilled in the refrigerator. Despite the fact that spreads can be enriched with various vitamins, phytosterols and other useful substances, they are less fatty than butter, but the presence of vegetable fats in them cannot make this product healthy. In addition, they can add flavor enhancers, artificial flavors. The most alarming factor is that all spreads contain trans isomers. fatty acids, which can cause the risk of developing tumors, diseases of the cardiovascular system, infertility, Alzheimer's disease. Whether it is necessary to take such a risk by using a spread instead of a natural product is up to you, of course, since no one will be more responsible for your health than you yourself.

5. Price. Butter should have a price of less than 80 - 100 rubles per pack. This is an average figure, a pack can also be of different weights - less than 200 grams. But you need to understand that with a purchase price of milk of 20-23 rubles, in order to produce 1 kg of butter, you need to process more than 20 liters of milk. Therefore, real butter cannot be too cheap.

6. Date of manufacture. It will not be superfluous to look at the date of manufacture if the price of a pack of oil is suspiciously low. Stores often hold promotions at the end of the expiration date of the product, reducing its price. In this case, it is doubtful to talk about the quality of the product, because by the end of its shelf life, it is already starting to accumulate harmful substances, oxidation products, and if proper storage rules in the store are not followed, harmful microorganisms. The longer the butter was stored in the store, the more likely it is to buy a low-quality product.

The expiration dates indicated on the packaging can vary from 1 month to several months. GOST clearly prescribes a shelf life of 30-35 days. But on packages of imported oil, you can see a much longer period. Such a deviation from the standard is allowed if the manufacturer receives the appropriate permission from Rospotrebnadzor. However, in this case, there is a high probability that there are additives that are not beneficial for human health in the oil to increase the period. Personally, I buy oil from domestic manufacturers with a one-month expiration date.

7. Packing. In the store, you need to choose butter packed in foil or opaque parchment, then the product will be less susceptible to destruction by light, and hence oxidation. The packaging should not be deformed, if this is observed, then most likely the oil has been thawed and re-frozen, which will adversely affect its quality.

What else can you pay attention to?

8. Hardness test. Try pressing your finger on a stick of butter. If it is solid, then this is a good sign. Since the oil containing vegetable fats(palm, coke, rapeseed, sunflower oils) cannot freeze completely even in freezer.

9. Test for trace. In addition to hardness, you can also check if the butter leaves traces. You need to bend the edge of the package and see if there are traces of oil left on it. Natural buttermilk has a high fat content and cannot leave marks on the foil or other packaging in which it is located.

Examination at home: how to determine the quality of butter

Even if you were able to choose the right butter in the store, according to the above points, there is no full guarantee that you bought a quality product. Cases of detection of low-quality dairy products in the sale, unfortunately, are not uncommon in our time. If you still doubt whether you brought real butter home, there are "home" ways to check. So, how to determine the quality of butter at home?

Having opened a pack of butter, housewives quite often can find a dark yellow coating on it. This is due to long storage, the oil becomes covered with staff and its surface acquires a dark yellow color. This is not considered a product defect, the staff can be easily removed with a knife. The oil itself should not be too yellow or too white in color. If the color of the butter is rich yellow, this can only mean one thing, a large amount of food coloring- beta-carotene.

But it happens otherwise, if the butter was stored incorrectly in the store - at a temperature above plus 4 ° C or in the light, then spoilage of the product is inevitable. Under the influence of oxygen, the fats that make up the butter are oxidized, and harmful chemical compounds are formed: aldehydes, ketones, keto acids.

The same can happen if the necessary storage conditions for this product are observed, but with a violation of its expiration dates. After the expiration of the oil sale period, oxidation processes will also inevitably begin, leading to the accumulation of substances harmful to the human body in it. That is why it is important for buyers to carefully look not only at the% fat content of this product (for high-quality oil, this figure should not be less than 72.5%). But also on the expiration date - is it close to the end of the implementation period. You need to be especially careful when the store holds promotions with a discount on butter, in which case the price reduction may be due to this very factor.

Benign oil:

• whitish or light yellow;
• the surface on the cut should be shiny, dry;
• the taste and smell are pure, characteristic of this product.

How to check for fraud at home

The most common way to falsify oil is to add hydrogenated vegetable fats to it or completely replace the product with them. Unfortunately, to determine their presence in butter at home, you will have to rely on your own sense of smell and taste. Since only laboratory analysis is able to determine the exact composition of the purchased product. There are other ways of falsification: cottage cheese or cheese is mixed into the butter.

However, at home, you can also try to determine the quality of butter, if you have doubts about it.

