Do you know that dairy products such as milk and butter are common adulteration targets as they are expensive to produce? Moreover, butter adulteration with starch or margarine is a general procedure. However, distinguishing these low-priced things in butter is complex as their presence doesn't change the taste. Hence, the user cannot identify contaminated butter.
In India, a widely consumed dairy product, butter is an essential ingredient in various houses. However, butter lost its primacy with time and now is a part of cooking at specific events. Composed of 62 per cent saturated fat, butter also relieves haemorrhoids and cough. Nowadays, getting good-quality butter can be a task as contaminated butter, i.e. mixed with animal body fats, is broadly prevailing. If you are also doubtful about your butter quality, here are some simple methods you should refer to next time you suspect.
Melt in your hands
You can also take the help of your palms to check the butter. For this, take a small amount of butter on your palm. If the body heat causes the butter to melt, then it is real. Otherwise, it would be best not to consume it, as it's margarine, a substitute for butter. Margarine does not melt, not even on the fingers or hand; it just stays on your palm.
Coconut oil
You can also check the purity of butter with the help of coconut oil. For this, you melt butter cubes and coconut oil in a glass jar using a double-boiler method. Now keep this jar in the fridge. If butter and coconut oil solidify into separate layers, it is adulterated; otherwise, the butter is pure.
Heat the butter
This is the easiest way to check the purity of butter. While adopting this remedy, one spoon of butter has to be heated in a vessel. If the butter melts immediately and turns dark brown, it is pure. And if it turns pale yellow, it is adulterated.
Iodine solution
Iodine solution can also be used to test the purity of butter. For this, mix melted butter in an iodine solution. If the colour of this mixture turns brown, it means that the butter is adulterated and starch has been added to it.
Hydrochloric acid
To test the butter:
- Dissolve a spoon of butter in a small glass.
- Add a pinch of salt and a spoon of hydrochloric acid to it.
- Shake the container for a minute, and then keep it like this for a minute. If the buttermilk contains vegetable oil, you will see its red crust on the bottom of the glass.
- But if there is no red colour, it means that the butter is pure.
We hope that after reading these tips, you will save yourself and your family from consuming margarine.
