What is the difference between margarine and butter. Butter or margarine

I remember a television program in the early 90s, in which a young journalist dealt with the question: “How is margarine made, and is it healthier than butter?” I don’t know what served as a more significant informational reason for television people back then - the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, which was then gaining momentum in our country, or the general concern about filling refrigerators with cheaper products. Anyway, a young man walked the streets and asked the same question different people: “What do you think is healthier – margarine or butter?” One old woman then told him: “Of course, butter, son!” “Why, grandma?” “Because I make it myself!” – it sounded proud.

At first glance, this is not a very logical answer, but the grandmother meant that she knows what this oil is made from, that is, she is confident in its quality. And in fact, why on earth were people, accustomed to natural, healthy, so familiar butter, forced to impose a cheap surrogate?

It turns out that margarine owes its origin to the French Emperor Napoleon III, as well as, of course, to the development of organic chemistry. In the 60s of the 19th century, this philanthropic emperor established a prize for inventing a method for making a new edible fat. Needed a butter substitute. The goal, of course, was not concern for the healthy lifestyle of the subjects, but the need to provide cheap food to the army and the poor. Obviously, the chemist Mege-Mourier received the prize, because it was he who became known as the inventor of margarine, or oleomargarine.

Russian cookbook of the late 19th century describes the process of creating artificial butter: “Margarine was prepared from the best beef fat, and with the best neatness and legibility. This product was processed with an equal amount of sour milk, resulting in solid fat."

Naturally, in the pursuit of profits, production then began to acquire features that are very familiar to us. They learned to replace high-quality raw materials with cheaper ones. The fat of other animals was used, which was of low quality, stale and even contaminated. Subsequently, there was a tendency towards the introduction of vegetable oils into the starting material, which, due to their cheapness, eventually became the main original product for the production of margarine.

In the 20th century, margarine began to be preferred not only because of its cheapness, but also under the influence of the anti-cholesterol campaign. The fact is that, being a product plant origin, margarine does not contain cholesterol. Particularly noticeable was the imposition of margarine on consumers as a substitute for butter in the 60s of the last century, when scientists discovered the mechanism of formation of cholesterol plaques.

However, later information began to appear that margarine was not nearly as harmless as it had previously been described. Ordinary margarine is produced by heat treatment of vegetable oil in the presence of a catalyst, which leads to a side effect - the formation of so-called trans fats (or rather, an increase in their amount compared to the original product - vegetable oil). Studies have shown a connection between the content of trans fats in food and the development of coronary disease. And the controversy broke out with renewed vigor.

So, grandma was right? So, is butter healthier? To be fair, it should be noted that modern margarine production uses high-quality raw materials and manufacturing methods that minimize the content harmful substances, while simultaneously saturating margarine with vitamins.

When deciding which product to choose for your family, let's use common sense and our own taste. At the same time, there are well-known dietary and culinary rules use of fats in cooking.

Fat intake should be limited.

Vegetable oil (liquid, natural) is very healthy, but you can’t live without animal fats either. For example, 30 grams of butter per day is useful for preventing oncological diseases.

There are certain culinary techniques for using fats:
It is better to fry in vegetable oil or with the addition of butter.
Not a large number of butter should be consumed in in kind without subjecting it to overheating, that is, on a sandwich or in porridge.
And margarine is indispensable in baking.

Many housewives have been interested in the question for several decades: is margarine in baking harmful to health? What consequences can result from consuming this product, and is there data on the benefits and harms?

Refuse homemade baked goods, despite the abundance similar products on the shelves of modern supermarkets is almost impossible. Homemade pies, pies and buns have a special charm, even their taste is very different. Such food is prepared with love; family members and guests enjoy eating homemade products.

For many decades, margarine has been the basis for baking. Of course, today there is an opinion that this product is harmful to health, so advanced housewives try to replace it with butter or other dairy products. However, our ancestors did not see any harm in margarine, they added it to all baked goods, and no side effects was not found.

Butter or margarine?

For many years there has been a fierce debate about which is better - butter or margarine for baking? Promoters of a healthy lifestyle claim that margarine is harmful, it negatively affects health, it contains a lot of cholesterol and harmful fats, so its use leads to serious consequences.

However, many housewives still use this particular product despite the well-known benefits of the oil. So, what is the difference between these products, which one is better and safer?

Pros and cons of oil

Butter is a product made entirely from natural cream. The component is whipped to the desired consistency. One tablespoon of butter contains:

30 mg of bad cholesterol.
7 g of fat with harmful fatty acids.

