Margarine or butter, butter or margarine? Which is healthier? Which tastes better? Which is better for you and your family?
OK, so butter is high in calories, but look at the ingredients… milk and salt (or no salt) I like Kerrygold and I’ve just looked at their products and it tells me that the colour of their butter is completely natural, it comes from beta carotene in the lovely grass the cows eat. I also love Lurpak and looking at their site I see their butter has 741 calories, 81 grams of fat, and 0.47 grams of sodium. Milk, and a little salt – or you can get unsalted butter, which is just made from milk.
So… margarine, I don’t particularly like the taste of it, I don’t like the feel of it on my tongue, but it is convenient to be able to spread it straight from the fridge (OK, yes, you can get spreadable butter from Kerrygold) and there are all sorts of low-fat margarines and spreads available. But is margarine more healthy? Well some of them certainly are lower in fat (there are different sorts of fats though, aren’t there?) According to a European Union directive, margarine is “”a water-in-oil emulsion derived from vegetable/animal fats, with a fat content of at least 80% but less than 90%, that remain solid at a temperature of 20°C and are suitable as spread.” Sounds delicious? I don’t think so!
We can all read up about butter vs margarine, but I look on the side of the packets… milk and salt vs a whole load of things as well as the oil needed as a base; I then think, the taste of butter or the taste of margarine? I have to go with butter, use it sparingly, spread it lightly, but it has to be butter.
Lois Elsden 
I have to agree 🙂
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Thank goodness for someone with some sense! Apart from all the chemicals, margarine is mostly water, and very expensive water at that. But, as I’ve often said, margarine is only a molecule away from plastic. The claims about reducing cholesterol are complete nonsense. The same goes for milk with green top, pink top and whatever other colour top other than blue; much or virtually all of what makes milk milk is removed (and sold of course for yet more profit) but the price is the same. It’s a big con. And, as you say, there’s the small matter of taste. But if you must avoid butter, buy a bottle of good – sunflower or whatever – oil and use that; it’s margarine without the chemicals and water.
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Absolutely! In the summer I usually have olive oil with bread – or any other nice oil… but margarine, bleagh!
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I would agree with you, Lois and for years I did, but now I’m allergic to milk 😦 so it’s dairy-free marg for me.
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Allergic to cow and sheep milk too?
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I’m pretty sure sheep milk’s OK (I know goats’ is). The odd thing is that the cow’s milk allergy also includes beef and gelatine, so a more accurate name for it would be cow allergy.
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Oh dear… that is tricky. You can get really delicious sheep’s milk butter – and goats’… and lovely cheeses! The gelatine thing must be tricky
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