Butter is one of the favorite food items all around the world, which is beyond compare with any other foods, and it goes side by side with eggs, milk, bread, etc.
There are even restaurants around the world that serve only butter in many different ways, and if you look at Youtube or any social network, you will see how people are fascinated with butter, as it tastes, looks, and smells amazing and it can go in all dishes, savory and sweet as well.
There are on the market high-quality ones, made out of superb ingredients, and there are cheap copycats, that have miserable taste, but people still buy them, and it is ok.
On the market also, there are numerous by-products, so you can even find vegan butter, for example, that is not made out of dairy products, and some of them are surprisingly tasty, but the health part, in some cases, may be discussable.
So, butter on the kitchen table is usually a sign that the house will soon smell the most beautiful cakes, so it is not surprising that this dairy product has such a long tradition and that it is even in our ancestor’s recipes.
Although everyone loves it when butter is used in this way, we are no less happy when it is on the table as part of a nice breakfast or dinner.
In addition to having a great taste and making every meal richer, butter is one of the very healthy foods, so it is recommended that it be part of the daily diet in moderate quantities.
But, here we are talking bout the real butter, the high-quality kind that can be pricey in some cases; but it is tasty and incredibly rich, and as doctors say a much healthier version, than some oils, for example.
The question here is can people who live their lives based on Islamic law, which is very strict; can eat butter?
The most simple answer would be that they can, as we all know that butter is made out of milk, or cream, that as we know comes from cows.
But things are not as simple as it seems, primarily, because on the market there are numerous kinds, and not all are made in the same way and some of them have some additions that are risky for people who belong to the Muslim faith.
Is Butter Halal or Haram In Islam?
We can say butter is allowed for people of the Muslim faith to consume, but some rules must be followed so that it is seen as halal.
First, the butter must be made out of milk or cream, depending on the way it was made, that comes from a halal source.
It is ok to eat butter that comes from a source or manufacturer that follows all halal rules, but when it comes to the purchase of commercially made butter then there are some risks.
This may e the case when the butter in question comes from the source is haram, like pork, more concretely we are talking about gelatin that comes from pigs, which is strictly forbidden in the Islamic faith.
Now, the butter itself does not be made out of some source that is not allowed but, the gelatin in some cases, the one that comes from the pork can be added, to make it better and tastier.
Such an action makes butter haram.
But, if this is not the case, and if butter is made from cream, or milk that comes from a cow, and therefore if nothing more is added, then the butter is seen as halal, and people of the Muslim faith are safe to eat it.
It must be added that there are some additional risks when it comes to the consumption of butter – as we have said, butter is made when it is derived from cream, but the cream itself can be emanated from whey.
And whey comes from cheese that, on the other hand, can have forbidden elements like rennet.
The risk is particularly high when it comes to butter that is promoted as low-fat.
The risk here is in additions that are present to obtain the same or similar taste, or texture as regular full-fat butter.
For it, the pork gelatin is added, and it is, as we have said, haram.
And one more type of butter that you must be careful of when want to consume, is unsalted.
It has natural flavoring, which is in some cases made out of starter distillate that can have in its formation alcohol (Diacetyl), for example, and it is seen as a great haram, and could not be consumed.
So, as you could have seen these risks are real; as butter can be made in different ways, and as the market expands, then there are as many chances that the butter in question has some haram ingredient, as it can turn out to be the case.
Maybe the best way is to buy halal butter that has a clear certificate on itself, and if not then maybe the best option is to buy high-quality butter that comes from a renowned manufacturer, where people of this faith have trust in the reality of the butter creation.
Is there butter that is haram?
Commercial unsalted butter in general includes some problematic factors that make butter haram.
They are as we have mentioned are lard, alcohol, elating, and whey that can at times be in butter.
There, the most problematic part is that precisely salted butter is generally thought to be allowed, because of the manufacturing procedure which implicates dividing the salt and cow’s milk.
Now, when we speak of milk then we must add that the majority of milk that is found is seen as halal, and this includes powdered milk, skim milk, etc.