Note! In order to avoid health problems, you should exclude from your diet oil that contains high content fatty acids. An excess of this substance can harm the arterial system.

People who cannot refuse to eat butter, even knowing its harm, are advised to pay attention to those types of products that contain less fat and cholesterol. As a rule, today it is not difficult to find good oil, produced with the addition of olive or canola oil. In this form, it is easier to digest, which has a better effect on human health.

In baking, butter beats margarine because its fat content reaches eighty percent. Due to this, the adze turns out tender, soft and rosy. It is worth understanding that oil created with the addition of other components will not produce a similar effect, so you need to choose the product carefully.

It is important to consider that butter melts quite quickly, so it is unlikely to be suitable for making puff pastry. Moreover, to create creams it is necessary to use odorless oil, otherwise the aroma will remain on finished products.

Pros and cons of margarine

Unlike butter, margarine is not a natural product. It is produced by adding to vegetable oil hydrogen molecules, resulting in a mass of medium or high hardness that looks like regular butter.

Many products of this nature contain hydrogenated fats, which can cause serious harm - they significantly reduce the content good cholesterol, necessary for the body, and increase the amount of bad things that are harmful to the body. The harm of margarine is to increase the risk of cardiovascular and arterial diseases.

When purchasing, you should focus on margarine marked “soft” - in such a product the content of hydrogenated fats is either completely absent or significantly lower dangerous level.

For baking, even with great popularity among older generations, margarine is not the best solution. Despite its low price, this product can ruin a dish instead of making it tasty and attractive. The fact is that the fat content in margarine is only thirty-five percent, the rest of the composition is plain water. This is why baked goods made with margarine will simply spread across the pan and burn.

Besides:

Trans fats contained in margarine easily penetrate the body's cells, creating fertile ground for malignant tumors. Because people with serious illnesses from using of this product should be refused.
The use of margarine by people whose diet contains mayonnaise and other sauces is strictly not recommended - these products also contain harmful trans fats that can harm the body. When combined with margarine, the result is a dangerous mixture that instantly destroys good cholesterol, saturating the body with bad cholesterol.

Note! In some recipes, margarine is the main component and is prescribed specifically - in this case, you must adhere to the recommendations and follow them exactly step by step instructions.

Soft margarine, despite popular belief, is much safer than butter. It’s not for nothing that when choosing margarine or butter, housewives often read the ingredients. IN soft product contained minimal amount harmful cholesterol and fats hazardous to health, so this product is excellent for cooking variety of dishes.

The only thing the housewife needs to take into account is that baked goods made with margarine are likely to burn or spread.

Margarine has a rather specific taste and smell. As a rule, when baking, these qualities of the product are completely preserved, and all buns and pies acquire the taste of margarine. Despite this, housewives still do not give up margarine, giving it preference due to its low price and difficult heating.

Spread

Another popular product used for baking is spread. It is created from a mixture of a variety of fats - both animal and vegetable. Often added to the product natural cream, milk, and also any of the vegetable oils is necessarily present in the composition.

Such a product often replaces the usual margarine and butter not only due to its affordable price, but also due to the content of natural components in its composition.

Video: margarine, spread or butter?

Vegetable oil

One of the safest, but at the same time no less popular products for baking, is vegetable oil. Its main advantage is that its composition almost always contains exclusively natural ingredients. Moreover, manufacturers try to avoid harmful cholesterol in the product, so the harm to health is minimal.

Despite the fact that technological progress allows us to use any products, get acquainted with their composition and replace them with analogues, margarine is still popular.

The experience of past years shows that there is nothing fatal in the use of margarine - our parents and grandparents used this artificial substance for years, masterfully creating delicious homemade pies and delighting guests and family members with baked goods created with warmth and love.

Fats are necessary for humans as a source of energy. They provide a person with natural thermal insulation and protection from the cold. Vitamins such as A, C, E, K are taken by the body in the presence of fats. Fat-free diets can be harmful. If there is not enough fat, the skin becomes dry, the hair becomes dull, and the muscles weaken. High-quality fats in reasonable quantities will only benefit a person. Fats are not produced by the human body; they come from food.

Food fried in oil or margarine, porridge with butter, flour products with added fats are included in the daily diet. Butter and margarine are used in cooking as an ingredient for making products, as separate dish are not used.

