Of late, when social media was breaking because of the news that 1000 kgs of spurious butter was found in Amul packaging, it surely stirred a thought in our minds that the butter we use is actuallly pure or not? The investigation report said that a gang of five people was arrested from Bhayender area of Mumbai who were involved in this adulteration activity. This is not for the first time that such gang has been busted. Early this month a gang from Surat, Gujarat was arrested with 25 kgs of loose butter and 15 kgs of vanaspati ghee. When we buy product from a trusted brand, we depend on it and believe in its purity. But incidents like these break our trust and leave us wondering what should we do to keep our family safe from the dangerous of adulterated food. Here are some tricks that will help you check adulteration in butter at home.
* The simplest method to check the purity of butter is to heat a teaspoon of butter in a vessel. If butter melts immediately and turns dark brownish in colour, then it is pure. And if it turns light yellow in colour, then it is surely adulterated.
* Also, you can check the adulteration by melting some butter cubes and coconut oil in a glass jar using the double-boiler method and then place the jar in the fridge. If butter and coconut oil will solidify in separate layers, then the butter is adulterated else it's pure.
* You can also heat a tablespoon of butter in a glass test tube, and add an equal amount of concentrated HCl with a pinch of sugar. Shake well. If the mixture turns pink or red, that means butter is adulterated with hydrogenated oil or other substandard chemicals.
* Place a small portion of butter on your palm, if it starts to melt due to body heat by itself, it is a sign that butter is pure else it should not be consumed.
* Another way is to add iodine solution in a small quality to melted butter. If the solution turns brown in colour, butter is adulterated with starch.