Composition and Methods for Soft Butter
AssigneeLand O'Lakes, Inc.
InventorsRavin Gnanasambandam, Arti Bedi
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Abstract
The present invention includes a soft butter composition wherein the fat components are derived from cream. The soft butter has a unique fat crystal matrix and is more spreadable due to the altered crystal structure and melting points. The soft butter also equilibrates to room temperature faster than traditional churned butter. The soft butter is made using a process that includes separating the fat and serum components of cream, removing the crystal memory from the fat fraction and recombining fat and aqueous fractions in a process that employs a stepwise cooling and shearing process and filled into tubs of different geometry.
Claims36
A method for producing a butter product comprising:
- combining a liquid milkfat fraction and an aqueous fraction to form a butter mixture that is at least about 80 percent by weight milkfat, wherein the butter mixture is at least above 80° F.;
- and
- processing the butter mixture by using at least two cooling steps, each cooling step followed by mixing, and a final high shear mixing step to generate a fine, homogenous crystal structure in the butter product.
A method of producing a soft butter product comprising:
- separating the fat and serum fractions of cream;
- removing the crystal memory of the fat fraction by heating;
- recombining the fat and serum fractions in a process comprising at least two steps of cooling, each cooling step followed by mixing and a final high shear mixing step to generate a fine, homogenous crystal structure in the butter product.
A soft butter product comprising at least 80 percent by weight milkfat wherein all of the fat in the butter product is derived from cream, the butter product comprising crystals wherein at least about 75 percent of the crystals are less than about 0.01 microns.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.