Oil

Butter - natural product of animal origin, the basis for its production is cow's milk. Butter has the taste and aroma of cream; it retains all the microelements and vitamins present in milk. The color of the oil produced is white and light yellow. There are several types of oil, differing from each other in fat content from 72 to 82.5%.: creamy, peasant, amateur. There are two known ways to obtain the product: churning cream and converting heavy cream.

The production of butter by churning cream consists of several stages:

Separation of milk - the result is cream of 35-45% fat content.
Pasteurization of cream - at a temperature of 85-95 degrees, the present microflora is destroyed.
Deodorization - foreign feed impurities are removed.
Cooling and ripening of cream - the raw materials ripen for 2-4 hours at low temperature 1-8 degrees, the consistency becomes thick.
Churning - the process occurs in a rotating wooden barrel or a metal cylinder. The cream is separated into the butter grain and the liquid part (buttermilk). The oil part is separated from the buttermilk, washed 1-2 times and squeezed out with special rollers.

The resulting dense oil layer is packaged in a specific container. The color of the oil is light yellow; there may be small droplets of liquid on the cut. This method is rarely used due to low productivity.

Production of butter by converting high-fat cream:

Separation of milk and then cream - during double processing, the fat content of the cream increases to 72.0-82.0%.
The resulting mass, which has a thick consistency, ripens for 2-3 days at a temperature of 12-15 degrees. During thermomechanical processing of raw materials, the temperature is maintained at 60-95 degrees. The resulting oil has a uniform consistency and a pleasant creamy taste.

Margarine is a product based on vegetable oil. The fat portion is 82 % , the remaining 18% - various additives. The required components are an emulsifier, water, salt, sugar, and preservatives. Flavorings, dyes, powdered milk, animal fats are used depending on the type of product.

Margarine was created in the 19th century as a cheap butter substitute. In the developing Soviet Union, margarine production began in 1928, and this product is still in demand today. Based on consistency, margarine is divided into hard, soft and liquid. According to purpose, they can be divided into 3 grades: table, sandwich and for industrial production.

Margarine manufacturing technology:

Oil hydrogenation is the process of saturating fatty acids with hydrogen atoms. During saturation, the cell formula changes vegetable fats. During the process, the temperature is maintained from 190 to 220 degrees, resulting in the formation of a hardened mass - lard. Nickel salt is used as catalysts, which increases the surface of contact of fat with hydrogen atoms.
Emulsification - combining the resulting mass with emulsifiers to create a uniform, dense texture. During the processing of vegetable oil, trans fats are formed, excessive consumption of which increases cholesterol levels in the body. When deciding to use margarine in your diet, you should choose soft variety, which contains 8% trans fat. The color of margarine depends on the dyes; it is produced in a yellowish tint.

Key indicators for comparison in 100 g

Calorie content/cal – 661
Fat % (average) - 73.0
Proteins% - 0.74
Carbohydrates% - 1.3
Water% - 24.5
Vitamins, microelements% - 0.46
Cholesterol mg - 170

Calorie content/cal – 740
Fat % (average) - 82.0
Proteins% - 0.3
Carbohydrates% – 1.0
Water% - 16.2
Vitamins, microelements% - 0.5
Cholesterol mg - 0

Upon visual inspection, butter and margarine differ little from each other. IN Food Industry and cooking, these fats have the same purpose.

Differences

Price difference. Margarine is much cheaper than butter. Products made with the addition of margarine are available to all segments of the population.
Organoleptic indicators. In terms of taste, butter wins due to its delicate creamy base. The butter melts in your mouth, enhancing and softening the taste of the dish. Margarine has viscous consistency, more noticeable on the tongue during use. Added flavorings add flavor and aroma.
The benefits and harms of oil. Butter supplies the body with healthy animal fats, microelements and vitamins contained in milk. Excessive oil consumption contributes to the development of atherosclerosis.
The benefits and harms of margarine. Margarine also supplies the body with fats that can hardly be called healthy. With frequent consumption of margarine, trans fats are replaced natural fats, involved in the structure of the body. Human body receives counterfeit building material. Disturbances in the functioning of the heart, blood vessels, diabetes, and weight problems will result from changes in the body. It is especially not recommended to use margarine in baby food. Margarine has fully justified its assigned secondary role of replacing butter, and is rapidly rushing to the main role.

