Butter: shelf life and storage rules

Butter is a truly unique product that not only adds a characteristic milky taste to the dish, but also brings great benefits to the human body. Most of the refrigerators in our country can boast the presence of this product. For many, the question of its storage is not mere curiosity, and therefore we will consider the question of the rules for storing this dairy product in this article.

Today there are several signs that determine the quality of this product.

1. Fat content must be at least 72 and not more than 82 percent. The maximum fat content is typical only for ghee - 99 percent.
2. A quality product will necessarily meet state standards (52253-2004 and 32261-2013).
3. The product must have a distinctive milky and mild flavor. All sorts of industrial impurities should be absent.
4. High-quality butter has a light yellow tint.
5. Heat treatment contributes to a change in consistency. The product in this case begins to melt.
6. Being in a frozen solid state, butter should not crumble when sliced.
7. The price of this product a priori can not be low, because its cost price is quite high. This is because the production of 1 kg of butter requires about 20 liters of whole milk.
8. If you press a slightly softened butter with your finger, then a few drops of water will appear on its surface. But this is on condition that the product is of high quality.

The production and storage time of butter is determined by state quality standards. According to them, it is permissible to store this product for no more than thirty days, after which the product becomes unfit for consumption. Import analogues, as a rule, have a longer shelf life. This is due to the fact that a considerable amount of time is required to transport this dairy product to another country.

Therefore, manufacturers of butter added to the composition of various industrial additives, called preservatives. As a result, the shelf life of the product is increased to 12 months. According to statistics, few people decide to buy such products.

The optimal and permissible storage times for this product are: ten days in parchment paper and twenty days in foil. When purchasing a briquette of butter in the dairy department, pay attention to the production date. In particular, if you are attracted by the low cost of the product. Most likely the shelf life of such butter comes to an end, and the store arranges promotions. It is worth noting that Butter, which was made in the summer, most often has a longer shelf life than that produced in winter.

Several factors affect the storage time in the refrigerator compartment. Packaging material is one of them. The best options include the captured foil. This packaging material is famous for being unavailable for light. This feature of the package does not allow the milk product to oxidize. Another good option is parchment paper, a matte version of which also does not transmit light.

When purchasing, be sure to visually appreciate the packaging of butter. Deformed briquettes indicate that, most likely, the dairy product was subjected to defrosting.For home storage, an ideal oil can serve as an ideal container. It is advisable to choose an opaque oiler. And in any case, do not purchase a glass container. Prefer ceramics, wood or food grade plastics. Place the container with oil on the shelf of the refrigerator, where the lowest temperature conditions.

Few people know, but butter perfectly absorbs the smells of products that are nearby. Therefore, you need to properly distribute the location of products. Do not put in the neighborhood with butter products with pronounced smells.

This dairy product is permissible to freeze. When the temperature regime is no more than eighteen degrees below zero, butter can be stored for twelve months. In order to avoid repeated freezing or repeated defrosting, divide the product into several parts. This will only use the volume of the product that you need.

Batch freezing is a fundamental factor in the storage of any product that is subject to prolonged storage in the freezer.

There is a storage method without using a freezer or refrigerator. They are not widely known and will be useful only if there is no refrigerator, problems with the electrical network, or you are in the country or in the village. This method involves the preparation of brine. You will need twenty grams of salt per liter of clean drinking water. Butter is cut into small pieces, the weight of each should not exceed more than two hundred grams. Also, all cut pieces will need to be wrapped in parchment paper.

Then put all the pieces of butter wrapped in parchment into a container made of enamel. Pour the previously prepared brine on top and create a press effect by pressing the briquettes with oil on any heavy object. Enameled container is recommended to be placed in the cellar or basement, where, as a rule, rather low temperature conditions are maintained. It is also permissible to store briquettes with butter in three-liter jars or in any other glass container. Pickled brine and two teaspoons of table vinegar (5%) are poured on top of the packaged pieces of butter.

For butter, whose expiration date has expired, there are several signs. Thanks to them, you can determine that this product should not be consumed. Below are a few of them:

• for the spoiled product is characterized by a pronounced cutting odor;
• the taste of spoiled butter is bitter;
• after the expiration date, the shade of the product from light yellow becomes bright yellow.

When the storage time of butter expires, changes begin to occur within the product. The dehydrated top surface of the oil begins to oxidize rapidly. Oil gets a characteristic bright yellow shade. The once pleasant aroma of fresh oil begins to give rot.

By and large, the product with an expired shelf is most desirable to immediately get rid of. However, if such a need still exists, the following are ways to restore the damaged butter.

1. Dip a briquette of butter in milk (preferably with a high fat content) for ten to fifteen minutes. Then wash the butter in a deep bowl with cold water.
2. The heating method you've probably heard about.Melt the spoiled briquette of butter in a saucepan with a thick bottom. Crumble a loaf of crust or white bread into butter. Also sometimes add small pieces of apple and carefully filter the resulting mass.
3. The briquette of butter that has expired is washed in a deep dish with cold water and then sprinkled with salt. After the remains of unabsorbed salt are removed using carrot juice.
4. Treat butter with one tablespoonful of baking soda in pure water. Then carefully rinse the briquette oil in cold water, and sprinkle the surface of the product with fine-grained salt.

To begin, take some time to study the packaging. Familiarize yourself with the composition of the product, with the specified expiration date, production date and nutritional value. For high-quality and natural butter, only cream and milk are allowed in the manufacture. You may experience the presence of salt in the composition, but other ingredients should not be observed.

The content in the briquette, even a small amount of vegetable fats is evidence that in front of you is not a natural product, but its surrogate (in other words, a substitute). This is confirmed by the relatively low cost and deviations from state quality standards. If you are faced with a choice between sweet (cream made pasteurized cream) and sour butter (whose cream is based on fermentation), then give preference to the latter, since its shelf life is much longer.

How to store the butter, see the video below.