DT-2103

Fat Rich Dairy Products

Butter: Theory of Churning, Legal Standards

 CHURNING OF CREAM
INTRODUCTION:
Churning is the process of converting cream into butter through appropriate mechanical
manipulations leading to the conversion of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion of cream into water-in-
oil (W/O) emulsion desired in butter. The emulsion change accompanied by removal of
buttermilk and working of butter yields the desired structure and texture in the product.
Theories of Churning
The conversion of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion of cream into water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion to
form butter has been explained by various theories of churning. These are discussed below:
 The phase reversal theory
This theory was proposed by Fischer and Hooker in 1927, the theory is therefore also referred as
Fischer and Hooker’s theory. According to this theory churning is a process of phase reversal i.e.
changing of oil in water emulsion (O/W) to water in oil emulsion (W/O). The stability of
emulsion is related to the relative volumes of the two constituents present. When oil and water
are mixed together, the resulting suspension may be a suspension of (o/w) or suspension of w/o.
The type of emulsion obtained depends on the proportion of the two main constituents present,
the order in which they are added and the type of emulsifier used.

In churning cream, initially the ratio of surface area to volume (S/V) of the fat globules is large.
When the churning proceeds, surface area decreases and with progressive churning, surface area
keeps on decreasing. The reduced surface area can no longer hold all the butter milk so it breaks
i.e. separates out.
Agitation of cream during the churning process causes coalescence and clumping of fat globules
until eventually the ratio of surface area to volume of the fat units becomes so small that the
reduced surface area can no longer contain the butter milk in stable form. The O/W emulsion
then suddenly breaks; giving butter grains consisting of an emulsion of W/O and free butter milk.
 The Foam Theory
This theory was put forward by Rahn (1928). According to Rahn, cream (and also milk) contains
a foam producing substance which gets solidified gradually when cream (or milk) is agitated.

During churning first foam is produced. The fat globules then, due to surface tension, tend to
concentrate on the foam bubble and thus are bought into such close contact that clumping of fat
globules take place. Subsequently the foam producing substance assumes a solid character and
the foam collapse. The fat globules then coalesce and butter is formed.

According to Rahn’s theory, fat in cream at churning time is completely crystallized and the pass
in to butter with their membrane intact and thus butter is a compact mass of fat globules in which
butter milk, water and air are distributed as small globules.
Rahn’s theory was based on his findings that air was necessary for normal churning of butter.
Application of normal amount of mechanical agitation, in the absence of air did not result in
churning of cream. The effect of overloading of churn resulting in increased churning time
supported this theory (in case of overloading the churn, there was no sufficient space in the
churn for the formation of required amount of foam hence more time).
 King’s Theory
King’s theory was proposed in 1930 and 1953 and it is regarded as the modern theory.
According to this theory, what happens during churning is mid-way between the ‘Phase
Reversal theory’ and Foam theory. The modern concept has been summarized by Mc Dowall as
follows:
i) The fat in the cooled cream, at churning temperature, is present as clusters of fat globules.
And within each globule it is present partly in solid and partly in liquid form.
ii) Agitation (churning) breaks up the clusters and causes foam formation. The globules become
concentrated to some extent in the film around the air babble in the foam and thus are brought
into close contact of each other.
iii) The movement of the globules over one another in the foam film and the direct concussion
between them causes a gradual wearing away of the emulsion protecting surface layer (of
phospholipid protein complex). The globules then adhere together to form larger and larger
particles. Eventually these particles become visible as butter grains. The grains enclose some of
the air from the foam. The fat still mainly remains in globular form.
iv) The working of the butter grains causes the globules to move over one another. Some of
them, under the effect of friction and pressure cause some yields out a portion of the liquid fat,
others are broken during working. Finally there is enough free liquid fat present to enclose the
water droplets, air bubbles and intact fat globules.
 Factors Influencing Churn ability of Cream
The factors which influence the churnability of cream can be classified into two groups as

i. The factors related to the initial character of the cream

ii. The conditions in the process of manufacturing
Factors related to the initial character of the cream includes chemical composition of the butter
fat, size of fat globules, richness of cream and viscosity of cream while factors related to
processing conditions are churning temperature, fullness of churn, speed of churn, design of
churn etc. All these factors are discusses in the following sections.