I remember a television program in the early 90s, in which a young journalist dealt with the question: “How is margarine made, and is it healthier than butter?” I don’t know what served as a more significant informational reason for television people back then - the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, which was then gaining momentum in our country, or the general concern about filling refrigerators with cheaper products. One way or another, a young man walked the streets and asked the same question to different people: “What do you think is healthier – margarine or butter?” One old woman then told him: “Of course, butter, son!” “Why, grandma?” “Because I make it myself!” – it sounded proud.

It turns out that margarine owes its origin to the French Emperor Napoleon III, as well as, of course, to the development of organic chemistry. In the 60s of the 19th century, this philanthropic emperor established a prize for inventing a method for producing a new edible fat. Needed a butter substitute. The goal, of course, was not concern for the healthy lifestyle of the subjects, but the need to provide cheap food to the army and the poor. Obviously, the chemist Mege-Mourier received the prize, because it was he who became known as the inventor of margarine, or oleomargarine.

A Russian cookbook from the late 19th century describes the process of creating artificial butter as follows: “Margarine was prepared from the best beef fat, and with the best neatness and legibility. This product was processed with an equal amount of sour milk, resulting in solid fat."

Naturally, in the pursuit of profits, production then began to acquire features that are very familiar to us. They learned to replace high-quality raw materials with cheaper ones. The fat of other animals was used, which was of low quality, stale and even contaminated. Subsequently, there was a tendency towards the introduction of vegetable oils into the starting material, which, due to their low cost, ultimately became the main starting product for the production of margarine.

In the 20th century, margarine began to be preferred not only because of its cheapness, but also under the influence of the anti-cholesterol campaign. The fact is that, being a product of plant origin, margarine does not contain cholesterol. Particularly noticeable was the imposition of margarine on consumers as a substitute for butter in the 60s of the last century, when scientists discovered the mechanism of formation of cholesterol plaques.

Margarine

Butter

So, grandma was right? So, is butter healthier? In fairness, it should be noted that modern margarine production uses high-quality raw materials and manufacturing methods that minimize the content of harmful substances, while simultaneously saturating margarine with vitamins.

When deciding which product to choose for your family, let's use common sense and our own taste. At the same time, there are well-known dietary and culinary rules for the use of fats in cooking.

Fat intake should be limited.
Vegetable oil (liquid, natural) is very healthy, but you can’t live without animal fats either. For example, eating 30 grams of butter per day is good for preventing cancer.

There are certain culinary techniques for using fats:

It is better to fry in vegetable oil or with the addition of butter.
A small amount of butter should be consumed in its natural form, without overheating it, that is, on a sandwich or in porridge.
And margarine is indispensable in baking.

Good health to you!

Not so long ago, both butter and margarine were used in the kitchen for the same purposes. Starting with the morning sandwich and ending with homemade cakes, - on paper they are almost the same. They contain almost the same calories and total fat (about 100 calories per tablespoon and 11-12 grams of fat).

However, the real difference lies in the type of fats contained in each of these foods and their subsequent health effects.

Butter

The oil consists mainly of 80% milk fat and 20% from water. mass media for a long time They accused butter of all sins - due to the fact that it contains large amounts of both saturated fat and cholesterol. However, despite decades of anti-fat propaganda, new research shows that these fats are not as harmful as once thought.

A large review published in 2010 looked at 21 studies that included a total of more than 340,000 participants. As a result, it was concluded that there is absolutely no connection between saturated fat and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, butter is also an excellent source of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, none of which are found in margarine.

Margarine

Margarine was created as an alternative to butter. It is based on a component such as vegetable oil, which when room temperature has a liquid form. To this liquid oil thickened, it is processed and hydrogenated.

Although margarine contains less saturated fat than butter, the hydrogenation process produces trans fats, chemically modified substances that mimic the properties of saturated fats. This gives margarine density and also increases shelf life. Trans fats are associated with decreased levels of good cholesterol (HDL) and an increased risk of heart disease.

Unfortunately, not all margarines are created equal. On the shelves you can find both hard margarine in packs and more soft consistency- in plastic boxes. As a general rule, the heavier the margarine, the more hydrogenated it has been and thus the higher the trans fat content.

Bottom line

In the question “which is better - butter or margarine?” the answer lies not in what is healthy, but in what is least harmful to you personally. In this case, when choosing between the saturated fat of butter and the trans fat of margarine, the lesser of two evils is butter. However, no matter what you choose, it is important to consume these foods in moderation. So when you spread butter or margarine on bread, do it sparingly.

Article prepared by: Lily Snape