Margarine vs. Butter

Main Difference

The main difference between Margarine and Butter is that the Margarine is a Semi-solid oily spread often used as a butter substitute and Butter is a dairy product

• Margarine

  Margarine (, also UK: , US: (listen)) is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking that was first made in France in 1869. It was created by Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès in response to a challenge by Emperor Napoleon III to create a butter substitute from beef tallow for the armed forces and lower classes. It was named oleomargarine from Latin for oleum (olive oil) and Greek margarite (pearl indicating luster) but was later named margarine.Butter is made from the butterfat of milk, whereas modern margarine is made mainly of refined vegetable oil and water. In some places in the United States, it is colloquially referred to as oleo, short for oleomargarine. In Britain and Australia, it can be referred to colloquially as marge. Margarine consists of a water-in-fat emulsion, with tiny droplets of water dispersed uniformly throughout a fat phase in a stable crystalline form. In some jurisdictions, margarine must have a minimum fat content of 80 percent to be labelled as such, the same as butter. Colloquially in the United States, the term margarine is used to describe “non-dairy spreads” with varying fat contents.Due to its versatility, margarine can be used as an ingredient in other food products, such as pastries, doughnuts, cakes and cookies.

• Butter

  Butter is a dairy product containing up to 80% butterfat (in commercial products) which is solid when chilled and at room temperature in some regions and liquid when warmed. It is made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk. It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water, and in some types, added salt. Butter may also be sold with added flavourings, such as garlic butter.

  Most frequently made from cows’ milk, butter can also be manufactured from the milk of other mammals, including sheep, goats, buffalo, and yaks. Salt such as dairy salt, flavorings and preservatives are sometimes added to butter. Rendering butter produces clarified butter or ghee, which is almost entirely butterfat.

  Butter is a water-in-oil emulsion resulting from an inversion of the cream; in a water-in-oil emulsion, the milk proteins are the emulsifiers. Butter remains a solid when refrigerated, but softens to a spreadable consistency at room temperature, and melts to a thin liquid consistency at 32–35 °C (90–95 °F). The density of butter is 911 g/L (0.950 lb per US pint). It generally has a pale yellow color, but varies from deep yellow to nearly white. Its unmodified color is dependent on the animals’ feed and genetics but is commonly manipulated with food colorings in the commercial manufacturing process, most commonly annatto or carotene.

• Butter (noun)

  a pale yellow edible fatty substance made by churning cream and used as a spread or in cooking.

• Butter (verb)

  spread (something) with butter

  “Lily buttered a slice of toast”