Beware Of Fake "Butter"

Much has been discussed and written about hydrogenated oil or transfat in my blog. However, i noticed that many are still not too clear or perhaps in denial about these in their daily food intake. Just remember that BUTTER originated ONLY from Milk source. Anything less than than Butter made from MILK is Margarine.

This include the very misleading "vegetable spread" that uses olive oil (Wow! Healthy!) to "Special Butter Blend" that has X% milk with Y% vegetable oil origin.

Oh wow! With Olive Oil too! Gotta be healthy!

Butterblend are made to look like butter, but they are not butter. It is a cheaper alternative to butter and allow the product to be kept longer and without refrigeration.

Butyric acid is the fermentation of milk to be butter. Butterblend will have some butter, but it is essentially margarine

Misleading information and lack of awareness by the general public is what caused the propagation of these less than butter to be passed off as butter. Essentially, the process of making margarine involves mixing the vegetable oil with emulsifier and then freezing them to solidify. This process is time, space and energy consuming. Frozen vegetable oil is white in color - similar to what you will get if you freeze your meal leftover (usually with broth or anything cooked with vegetable oil) and you will get white residue on the food surface - that, my friend, you made  spreadable margarine, but in smaller scale. This is the process used to make spreadable "butter" and claim it to be "transfat-free or without hydrogenated fat". Clever ain't it?
The other process of making margarine that will requires less space or energy would be via a process known as hydrogenation. Usage of hydrogen, usually in the presence of nickel as catalyst will increase the melting point of the fat - allowing it to solidify at room temperature. You can read more about transfat and its effect by reading my previous posting.

In case you are too lazy to read what i wrote. This should sum it all up nicely

So, still think your spreadable olive oil is healthy?
Always read the label when you are purchasing anything. United States and European countries has long ban the presence of transfat or hydrogenated fat in food items. Margarine in these countries are sometimes known as shortening (familiar?) and they are white in color. It is just another fancy name for Margarine. Manufacturer that produces these butter substitute would put in permitted coloring to make them look like butter. The truth is often in the label. That is the last defence against buying anything that is highly processed.
Compare the ingredient used to make a block of SCS butter (salted) to a block of  "Butter" below.  Take this chance to educate yourself and those around you. Share this post if you feel this is useful.

The Real Thing

VERSUS

Notice the "coloring" and "flavoring"? It even have palm kernel oil in it...wow! It's high in saturated fat and semi-solid at room temperature. Palm oil (from mesocarp) and palm kernel oil (from the seed) is two different type of oil.

Pure butter are expensive and will cost twice as much as margarine or butterblend. Make the informed choice. I have try raising the level of awareness in this blog with regards to healthy living and eating. If this is useful, as with other posting, do share it around - for health is a wealth no amount of heirloom can buy.