What is butter, makhan?

A cooking essential that is prized for its flavour and rich taste. Butter is one ingredient most kitchens cant do without. The pale yellow colour is generally derived from colouring agents like carotene and annato, for commercial butter and the organic varietal has its butter coloured so due to the animals feed. Generally, butter must have a minimum fat content of 80%, a max of 18% moisture content and fat solid at 2%. Hand churned the old fashioned way or machine churned the modern way, its no secret that Indians love butter naturally made or otherwise more than any other nation in the world. After all, we allocate almost half our nations annual milk pool to butter production.

How to select butter, makhan

• Depending on the purpose of butter usage you can choose from the commercial assortment of butters classified under the salted and unsalted category.

• Unsalted is best for cooking and baking as the lack of salt doesnt affect the overall taste of the dish.

• If your requirements are specific, for example; low fat, less sodium...etc. You will find butter brands that cater to that. While not commercially available everywhere, select specialty stores will stock them.

• Remember good quality butter should have uniform colour, waxy texture and be absent of any free moisture.

• If purchasing flavoured butters or compound butters (beurres, composes) then they should have the specific flavour characteristic to that butter. For example; garlic butter, moutarde (mustard) butter... etc.

Culinary Uses of butter, makhan in Indian Cooking

• Sandwich breads need to be buttered as the fat acts as a deterrent to the moisture content of veggies like tomato and cucumber.

• Bakery products will never be the same without the buttery, flaky goodness and rich flavour that only butter affords. Cookies, crisp pie shells, light flaky puff pastry, tea cakes and most baked goodies have butter as the hero ingredient.

• Soup and sauces, from French classics like buerre and roux, where equal quantities of butter and flour are cooked together before the addition of spice flavoured milk to make white sauce. With butter and egg yolk, the classic Hollandaise and Béarnaise sauce are born.

• Breadbaskets filled with bread rolls and breadsticks with little bowls of plain and flavoured butter.

• Pure ghee, which is nothing but clarified butter is obtained when butter is heated and the moisture content evaporates. It has a higher keeping quality and is the common cooking medium preferred by households in India, especially during festival times.

• When making jam or preserves, apply a cube of butter after cooking to prevent foaming, skin and scum formation on the surface, while giving the product a buttery sheen.

How to store butter, makhan

• Since butter is a perishable product, it needs to be stored under refrigerated conditions.

• It is wrapped in greaseproof or foil lined paper.

• Since it has a tendency of absorbing odours easily, it is recommended to be stored well wrapped and away from strong flavoured foods.

• Keep away from sunlight as it tends to go rancid faster.

Health benefits of butter, makhan

Butter : Butter contains 80% fats and it comprises of many types of fatty acids. Butter has short chain fatty acids and medium chain fatty acids which are broken down and absorbed into the body directly and go straight to the liver and get converted to fuel to be used by the muscles. Due to this anti-inflammatory effect, it is said to have a positive effect in treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Recent research shows that small amounts of butter has positive effects on heart health. So diabetics too can have small quantity of butter and balance it with other types of fats they consume. A tbsp. of butter fulfils 8% of your days requirement of vitamin A. This Vitamin A is a powerful antioxidant which is essential for glowing skin health and immune function. We suggest you read about butter the super food.

Click here to know more about the butter the super food.

Nutritive Information for Butter:

1 tbsp of salted butter is about 12 grams

RDA stands for Recommended Daily Allowance.

Energy - 88 calories

Protein – 0 g

Carbohydrate – 0 g

Fat – 9.7 g

384 mcg of Vitamin A = 8% of RDA (about 4800 mcg)

0.3 mg of Vitamin E = 1.5% of RDA (about 20 mg)

2.28 mg of Phosphorus = 0.4% of RDA (about 600 mg)