Milk that has added emulsifiers could be haram, and therefore butter that comes from them is also haram.
Is margarine allowed to be eaten in Islam?
Margarine is a spread that can be used as an alternative to butter.
Today, we know margarine as a spread made from vegetable oils and water, so you will be surprised to know that authentic margarine was made from animal fat.
To make margarine, it goes through a whole string of factory methods that ensure that in the end, the product is as we know it – a color similar to butter.
Several additives are counted to margarine during production, most typically: emulsifiers, lactic and citric acid, preservatives, artificially added vitamins, and soy lecithin.
According to what we have seen, it is easy to know that eating margarine is not suitable for people of the Islamic faith, because of all these additions.
More about butter
Butter is one of the dairy products that have an extremely long history of use, as it has been mentioned as a foodstuff in Europe since the 13th century.
Some believe that butter originated in ancient times, in Africa.
About 8,000 years before Christ, and others claim – butter is as old as Western civilization, which arose in the period about 3,000 years before Christ.
This was so long ago, and even today butter is one of the most favorite and inevitable food items in households around the world; and as we have said, if you buy high quality one, you can be certain that you will eat something healthy even.
We know that in certain years it was said that butter is not healthy, but finally, it has been proven that eating it is good for you, of course, if and when you combine it with other high-quality foods and when you buy the real deal.
The methods of its preparation have, of course, changed over time, just as food technology has also changed.
From straightforward production according to ancient recipes in homes to today’s product that we use every day, a lot of time has expired and its production has been greatly improved.
Butter, or butter as it is also called, is obtained by the automated processing of cream, which is milk with a high degree of fat.
Butter, therefore, includes a minimum of 82% milk fat, which means that this item is a great origin of energy.
Although once this separation of cream was done naturally, by standing the milk, it usually led to spoilage of the product and its preliminary utilization.
Today, the cream is pulled with a centrifuge, which means that the resulting cream and milk are quite fresh and ready for further use.
Note that butter has a shorter shelf life than other dairy products and that it must be stored at low temperatures.
In cooking, butter is used, instead of oil, for frying, and then it shows the dish a certain dose of succulence.
This is how it is most frequently used for quick frying at high temperatures.
For example, steak and steaks are traditionally fried exclusively in butter.
When the butter melts in the pan, to get the best steak, it is required to cover it with butter during frying, so that it soaks as much fat as possible and decompresses.
In addition, butter is also used in recipes, as one of the mandatory ingredients.
Most commonly, butter is used to prepare: cakes, sauces, puff pastry, and pastry creams, as well as in tasty recipes such as American pancakes.
As you can see there is virtually no one meal where you cannot put butter, and there is a reason why it is one of the most favorite items in our homes we could not imagine not having it in our fridges.
Conclusion
Butter is made exclusively from cow’s milk.
Interestingly, butter is one of the dairy products that have the highest concentration of milk in it.
It takes about 20 liters of whole milk to produce one kilogram of butter!
When viewed globally, as much as a third of the milk produced worldwide is used to make butter.
So, you ask, what about the other kinds of butter that we spoke of, they are called butter, but they are some kinds; but the real butter is this made out of cows’ milk, so the real butter is halal for people of the Muslim faith.
Generally, it’s commonly comprehended that it’s most reasonable to avoid buying retail butter when you cannot find one that has a Halal certificate.
It is the case that since the components detailed on the box seem to be halal, dangerous elements like pig gelatin may have been incorporated into the manufacturing procedure.
Besides butter that is halal-certified, you can search for salted butter that does not include any halal threat elements – so always check for all ingredients that are on the package.
Salted butter in some cases, is created with only heavy cream, but it also has to be halal.
Besides it, this type of butter is salt and water.
So, as you could have seen these risks are real; as butter can be made in different ways, and as the market expands, then there are as many chances that the butter in question has some haram ingredient, as it can turn out to be the case.
Have in mind, in the end, that commercial butter carries more risks for consumption for people of the Muslim faith, as it can have some not allowed elements during the process of production, so be careful.
Read also: Is Milk Halal? / Is Mozzarella Cheese Halal?
