Mainland Semi-Soft vs ButterSoft

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#1345084 16-Jul-2015 00:01

I can't believe it's not butter.

/troll

Seriously, if it's not butter, I won't use it... I'd prefer dry bread.

jonathan18

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#1345164 16-Jul-2015 09:15

I was thinking about this thread while I had my breakfast this morning - Vogels toast and vegetmite. I've run out of butter at work so today had to go with Olivani - no substitute! But the problem with butter is that is just tastes too good - if I use it I'll use so much more than I would if using marg, so the overall affect is I consume way more calories which is not an ideal outcome.

This thread also made me recall something I read in a Bill Bryson book a few years back - in the US when margarine was first introduced, the dairy lobby managed to get it so they couldn't add yellow dye to make it look like butter (without these marg's an opaque greyish thing I think). In fact, I think for a while it was required to be dyed pink - now that would be a way to put people off using it!

Fred99

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#1345170 16-Jul-2015 09:27

Paul1977: For those who are interested, this explains the ButterSoft "softening process":

http://www.cooksinfo.com/spreadable-butter

Real question would be whether the harder fat that is removed is better or worse for you than the softer fats, as this process completely changes the ratio.

Some guesswork here, but the longer chain saturated fats - the ones which are supposed to be bad for you - are going to drop out first when fats are fractionated as described. Trans fats (supposed to be very bad for you) also have higher melting point than the same MW cis isomers.
So... "soft butter" might have a higher ratio of unsaturated fats and lower trans fats than "standard" butter. However, proving that this was "better for you" wouldn't be easy - ie there's not even a satisfactory explanation for the "French Paradox", there's some evidence that some high MW trans fats might be good for you rather than bad for you etc. It's also a marketing issue - as even if they believed that "soft butter" was "healthier" than ordinary butter, drawing attention to this brings a reverse implication that your core product might be somehow less healthy than ideal.
So, if they fractionate butter to make "soft butter", they'd end up with a co-product - "hard butter". The dairy industry doesn't like waste - I wonder where that goes (ghee perhaps?)

dafman

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#1345207 16-Jul-2015 09:57

jonathan18: I was thinking about this thread while I had my breakfast this morning - Vogels toast and vegetmite. I've run out of butter at work so today had to go with Olivani - no substitute! But the problem with butter is that is just tastes too good - if I use it I'll use so much more than I would if using marg, so the overall affect is I consume way more calories which is not an ideal outcome.!

You could consider cutting out sugar (empty calories) and not worry so much about fat in products? I ditched sugar about 2 months ago and, with no other changes in my normal routines, I have dropped around 5kg. I'll start a new thread to avoid going off topic ...

lchiu7

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#1345212 16-Jul-2015 10:00

blakamin: I can't believe it's not butter.

I first encountered that brand of spread when I was working in the US. It didn't taste that bad. I recall it was sold here for a while but has disappeared now.

For the amount of spread I use it probably doesn't make any difference if we use a spread like Olivio or actual butter. A tub of Olivio last nearly a month in our house :-)

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Geektastic

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#1345214 16-Jul-2015 10:01

blakamin: I can't believe it's not butter.

/troll

Seriously, if it's not butter, I won't use it... I'd prefer dry bread.

You can't get ICBINB here can you? I haven't seen it in these parts anyway.

I agree though. One read of the ingredients of most of these substitutes should be enough to send anyone back to natural products.

It's like the odd obsession with skimmed and semi-skimmed milk over full fat. Full fat milk is still 95% fat free...!

jmh

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#1346067 17-Jul-2015 10:41

I generally try to have the least processed version possible. So for me it's butter which contains cream and salt. I leave it out on the bench in a dish. Olive oil is nice to drizzle over posh bread, and I like the taste, so I use that once in a while. I try to avoid foods with long lists of ingredients, especially if you need a science lesson to understand them.

I think there are some health concerns about the processed seed oils, so I tend to leave them alone.