Chemical composition of butter fat:

Churnability of cream is greatly influenced by the proportion of soft fats (low melting point fat)
and hard fats (high melting points). This proportion determines the degree of fat solidification in
the cooled cream. If the proportion of soft fats is more than the churning period will be
shortened, butter made will have less firmness and there will be more fat losses in butter milk. If
the proportion of soft fats is low, it will prolong the churning period.
 Richness of cream
The amount of fat in cream affects its churnability considerably. The richer the cream the
sooner will be the completion of the churning provided the cream is not rich enough to be so thick
as to cause the cream to adhere to the inside of the churn and thus escape agitation.
If rich cream is churned at a high temperature the butter will form in a remarkable short time,
providing all other conditions are favourable. Thin cream churns much more slowly, and can be
churned at high temperature than thick cream, without injuring the quality of butter when rich
cream is churned at a high temperature and the butter forms in a short time (about 10 min), the
butter will usually be greasy in body and will not contain a much of butter milk, which will be
more or less difficult to remove on washing. When thick cream is churned, the butter does not
break in the form of small round granules, as it does when thin cream is churned.
When thick cream is (36 to 38% fat) is churned at as high a temperature as is consistent with
getting a good texture, the best result are obtained. This type of cream produces less butter milk
and consequently less part loss in the butter milk and this will give increase over run and the
breaking of the butter at the end of the churning will be such as to cause the granules to appear
large and flaky, rather than small round granules. The more flaky granules of butter will retain
more moisture than the small, harder granules under the same treatment.
 Viscosity of cream
The more viscous the cream, more time is required to complete the churning process. More
viscosity diminishes the freedom of movement of the fat globules, lessens their opportunity of
being brought together and retard coalescence, thereby increases churning time.

Size of fat globule

Cream containing large fat-globules (avg. diameter 4.6µ) churn more quickly than cream
containing small globules. Cream containing small fat globules (avg. diameter 3.4 µ) churn with
difficulty and require twice as much time to break as the large globule cream. The butter made
from such cream has short grains and crumbly character.

Churning temperature
The temperature is one of the most influential factors in determining the churnability of cream.
The higher the temperature of cream, the sooner the churning process will be completed. Too high
a churning temperature is however not desirable. It causes the butter to contain soft lumps instead
of in a flaky granular form. This is deleterious to the quality of the butter. It causes first a greasy
texture of butter, and secondly, it causes the incorporation of too much butter milk in the butter. 
The degree of hardness of the fat in cream is the governing factor in deciding the temperature during
churning. The hardness of the fat depends upon:

(1) The season of the year.

(2) The individuality of the cow.

(3) The stage of lactation period.

(4) The kind of food fed for the cows.

All these factors influence the melting point of butter fat- The higher the melting point of butter fat,
higher is the churning temperature and the lower the melting point of the fat; the lower is the churning
temperature.
During spring, the cows yield milk containing a longer proportion of soft fats; consequently the
churning temperature is always lower in the spring than in the winter. During the winter, when the cows
are fed on dry food chiefly the harder fat increases in quantity, therefore, a higher churning temperature
is necessary during that time.
It can be concluded that the churning temperature may vary between wide limits, but the average
desirable churning temperature according to the season is

Winter --- 10-13°C; Summer--- 7-9°C

Amount of cream in churn
For maximum agitation to take place during churning, the cream must dash from
side to side or from top to bottom. Optimum load for maximum agitation should be
one third to one half full.

Overloading of the churn diminishes free space in the churn, diminishes

concussions and leads to increase in churning time. The overloaded cream may be
churned at higher temperature so that churning time is not prolonged but this is not
recommended as higher temperature increases fat loss in butter milk and produces
soft and leaky butter.

Under loading the churn is not economical for the manufacturer and at the same
time the cream will adhere to the inner side of the churn and delay churning,
Churning Difficulties

The causes of churning difficulties are usually associated with the peculiar
character of the cream and particularly where the source of cream is confined to a
single herd. Usual causes of prolonged churning time and difficulty in formation
of butter are excessive hardness of fat, small fat globules, use of thin cream for
butter making and high protein content in cream.
i) Excessive hardness of fat: Winter cream usually contains more hard fats. Use of
such cream for butter making prolongs churning time because it diminishes the
ability of fat globules to coalesce during churning.

ii) Small fat globules: cream that contains small fat globules takes more time for
churning as the ratio of membrane material to fat increases and thus provides
increased protection to fat globules.

iii) High protein content: such cream delays butter formation because of increased
viscosity that minimizes the force of concussion between the globules.

iv) Use of thin cream: Such cream also have increased protection due to higher
membrane protein to fat ratio and also due to intervening serum that keeps globules
apart during churning.