1 way. The easiest is to taste it. Take a small piece and taste it, as already mentioned above, the taste should be clean - with a delicate sweet milky aftertaste. It should not taste bitter, fishy, ​​or too salty (the exception is salted butter, which is specially added salt, thereby increasing its shelf life). Real butter is also virtually odorless and melts quickly in your mouth, unlike spread.

2 way. Dissolve a tablespoon of oil in a glass of hot water. When it has completely melted, stir the liquid and let it stand. Pure butter should not leave a residue, it should evenly stir, and not break up into “components”.

3 way. Put a piece of butter in the freezer for an hour, this is enough time for it to harden if it is made from cream. Try to cut a frozen piece with a knife, if it starts to crumble into pieces (and not cut with a knife), while the chipped surface is clean and uniform, then you have a really natural product without any additives. In a fake, vegetable fats do not allow the oil to completely harden even in the freezer, it will still be soft and easy to cut with a knife.

4 way. Heat the pan, put a piece of butter in it. It will heat up, begin to melt, a foam will appear that smells good. The spread will melt either with an unpleasant odor or no odor at all.

However, it is not recommended to fry anything in butter, as harmful carcinogens are formed in it when heated strongly. For frying, it is better to use olive or refined sunflower oil.

5 way. If you accidentally forgot to put the oil in the refrigerator and moisture appeared on its surface in the form of water droplets, such oil cannot be real. In this case, natural butter will melt slightly, become plastic, it can be easily spread on a piece of bread.

Now you know how to determine the quality of butter at home.

Butter belongs to the category of perishable products. Therefore, when you discover that you have purchased a defective product, do not hesitate to return it to the store: even if you have a receipt a day later, it will be difficult for you to prove that the product was damaged not due to improper storage at home.
I suggest watching the video from the series of programs " Test purchase” from which you will learn how to choose butter, the manufacturer of which “traditional butter” company was recognized as the best, and you will also see how delicious it is to cook Kiev cutlets from chicken breast and butter.

How to store butter

And at the very end, a few tips on how to properly store butter, which has a short shelf life. Everyone, of course, knows that this perishable product should be stored in. However, when purchasing it for a long time, it is better to place it in the freezer so that it does not deteriorate. If for several days, then put it in a plastic container with a lid, a porcelain or glass oiler. It is best to keep butter, like all dairy products that are perishable, on the topmost shelf of the refrigerator - where the temperature is lowest. Although in some models of refrigerators such a shelf is located, on the contrary, at the bottom. The oil must be closed with a lid or placed in a plastic bag, otherwise it will quickly absorb odors.

What is the difference between butter 72.5% and 82.5%?

Yes, now it has become a difficult question. Previously, according to GOST, 82.5% oil was called traditional, 72.5% - peasant. And it was believed that it was oil with a fat content of 72.5% that was more useful, because, it seems, all biological substances are preserved in it. It is now widely believed that anything below 82.5% is not oil! Because trans fats are added. And trans fats are vegetable oils, hardened, as a result of the fact that hydrogen is passed through them. Trans fats are very harmful to humans, they are very poorly excreted from the body. Personally, I buy 82.5% locally produced oil. I found it by sampling, focusing solely on taste. If you choose oil with a fat content of 82.5%, read the packaging carefully, because manufacturers are tricky
. I once bought 82.5% butter, tried margarine. Then on the packaging I found an inscription in small print (in the figure) it is hard to read that this is a spread with the addition of vegetable fats.

Therefore, be careful when choosing.

Based on personal experience, I advise you to choose oil with a higher fat content.

However, and this is not a guarantee of the right choice, it is necessary to read the composition. It is very important that the purchased oil does not contain vegetable fats. Unfortunately, this is what manufacturers often do.

Well, it is quite obvious that cheap butter will largely contain components far from butter, which, in fact, makes it cheaper.

If you directly answer the question, then the oil is fat, i.e. different percentages of fat.

And real oil can be 72.5% and 82.5% fat. This is not what determines the "real" butter.

It is necessary to look at the packaging of the composition of this oil (unless, of course, you believe the manufacturer). If butter is made from natural cream, then it is butter. Now often the composition includes plant components. This is essentially not oil, but a spread.

It is also worth paying attention to the manufacturer / brand that you trust. Vologda oil has always been famous. Only real, made in Vologda, and not just having this name. Or Finnish.

The fat content of butter, like other dairy products - sour cream, kefir, fermented baked milk, etc., can be different. The consumer himself will be able to choose the fat content he needs.
I try to buy butter (and kefir/ryazhenka) with less fat content.

Although now I no longer meet butter of such quality as in Soviet times. It became hard in the refrigerator and almost crumbled when cut, but now any oil is somehow soft, “spreads”.