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DrCheese

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#1346331 17-Jul-2015 15:34

I checked with one of the inventors of this process (David Illingworth) and he told me that spreadable Anchor butter is now a blend (dairy plus plant oils) rather than the fractionated butter that it originally was back in the 1990s. The fractionated 100% spreadable butter is the Mainland ButterSoft. I understand some of you are not too happy with the spreadability.

Incidentally, the leftover bit of the fractionation process is the extra hard fraction. This is used as a bakery ingredient to make pastries more flaky. That's what I tell my students in second year food science.

Cheers,

DrButter

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#1346391 17-Jul-2015 16:37

jmh: I generally try to have the least processed version possible. So for me it's butter which contains cream and salt. I leave it out on the bench in a dish. Olive oil is nice to drizzle over posh bread, and I like the taste, so I use that once in a while. I try to avoid foods with long lists of ingredients, especially if you need a science lesson to understand them.

I think there are some health concerns about the processed seed oils, so I tend to leave them alone.

They used to sell 'Gold Top' milk in the UK back in the days when the milkman still called every morning: it was milk from Jersey cows only, not homoginised or standardised. It was almost like drinking a pint of cream!

When they stopped, my father used to buy cream and add it back to the (full fat) milk to make it taste like that. Ditto butter - he would never touch the pretend stuff.

Why everyone has embraced being brainwashed into thinking that these chemistry set butter substitutes are actually healthier I have no idea. I don't really see how they can be.

As the Old Man used to say, you have to die of something - why suffer dining on less pleasant food just to eek out another year or two when you are too old to appreciate them?!

robjg63

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#1346427 17-Jul-2015 17:57

Geektastic:
lchiu7:
scuwp: Go Olivio. Last supposedly Anchor spreadable butter we brought, wasn't

That's what we use since I tried to go vegan for a while. For most purposes it's just as good as butter and it spreads easily.

For baking I think my wife uses butter but for spreads, sauces etc. Olivio is fine.

Olivio is fine if you like the taste of olive oil..!

I would suggest you have never eaten an olive or tried actual olive oil.

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lchiu7

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#1346443 17-Jul-2015 18:24

robjg63:

I would suggest you have never eaten an olive or tried actual olive oil.

Getting off way OT but I love the combination of EVOO and balsamic vinegar on ciabatta. More than butter.

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mattwnz

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#1346444 17-Jul-2015 18:25

I only like NZ made olive oil if using it for dipping, the imported oil olive in supermarkets is horrid compared to it. In terms of butter, I just buy it as a block, it is never too hard to spread, it is only too hard when it is frozen. The key is to use a sharp knife and get a thin ribbon.

Geektastic

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#1346544 17-Jul-2015 22:33

robjg63:
Geektastic:
lchiu7:
scuwp: Go Olivio. Last supposedly Anchor spreadable butter we brought, wasn't

That's what we use since I tried to go vegan for a while. For most purposes it's just as good as butter and it spreads easily.

For baking I think my wife uses butter but for spreads, sauces etc. Olivio is fine.

Olivio is fine if you like the taste of olive oil..!

I would suggest you have never eaten an olive or tried actual olive oil.

In which case you would be oh so very wrong.

For a start I own an olive grove with 1200 trees on it...!

blakamin

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#1346548 17-Jul-2015 22:41

Geektastic:

In which case you would be oh so very wrong.

For a start I own an olive grove with 1200 trees on it...!

LMFAO... I've been waiting for this.. PMSL

Made my day.

kotuku4

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#1347458 20-Jul-2015 08:27

Ever get asked those silly this or that questions?

Apple or Samsung? No cheap droid!
Apple or Windows? No Linux, at home anyway.
Blue top or Green? Nope light blue is a good compromise.
Butter or Marg? No thanks, ditch the spread! I'm sure there is some butter in the fridge for baking, but I avoid it.

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