Milk and by-products of milk production are often dried to reduce weight, to aid in shipping, to extend shelf life, and to provide a more useful form as an ingredient for other foods. In addition to skim and whole milk, a variety of useful dairy products are dried, including buttermilk, malted milk, instant breakfast, sweet cream, sour cream, butter powder, ice cream mix, cheese whey, coffee creamer, dehydrated cheese products, lactose, and caseinates. Many drying plants are built in conjunction with a butter-churning plant. These plants utilize the skim milk generated from the separated cream and the buttermilk produced from churning the butter. Most products are dried to less than 4 percent moisture to prevent bacterial growth and spoilage. However, products containing fat lose their freshness rather quickly owing to the oxidation of fatty acids, leading to rancidity.

Two types of dryers are used in the production of dried milk products—drum dryers and spray dryers. Each dryer has certain advantages.

Composition

Butter is one of the most highly concentrated forms of fluid milk. Twenty litres of whole milk are needed to produce one kilogram of butter. This process leaves approximately 18 litres of skim milk and buttermilk, which at one time were disposed of as animal feed or waste. Today the skim portion has greatly increased in value and is fully utilized in other products.

Commercial butter is 80–82 percent milk fat, 16–17 percent water, and 1–2 percent milk solids other than fat (sometimes referred to as curd). It may contain salt, added directly to the butter in concentrations of 1 to 2 percent. Unsalted butter is often referred to as “sweet” butter. This should not be confused with “sweet cream” butter, which may or may not be salted. Reduced-fat, or “light,” butter usually contains about 40 percent milk fat.

Before World War II much of the butter produced in the United States was made from gathered cream. Farmers separated milk on the farm and shipped cans of cream to a butter factory, sometimes once or twice a week. The cream was often sour and needed to be neutralized (with sodium hydroxide) before churning. When transportation and the value of the skim portion improved, whole milk was shipped to the creamery, providing a supply of “sweet cream” (i.e., cream that had not soured) for butter making. With these improvements came the advent of higher-quality butter and the demise of naturally soured buttermilk. Virtually all butter in the United States today is sweet cream butter. A notable exception is butter made from whey cream salvaged in the cheese-making process. The quality of fresh whey cream butter is indistinguishable from sweet cream butter.

Production

Butter is produced when the cream emulsion in unhomogenized milk is destabilized by agitation, or churning. Breaking the emulsion produces butterfat granules the size of rice grains. The granules mat together and separate from the water phase or serum, which is known as buttermilk. (This milky liquid is drained away and is either concentrated or dried, later to become an ingredient in ice cream, candy, or other foods.) The butterfat is then washed with clean water and “worked” (kneaded) until more buttermilk separates and is removed. Ultimately, only about 16 percent of the water and milk solids present in the original milk remains trapped in the butter.

The churning process can take 40 to 60 minutes to complete in a traditional churn, but butter is more commonly made by high-speed continuous “churns” in factories. Although the basic principle is the same, in the continuous churn cream is pumped into a cylinder and mixed by high-speed blades, forming butter granules in seconds. The butter granules are forced through perforated plates while the buttermilk is drained from the system. A salt solution may be added if salted butter is desired. The butter is then worked in a twin screw extruder and emerges ready to be packaged.

Quality concerns

The quality of butter is based on its body, texture, flavour, and appearance. In the United States the Department of Agriculture (USDA) assigns quality grades to butter based on its score on a standard quality point scale. Grade AA is the highest possible grade; Grade AA butter must achieve a numerical score of 93 out of 100 points based on its aroma, flavour, and texture. Salt (if present) must be completely dissolved and thoroughly distributed. Grade A butter is almost as good, with a score of 92 out of 100 points. Grade B butter is based on a score of 90 points, and it usually is used only for cooking or manufacturing. The flavour of Grade B is not as fresh and sweet, and its body may be crumbly, watery, or sticky.

Additions and treatment

The addition of salt to butter contributes to its flavour and also acts as a preservative. Added in concentrations of approximately 2 percent, all the salt goes into solution in the water phase. Since the water content of butter is less than 16 percent of the total volume, each water droplet can contain more than 10 percent salt. Such a concentration in the water phase limits bacterial growth overall, since the fat portion of butter is generally safe from microbial degradation.

Butter may contain added colouring. Butter from cows that are eating dry, stored feed during the winter may not contain enough beta-carotene for proper colouring, as it does when cows are pasture-fed. In such cases small amounts of a yellow vegetable colouring from the seed of the annatto tree may be added to enhance the colour.

Because butter is so firm when first removed from the refrigerator, it is sometimes whipped to improve spreadability. Generally, volume is increased by 50 percent by whipping in air—or, better still, nitrogen or an inert gas in order to prevent oxidation of the fat. Whipped butter, both salted and sweet, is sold in small plastic-coated tubs.