Spread is not quite a usual thing for Russian housewives. It is actively bought in stores, but still it is not clear that this is either light butter or delicious margarine
Neither one nor the other, of course, is true. Spread is a special food product that has both beneficial properties and contraindications.
Pick your recipe
Spread is not butter or margarine. The first is based on animal milk fat, the second is based on vegetable fats, and the spread is a combined product. It is usually very soft, has a delicate texture and is ideal for baking and spreading on sandwiches.
A bit of history
In the 90s of the last century, a product called "soft oil" appeared in Russia. This butter was cheaper than regular butter, so consumers rushed to buy it in droves. At the same time, a deep crisis in agriculture began, there was not enough raw materials for the production of butter, and this led to an increase in the production of spreads, but, in addition, massive falsifications of oil. It was much inferior to the usual in quality, caused health problems and multiple poisoning. In fact, it was poor quality margarine with a huge amount of cheap additives. In the end, this led to a deep-rooted view of society that “soft butter is very harmful.” Therefore, in 2003, GOST was introduced, standardizing the production of spreads and butter. However, spreads by that time were already highly discredited.
What are the spreads
The composition distinguishes three types of spreads:
- creamy-vegetable - the proportion of milk fat in them is more than 50%, that is, in composition they are more close to butter.
- vegetable-creamy - the proportion of milk fat is from 15 to 49%
- vegetable fat - almost do not contain milk fats, that is, in composition they, in fact, are margarine.
The word "spread" comes from English to spread - to spread. In English-speaking countries this is the name of any product that can be spread on bread.
According to GOST, the word "oil" should not be present on the packaging of the spread. The color of the spread ranges from white to light yellow, the surface of the cut should look dry and shiny.
Choose in the store those spreads that correspond to GOST.