Probiotic Butter

In recent years butter has seen a growth in its consumption because of the understanding of the physiological effects of dairy fat. The small-scale batch production of butter depends on the operator’s hands-on skill and experience about cream aging, ending point of churning, and other parameters at each of the manufacturing stages. Large-scale processes are automated and allow better control to produce butter with constant characteristics. While the principles of butter making have not changed significantly over many decades, with greater understanding, control of key parameters during cream preparation and processing conditions have improved. In recent years there has been a lot of products from butter post-churning, mixing new ingredients like probiotics, flavors, and spices that will be beneficial in attracting and engaging consumers. Butter has shown to be a good matrix for adding probiotics and maintaining its viability throughout storage due to the fat protection effect. There are several ways of adding probiotics in butter, such as in microencapsulated form, together with traditional starters during cream fermentation or during the working step. Thus, this chapter is a practical guidance for probiotic butter manufacture.