★★★★★★★★★

How to choose good quality butter.

I agree that the fat content and quality mentioned in the question are not directly related.
Reading the label and focusing on taste is also not an indicator. Once I got into trouble by buying 2 packs of butter: one notorious spread for pastries, the other made only from cream for breakfast. The first pack was very tasty, albeit soft, and the second tasted pure margarine.

Apparently, real butter can be more likely to be bought from a private trader in the market - it is unlikely that the farmer has worked out the process of mixing vegetable and animal fats, and they are fighting for the client.

The fact that 72% fat butter is not creamy

Dear, you do not understand what you are writing about. Real butter CANNOT have a fat content below 80%. In no country in the world, except ours, there is no concept of "Butter 72%", because it is NOT butter. With a fat content below 80%, the oil a priori contains vegetable fats, EVERYTHING WRITTEN ON THE PACKAGING. Well, at least google before answering people

Butter is 82% butter and no other

It is believed that oil with a higher fat content is more natural, and, accordingly, more healthy and tasty.

Whatever oil you buy, always look at the composition.
Ideally, there should be cream without a hint of any vegetable fats.
Often butter with a percentage of 72.5% is made using these - vegetable fats, which have nothing to do with milk fat.
And, of course, keep in mind that a real little will not be cheap. Think about it: to make a kilogram of butter, you need to take twenty liters of milk! It turns out that the price for one kilogram of butter cannot cost less than five hundred rubles.

Be aware that there are a lot of fakes on the shelves with butter, but 82.5% butter is more difficult to fake than 72.5%.

Take a stroll through the dairy section and you will see that the selection of butter and margarine is huge. At the same time, both products are equally popular among the population. Each person has their own opinion that explains their choice. However, not everyone knows how butter actually differs from margarine.

Difference between butter and margarine

Although these products are used for basically the same purposes, they have little in common. The main factors that distinguish butter from margarine are the method of manufacture and composition. First of all, these products contain fats of different origin.

Butter

Butter lovers probably know that butter is made from milk. That is, it contains only animal fat. The main ingredient is fresh milk or cream. The selected component foams to separate the fat. In this case, the liquid solidifies.

Cow's milk is usually used to make the butter we buy in stores, although other varieties are sometimes substituted. Products from sheep or goat milk also available to the consumer.

The color of the finished oil can vary from white to deep yellow. In fact, the shade does not indicate the quality of the product, but the diet of the animal from whose milk it was made. Moreover, only one ingredient is required to churn liquid into a dense mass.

You may have noticed that butter is usually labeled "sweet creamy" on packages. Why is this happening? The answer suggests itself. It's just that the main component of this product is not milk, but cream. In addition, it is pasteurized or heated before churning. This is done to extend the shelf life of the manufactured product. In many countries, such as the United States, it is strictly forbidden to sell unpasteurized butter.

During churning, milk or cream turns into a thick paste. At the same time, the process itself contributes to the fact that air enters the mass, making it easier. That is why butter contains fewer calories than regular animal fats.

Corbis/Fotosa.ru

I sorted through packs of oil in the supermarket for a long time, muttering in confusion: “The most beautiful oil, the most excellent oil! I love him so much!” I love him for a reason: this rare product, containing vitamin A in its pure form, and in addition vitamins D and E. The oil is good for the eyes, bones, skin and, attention, nerves - is that why we say “lubricate”, meaning “calm”? Butter is a dietary product. As for cholesterol, because of which many people are afraid of oil, it can be “bad” and “good”, and oil has nothing to do with it. Mentally divide the pack into three parts along and three across. One piece is the daily allowance.

How are butter varieties different?

It is not easy to choose butter because the labels mostly say the same thing - pasteurized cream. It is only from them, converted in a butter machine or separator, that the three fattest types of oil are composed: traditional - 82.5%, amateur - 80% and peasant - 72.5%. The remaining percentage is water and about 1% buttermilk.

These names, ratios and technologies are inherited from the old Soviet GOST, which in 2010 was replaced by the designation R 52969-2008. If you see it on the label, it means that the contents will please you with a taste familiar from childhood. Peasant oil, in the old days called "Chukhonsky", is the most popular type.

“According to our data, creaminess and pasteurization are most harmoniously combined in peasant butter,” Elena Topnikova, head of the buttermaking department at the All-Russian Research Institute of Buttermaking and Cheesemaking in Uglich, told me. “It retains biologically active substances and slows down the processes of oxidation.”

Corbis/Fotosa.ru

Butter made from pure cream is called sweet cream. But acidified cream churns faster. If the manufacturer has added lactic acid cultures, the butter is called sour cream.

