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Baking question: margarine or butter?
Comments
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Meh, hydrogen peroxide and water are only one oxygen atom different. The comparison with paint means nothing (even if it were true - read the ingredients). Margarine is perfectly safe, and the majority of experts would say that it is healthier than butter.Im a kiebee buzz,buzz!0
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Surely it depends hugely on WHICH marge you buy!0
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i like butter but if I am trying to economise I buy Willow at Iceland 2 packs for about £1.20 I think0
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butter all the way for me !:D
and I make cakes for a living
the only time I use marg is when I have a request from a customer for vegan or dairy free cakes and then I use the Pure brand of sunflower or soya marg or local cold pressed rapeseed oil .
hth
jillStarted my own business and loving being my own boss
march gc 144/2300 -
ok...stork spread is £1.90 for a kg so i am goinhg to take the plunge and buy some to bake with, as its alot cheaper than baking buuter. i am rather dubious about this tbh but nothing ventured nothing learnt so here goes....Raven. :grinheart:grinheart:grinheart0
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There's been a lot of misinformation in this debate about margarine vs butter. If you look in a UK supermarket today you will not find margarine on sale. You can find the following fats:
Vegetable oils e.g. olive and sunflower (100% fat, 12 - 14% saturates)
Animals fats e.g. lard and dripping (100% fat, 44 - 57% saturates)
Butter (81% fat, 49% saturates)
Spreadable butter substitutes e.g. Flora Buttery (70% fat, 16% saturates)
Vegetable fat for baking e.g. Trex (100% fat, 34% saturates)
Vegetable fat spread for baking e.g. Stork (70 - 75% fat, 18 - 26% saturates)
Low fat spreads e.g. Flora (38 - 59% fat, 9 - 12% saturates)
None of these are margarine as this contains between 80 and 90% fat.
As far as baking is concerned, "margarine" probably means products such as Stork although spreads with at least 59% fat can be also be used (I'm not sure if you need to adjust for the different amount of water in the product).
None of the above products contain partially hydrogenated fats which is the main source of harmful trans fats. Many claim to contain no hydrogenated fats at all which suggests that some contain fully hydrogenated fats. These contain about 1% trans fats. Butter contains 4% trans fats. So not only is butter high in saturates, it is also high in trans fats.
The main objection to "margarine" probably relates to it once containing large amounts of trans fats which are far worse for health than saturated fats. But this is no longer the case. The other objection is that the products contain additives such as Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids. These sound horrible but it doesn't necessarily mean they are harmful.
So we need to decide between cutting down on harmful saturated fats or a truly natural product. Then there is the cost - this has made me see how much cheaper Stork and Trex are than butter. There may be environmental objections to some of these products as many use palm oil, although animal feeds can also have questionable origins (plus animal welfare issues). Finally, of course, is the taste which is a matter of personal opinion.
We should all make an informed choice about whether to use butter, lard or "margarine" but this should be based on facts and not scaremongering ill-informed misinformation.
As to the post that says margarine was invented to fatten turkeys, what a load of rubbish! It was invented in Napoleonic times as a cheap substitute for butter and was made from animal fat. You shouldn't believe such stories without checking up on the facts. As to the claim it is one molecule away from plastic and shares 27 ingredients with paint, I think that is meaningless. Let's have some evidence.
By the way, sodium is a highly reactive metal and chlorine is a very poisonous gas. These are the ingredients for salt which is essential (in reasonable quantities) for health.0 -
I have always used "proper" slabs of butter for baking but I read on anothe thread that you can use Flora Buttery.
What do you use and is it successful?
I am finding the cost of butter is prohibitive and should like an alternative - but is it as good?
Thanks very much.
Sally0 -
I may get shot down here, but I use the cheapest big tubs of marg that I can get for most of my baking except for shortbread. Then I use the cheapest butter I can get, or make my own from whoopsied cream. I noticed that they have 250g butter in 99p shop today. It's Dale Farm butter from NI so it is good quality.Father Ted: Now concentrate this time, Dougal. These
(he points to some plastic cows on the table) are very small; those (pointing at some cows out of the window) are far away...:D:D
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Also, Tosco have had butter on 2 for £2 in our local store for the past month or so (was lurpak, now country life)
Having said that, I've always used stork (well, used to be vitalite) with great success with sponges - made one last week with real butter and it was a bit more like a brick!0 -
Usually i use the basic cheapest butter. I made pastry last week with Flora and even though i used the recipe i always do, i didn't need to add water to make a ball of dough. However it did taste nice, but just not 'normal'
If i'm making cakes for someone else i might allow myself to upgrade to stork but generally the £1 block from any supermarket0
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