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This week we take a look at butter teeth ????

As you know, we have a wide selection of butters on offer, from the most well-known and widely used (cocoa, shea) to lesser known vegan butters (e.g. murumuru, kokum). We are not going to go into the specific characteristics of each butter now, but their essence and also their attributes such as refined, unrefined, cold pressed, deodorized.

In addition to the specific sources of nutrients, we think that information about the degree of processing of the butter in question is equally important for your needs.

So what exactly is vegetable butter?

Very simplistically, it's basically an extract from fruits such as seeds, kernels, beans or nuts that have a "fatty" base. Butter melts on contact with the skin and is an emollient and moisturizing ingredient. They can be used alone or as part of formulations to make creams, body milks and other skin and hair care products. In addition to moisturizing and nourishing, they often contribute stability, viscosity, or even hardness in your products.

What all can butter contain?

Most butters contain the following ingredients in varying proportions and combinations, which also determine how or where a particular butter is used:

???? ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS

- create and maintain the skin's natural oil barrier

- moisturises the skin, preventing premature ageing and maintaining its youthful appearance

- nourishes cells and protects the skin by forming an antimicrobial barrier

- prevents or eliminates water loss through the skin

???? VITAMINS

- prevents skin ageing, improves skin condition, minimises the appearance of wrinkles and age spots or pigment spots

- protects against the adverse effects of UV rays

- nourishes hair and skin, while also effectively counteracting hair loss and dandruff formation

- reduces swelling, redness and sensitive skin manifestations

???? PROTEINS

- repairs and builds new cells and tissues

- contribute to hair and skin immunity

???? MINERALS

- protect skin and hair from external destructive influences

- regulate sebum production and moisture

- promote the growth of thicker hair

- exfoliate the skin

???? ANTIOXIDANTS

- improve blood circulation and metabolism

- improves skin condition and health

- strengthens hair and prevents hair loss

???? POLYPHENOLS

- exhibit photoprotective properties (protect skin and hair from the degenerative effects of UV rays)

- have antioxidant effects

- prevent collagen breakdown, thus restoring skin elasticity

- increase the moisture level of both skin and hair

???? PHYTOSTEROLS

- their main role is to maintain the structure of the cells, thus helping the healing of various skin destructions such as dermatitis, psoriasis, acne, burns, scars, wounds, thus having both regenerative and anti-inflammatory effects

???? TOKOFEROL

- has natural preservative properties

- has anti-inflammatory effects

- accelerates wound healing and tissue regeneration

Before we get into the characteristics of the butter extraction processes, there is some "technical" and qualitative information you should know about butters.

???? CONSISTENCY

Not all vegetable butters have the solid consistency we naturally imagine with butter. That doesn't mean they're spoiled. Avocado butter, for example, has a mushy texture at room temperature. A bit like hummus. Cocoa butter, on the other hand, is so hard that you could grate it on a grater like Parmesan cheese.

It is the consistency that can make a big difference to the final product, and if you want to swap ingredients in a proven recipe, this is the aspect you need to keep in mind.

???? COLOUR/FLAVOUR

Colour and smell are undoubtedly the first aspects we intuitively evaluate when choosing butter. However, butters are either odourless or have only a very slight aroma, usually sweet, nutty or characteristic of the plant material from which they come.

They vary greatly in colour depending on the natural colour of the nuts, seeds or kernels from which they are extracted. Shea butter has a natural ivory colour, avocado butter has a subtle greenish tonevegan butters such as bacuri or combo are dark cocoa, while paradoxically cocoa butter is yellowish:-)

???? ABSORPCIA

It's similar with the absorption of butter into the skin. Not all butters leave a greasy effect and need to be massaged in for a few minutes to ensure complete absorption.

There are butters that are light, soft and quickly absorbed into the skin but leave a smooth, silky surface (e.g. kokum, cupuacu, cocoa butter). On the other hand, there are also butters that leave a strong moisturizing barrier on the skin. These are not recommended for hypersensitive skin that is acneic.

For the above criteria, it is also important to note that butters are the result of extraction of purely naturalnative raw materials, so their consistency, colour or smell may vary from batch to batch, of course only to a certain permitted extent. For each butter in our shop, you will also find a certificate enclosed, which contains the measured values of the batch in question.

Which butter you choose for your recipe is, of course, a matter of personal preference, but it is also important to understand in advance the intention, i.e. the final effect of the product. For example, a light butter with quick absorption and no greasy residue would be an excellent choice for oily skin or hair, as it would quickly penetrate the skin and hair without clogging the pores. On the other hand, a thick, deeply moisturizing butter has a better effect for treating dry and damaged skin or hair.

Recommendation ????

In order for the butter to retain its original properties for as long as possible (within its stated shelf life), it should also be stored at home in the right conditions. These are a cool dark place, and the butter should be stored in an airtight container.

If you use butters for your personal use or work with them in the manufacture of skin care products, you will be familiar with these attributes:

???? Organic/BIO

???? refined butter

???? unrefined butter

???? deodorised

???? Unrefined butter is created by extracting the fruit without the use of chemicals and preservatives. It can be extracted by a combination of traditional handmade methods and mechanical pressing. In this case, we can say that it is raw butter. This is the highest quality stage of processing, where all the original vitamins, substances and fatty acids remain in the butter. The butter also retains its natural flavour. Naturally, butter also has a correspondingly shorter minimum shelf-life than other forms of processing, which, as already mentioned, can be maintained by the recommended storage method. After the minimum shelf-life (when stored correctly), the process of change in physical properties is much faster than for chemically processed butters.
In our offer you can find several types of unrefined butters.

???? Unrefined butter is therefore the highest quality level of processing, but unrefined organic or even unrefined BIO butters are considered to be the highest quality level. So if you are concerned about having the best and most nutritious butter available, this aspect should be monitored as well.

Those butters that are extracted from fruit harvested from organic farms that meet strict organic criteria or from so-called 'organic' farms meet the organic or organic label. this is also the case for organic organic products, which are also considered to be wild harvested, where the fruit is harvested in places that are considered to be ecologically clean (e.g. the Amazon rainforest). These butters also tend to be certified.

???? Refined butter is usually prepared with hexane or other petroleum solvents and can be preserved. It loses much of its original nutritional value, changes its consistency and texture, as well as its colour and smell.

Shea butter is an excellent example for comparison, where you can already see the difference with the naked eye. Although nowadays there is a growing interest in unrefined and organic versions of vegetable butters, refined butters also have their advantages. They may be less nutritious, but they still contain valuable substances, just to a lesser extent, and they have a longer shelf life, so that even after it has expired, the butters can still be used without any worries. If you need to add a moisturizing ingredient to your product in the form of refined shea butter, the product will guarantee you an effective ingredientwill not discolour and smell unwanted to anyone and, due to the longer warranty, will not shorten the shelf life of your final product.

???? In the case of cocoa butter, you may also encounter the attribute DEODORIZED. Since it is a butter that has a stronger scent, the demand for a less fragrant version has necessitated such a modification. Unfortunately, in this case too, the deodorisation process has not only removed the smell, but has also changed the colour and nutritional value due to the heat treatment. As with refined shea butter, deodorised cocoa butter has similar processing advantages.

Article prepared for you by

Martina Oboňová

Sources:
https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/blog/products/all-about-butters.html

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So what exactly is vegetable butter?

What all can butter contain?