It may also contain salt. Although it seems to me that salt should be avoided where possible, or salted butter should be used in food cooked without salt at all.

GOST R 52253-2004 is on the labels of imported butter packaged in Russia, and means that the package contains butter, and not some mixture of fats of various origins. The same figures are for low-fat oils - sandwich (61.5%) and tea (50%) - they are lighter thanks to skim milk or buttermilk. They may also contain creamy flavors and stabilizers, which Elena Topnikova considers harmless: “These additives are allowed by Rospotrebnadzor, they are added in microdoses and do not cause significant harm. I like low-fat oils, but they are not produced in our country. They are light, low-calorie, just what you need in middle age. And the taste, smell and texture are similar to high-fat oils.

I haven't seen them in stores either. But I came across the fattest type of butter - ghee, 99%. This oil is for frying, it does not contain other fats, but I somehow prefer the idea of ​​frying in olive oil.

Butter quality marks

What else, besides the product name, composition and GOST, should you look for on the packaging? Elena Topnikova: “There must be a sign of compliance of butter with technical regulations. For example, “STR” or the phrase “Complies with the federal technical regulations for milk and dairy products.”

There is another sign of the quality of butter - this is its price. “It takes about 30 liters of milk to produce 1 kg of butter,” explained Igor Yadroshnikov, spokesman for Azbuka Vkusa. “It’s easy to calculate that if a pack costs less than 75 rubles, it can’t be butter.”

And finally, the shelf life. On the one hand, GOST requires oil to be stored for 30-35 days. On the other hand, on many brands of oil, this period is calculated in months. “The manufacturer has the right to deviate from the expiration date according to GOST if he receives approval from Rospotrebnadzor,” says Elena Topnikova. “So if there’s a longer term on the pack, it might be legal.” However, Igor Yadroshnikov is more skeptical: “There is a high probability that the manufacturer added animal fat to the oil to increase the time. This is practiced by producers from warm countries and producers focused on warm countries. So you do whatever you want, and I choose oil with a monthly shelf life.

When buying oil, smell it: a pure creamy smell familiar from childhood cannot be faked. If you buy oil by weight, pay attention to the cut: it should be dry, dense, shiny, without delamination. Natural oil is lighter in winter, yellower in summer, depending on the freshness of the grass. quality oil easy to spread on a sandwich. If the oil crumbles, it means that there is a lot of water in it.

butter rating

Denis Bykovskikh

1. The oil rating is deservedly headed by the old Russian know-how in buttermaking - Vologda Oil. Fat content - 82.5%. Ingredients: high-temperature pasteurized cream. Shelf life - 30 days. 116 rub. / 180 g.

It has GOST R 52253-2004, which is generally not accepted for oil of such fat content. It is produced according to special specifications, only in the Vologda region and only at three enterprises that have the legal right to this name: State Unitary Enterprise “Training and Experimental Dairy Plant of VGMMA named after. N. V. Vereshchagin, CJSC Vologda Dairy Plant, OJSC Sheksninsky Butter Plant. They approved their regional document, TU 9221-001-54002969-2009. And only these designations can be present on real Vologda oil. All other oils with any variations of the word “Vologda” on the packaging differ from the original just like real Champagne from any fizz. For this oil, milk is taken from cows fed on grass, not silage, and the skimmed selected cream is heated to 97-98 degrees. As a result, "Vologda oil" acquires a marvelous nutty flavor. And a very sweet scent!

Denis Bykovskikh

2. Valio. Fat content - 82%. Ingredients: pasteurized cream, lactic microorganisms. The shelf life is amazing: 18 months at minus 18 and six months at plus 8! Produced and packaged in Finland. 78.5 rubles / 200 g. Butter from acidified cream, in my opinion, is difficult to distinguish from sweet cream. Separately, it is indicated that the product meets the Ecotest Plus environmental criteria.

Denis Bykovskikh

3. Beurre d "Isigny. Fat content - 80%. Ingredients: pasteurized cream, salt, sourdough from lactic acid cultures. Shelf life - 100 days. 211.3 rubles / 250 g. Oil produced in France. Designation "AOC" (Appellation d " origine controlee) means "controlled name" and is assigned to French wines and dairy products produced strictly according to the traditions of the area. For lovers of salted butter - for sure, a good find.

Denis Bykovskikh

4. president. Fat content - 82%. Ingredients: normalized cream. Shelf life - 8 months. RUB 73.3 / 200 g. Oil produced and packaged in France. However, the price is on the verge of suspicion. The inscription "Extra" says little: in our classification of oil varieties there are only the highest and the first, and what the enthusiastic French had in mind is a dark matter. For my taste, our traditional is better.