Which is best? Butter, marg or spread?

Cubes of beautiful butter!

There’s a question!

I prefer to bake with unsalted butter. I use it in all my cakes and bakes except when they have to be dairy free or when the recipe requires a different kind of fat, such as in some pastries, pies and puddings! There is a great debate about which is better (for you). On the one hand, butter is generally considered a more natural product. Made from one or two (if you use salted butter) ingredients. Its generally considered easier to digest and metabolize because it is more natural. It contains essential nutrients such as fat soluble vitamins (A, D, B12), Calcium. For those not in the know, Vitamin A is important for growth and development, for the maintenance of the immune system, and for good vision amongst other more specific roles! Vitamin D increases intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, along with multiple other biological effects. Vitamin B₁₂ plays and important role in the metabolism of every cell of the human body. It is super important in the normal functioning of the nervous system and of developing red blood cells in the bone marrow.

Butter is a fat! There. I’ve said it! Saturated; polyunsaturated; monounsaturated and trans fat. All there! What do these things mean though? Well Saturated fat is universally regarded as undesirable in our diets. Cholesterol is made and broken down in the liver. Eating foods that have too much saturated fat, and too little unsaturated fat, changes the way the liver handles cholesterol. There is so much more to say about cholesterol but for now, lets just say there is good and bad cholesterol.

Q. What is saturated fat saturated with? A. Hydrogen atoms! That’s one for the pub quiz! Saturated fats tend to have higher melting points than their corresponding unsaturated fats and tend to be solid at room temperatures. Unsaturated fats tend to be liquid at room temperature with varying degrees of viscosity. Most animal fats are saturated. Most fats of plants and fish are generally unsaturated, there are exceptions, of course. These are important factors when baking as, don’t forget, baking is essentially chemistry in the kitchen!

There is also a little bit of protein and a lot of cholesterol (good and bad) in butter. What the ingredient listings don’t mention (and why would they?) is that one of the main contributions butter makes when baking, is flavour! That richness. It’s smooth in the mouth when eating a product made with butter. It smells creamy and, quite frankly, a little of what you like is OK!

Margarine! – what even is that stuff?

Historically, first made in France in 1869, Margarine is a spread used for flavouring, baking, and cooking. It was created by Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès, in response to a challenge by Emperor Napoleon III to create a butter substitute from beef tallow for the armed forces and lower classes. That just sounds hideous! Today the primary ingredients include vegetable oil, water, salt, emulsifiers, and some also include milk. Now, I will concede that there is virtually no cholesterol in margarine, there also isn’t any calcium and vitamin D. There is a tiny bit of Vitamin B12 and a fair amount of vitamin A. The bit that really interests me about this product, are the emulsifiers.

I hope that we are all familiar with the known fact that water and oil do not mix. If you are in any doubt, try this little experiment. Get a drinking glass and half fill it with water – just from the tap is fine. Next, slowly pour into the glass a tablespoon of any cooking oil. What happens? It doesn’t matter how much or how little oil you pour onto the water, the same thing will happen. IT WILL FLOAT ON TOP OF THE WATER! But, what if we shake it (with a lid on)? IT WILL FLOAT ON TOP OF THE WATER! But, what is we heat it (in a suitable container)? IT WILL FLOAT ON TOP OF THE WATER! How do they get to keep that amount of fat in the place they want it to stay, with all that water? A container of marg. will contain around 25% water. 3/4 of that tub should be fat floating on water. But it isn’t floating. Why? The fat is hydrogenated, (pressurised using hydrogen) turning it into a thicker custard like state. If you remember, one of the fats in butter is thickened by hydrogen (saturated fat). This ‘custard’ is then, heated to 60°C to 70°C and mixed with either water or skimmed milk, depending on the type of margarine. The main use of milk products in margarine production is to improve flavour and appearance. Any salts, emulsifiers or other agents are also added at this stage to give the margarine extra flavour, aesthetic or nutritional value. Emulsifiers stabilise the emulsion (fat and water mix), and improve the plasticity and stability when there are freezing/defrosting stages. Universal emulsifiers like distilled monoglyceride or mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E-471) are frequently used. The emulsifiers have other functions in some products which really concern the improvement of the production process. None of the above is making me feel as though I really want to move away from using butter! A couple of other processes take place et voila! Yellow fat in a tub on the cold shelf in the supermarket!

Both margarine and spreads are mainly made from plant oils. Marg has a fat content of 80% or more (similar to butter) whereas spreads are similar to margarine but with less fat!