Butter

Butter
  • It takes about 21 pounds of whole milk to make 1 pound of butter.
  • Butter has been coloured yellow since the 14th century. During the Middle Ages it was coloured with marigold flowers.
  • Salted butter has up to 2 1/2% salt added to extend its keeping qualities.
  • Most butter has a moisture content of 16% to 18%.
  • Butter is made from the milk of cows, sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, water buffaloes, and yaks.
  • Camel’s milk has very small fat globules and is difficult to churn into butter.
  • Whipped butter is made by whipping nitrogen gas into the butter. The oxygen in normal air would promote oxidation and rancidity, but nitrogen gas is non-reactive.
  • In 2009 U.S. Butter production was more than 1.5 billion pounds.
  • The dairy industry has used butter carvings since the 1890s, but most large butter sculptures today are moulded over a wood or wire frame, not carved out of a solid block, like the Minnesota State Fair butter heads.
  • The State Dairy Association introduced the Dairy Princess contest in 1954 and the carved butter busts of the winners in 1965, to boost the slumping dairy slumping industry.
  • Butter sculptor Linda Christensen has been carving at the Minnesota State Fair for 39 years.