We will admit it. There is something so strange about the phrase "homemade margarine." But after reading last week's Washington Post article about making your own margarine, we are intrigued by the possibilities of a from-scratch version of the oft-maligned spread.
As the article points out, margarine has been around since 1869, when the French invented it as a less pricey, less perishable version of butter, made with beef tallow and skim milk. Today Americans use twice as much margarine as butter, yet it still has second-class status in the cooking world.
Despite its reputation as a highly processed food, when made at home margarine is no more high-tech than it was in 1869 — just a mixture of solid and liquid fats, emulsified by hand, but "by no means as nerve-racking as making hollandaise sauce."
The author uses solid coconut fat, sunflower oil and a little coconut milk to make a basic spread to which any number of flavors can be added: fresh herbs, spices, lemon zest and even beet juice. Or try using duck fat and stock to make a margarine "that will make even the palest piece of cardboard chicken taste rich and interesting."
Read the article:
• Make Your Own Margarine - Washington Post
Get the recipes:
• Homemade Herbed Margarine
• Homemade Margarine with Coconut and Ginger
Now that we see it as a kind of solid emulsified sauce, margarine seems less like the property of the processed food industry and more like the next DIY kitchen project we need to try. What do you think? Can you see yourself whipping up a batch of margarine or does your heart belong to butter?
Related: Butter vs. Margarine: Is Either One Healthier?
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The article didn't mention anything about transfat content. I never use margarine due to transfats, so I'd hold on this one until I get more info.
Twylag - most margarines don't have transfats any more. And unless I'm seriously mistaken (and, let's be honest: it's 7 am here and I haven't yet had my coffee, so the chances of that aren't slim) just emulsifying other fats that don't themselves have transfats won't create transfats. Since coconut fat, sunflower oil, and coconut milk are all free of transfats, the resulting margarine will be, too.
I thought the article was interesting! I think it would have to be a pretty particular set of circumstances that would lead me to make some of it, since I usually use butter. But maybe if I'm making a salmon or pork chop dish and wanted something interesting to put on top? (Though butter creamed with any number of flavors or spices seems equally delicious! So I really don't know in what sort of circumstances I would go through the trouble of making this sort of margarine.)
OK, so I just posted and can't edit. I know *precisely* when I would make this - if I have a lactose-free or vegan friend coming for dinner and I want to have a butter substitute. In fact, I think that this recipe for margarine would be *perfect*, so that these friends would be able to enjoy butter-like spreads that are just as interesting (and hopefully delicious!) as butter, without being full of milk.
(I'm thinking that recipe above with the coconut milk, with some garam masala/curry spices, used on salmon. Yum.)
Wow. Americans really eat margarine 2 to 1 to butter? Do you think it is because restaurants use it so much, or are these figures from the supermarket?
Margarine's much cheaper than butter--I'd bet that has something to do with the 2-to-1 ratio.
Adele Davis used to make what she called "better butter" I think, where she mixed room-temperature butter with an equal amount of oil (safflower for example). Refrigerated in a glass jar, this makes a pale, delicious, light spread. I have had it as my only "butter" except for baking.
Wow... interesting article. I definitely never pondered making my own margarine, and now am wondering what the actual definition of "margarine" is. The recipes suggested are worth a look. I would think of them as flavorful, fatty spread rather than "margarine."
@Twylag/Laetitae -- trans fats are formed when you bubble hydrogen gas through a polyunsaturated oil (ie: corn, soy, sunflower, cottonseed oils). This is how industrial fats for margarine are made. At home you can form hydrogenate fats by heating them and cooking something with water in it (which is to say, all food). The recipes for homemade margarine appear to be more about mixing together some fats, so you're not going to form trans fats.
Most margarine on the market today has 0 g trans fats per serving. However, do note that anytime you see the words "partially hydrogenated" on the ingredient label trans fats will be present. There will just be less than 0.5 g so they can report it as 0 g. These little fragments do add up and make a difference in your long term health.
I hadn't thought about that laetitiae. I do use a transfat free vegan margarine when such occasions arise, but it is super expensive. I want to say about 5-6 dollars for four sticks.
I still love the flavor of butter though :) I'll also sub a heart healthy oil or applesauce if I want something healthier than butter.
slobound: Butter used to be "evil". So Americans were basically convinced that margarine was better for them. Now that we know about trans fats, butter is being appreciated again. Margarine is also cheaper.
My grandmother and great-grandmother's recipes were littered with calls for "oleo", so I guess margarine has been popular for a long time.
I'm a butter fan through and through - no substitute comes close. I grew up on a farm in rural Australia - my Mum milked our cow in the morning and churned fresh cream into butter in our mixmaster. Can't get any better than that.
This article was written by Norway's famous celeb chef, Andreas Viestad. He appears weekly on a cooking show called; "New Scandinavian Cooking" on the Create Network. I absolutely adore this show & his fantastic cooking. I own both his cookbooks. Thank you o yech for sharing this recipe. I'm always looking for good healthy cost effective recipes. great recipe. I will be making a batch of the coconut herbal margarine this week.