It’s the turn of the butter. There is no country in the world with so much richness and variety of productsnatural as the territory gives them or worked by expert hands in simple ways, which are ancient and at the same time the most contemporary. Continues voyage to discover our goodnessfrom the best known to the lesser known ones far from the production area.
The richness of butter is the result of essential processes that add only that little needed to transform the raw material into joy.
Butter
The butter – first inevitable, then criminalized – has forcefully returned. Even in haute cuisine, where there are those who mix it with water and then whip it to give it lightness and those who prefer the tastiest one from Campania buffalo. The sociologist Enrico Finzi speaks of «the revanche of butter, which derives from the organoleptic characteristics often connected to the pleasure (of eating and – more generally – of living) and the contribution it gives to recipes. The +6.7% of consumption in 2022 also concerned the Central-Southern Italy, historically linked to olive oil: Plutarch narrates that Julius Caesar, guest of Valerius Leontes in Milan, had to remind his officers to have good manners, as they were annoyed at tasting what seemed to them to be an ointment for the body.
There revaluation of butter (and its many variations) goes hand in hand with the qualitative improvement and diversification of production. Considered (wrongly and for a long time) to be a by-product of cheese, the great simplicity of processing guarantees its naturalness: emerges in the centrifuge or by surfacing when working with pasteurized or raw cream. Whey derivatives are of lesser quality; the those of the remote mountain huts in the Alps are better. Being a fat, a vehicle of flavours, it enhances the characteristics of the ingredients. That’s why it is ideal in risottos, indispensable in sweet doughsand a brushing is also good on the meat.
Butter identity card
HOW IT IS PRODUCED – For emergence of the cream, thanks to the long times, it acquires greater aroma. In the centrifuge (at least 6500 rpm) it guarantees the purity of the material.
NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS – It’s rich in vitamins A, D, K and E, essential for the nervous and immune systems. It should be used in moderation because it is accused of increasing cholesterol and fats in the blood.
CHARACTERISTICS – The color varies from white to golden yellow. The scent is harmonious and delicately aromatic, without peaks. In the mouth it has a neutral flavour. There must be no drops of liquid. Smells of cheese on the nose are symptoms of alteration.
CLARIFICATION – For frying, use the clarified butter which has a very high smoke point (does not burn up to 200°C). It is a normal butter, deprived of water and casein (the milk protein).
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