So what is the difference between butter and margarine?

I always saw butter as being the more fattier version, and marge is lower fat.

The taste as well, is obviously different.

But marge is more artificial than butter if that makes sense, so in a roundabout way its probably butter that's better. I don't know if I'm right but that's how I see it.

I prefer marge myself, flora to be exact. Its more spreadable and I prefer the taste!

Which is better is a debatable issue. It comes down to the amount of hydrogenated fat and cholesterol. Generaly marg is worse for the fats, butter worse for the cholesterol.

Current advice is to use what you prefer but in small amounts and to opt for lower calorie versions where possible.

Apart from the fact that marge is rank and butter is lovely?

Sorry - personal taste and all - but I loathe marge. Utterly loathe it. It just doesn't work on hot toast.

Some margarines are meant to be 'better' for you - but I think they all taste synthetic. And I'm not convinced - but I have no evidence either way!

Butter is delicious, and margarine is vile.

Not true - they have the same fat content.

Butter is made by churning milk until it solidifies - you need to make an emulsion (a fine dispersion) of water droplets in the oil of the milk fat.

Margarine is made by taking vegetable oil, chemically modifying it (removing double bonds) to make it more solid, then using it to make a water in oil emulsion, as with butter.

Margarine has exactly the same fat content as butter, however the fat is slightly different, chemically speaking. However, there are now lots of variants of margarine eg Flora, which contains high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are supposed to be better for you than the saturated fats in butter/margarine, or the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter type, which contain some butter and some margarine to make it spread better.

In terms of health issues, both butter and margarine are saturated fats, so you should consume in moderation. Some of the modified margarines can contain trans fatty acids, which aren't great for you so I'd watch out for those.

The other main difference is that many people prefer the taste of butter - it's hard to make margarine taste like butter.

Personally, I prefer having a small amount of the real thing.

Ah ha! Thank you Hazel - that is exactly what I was looking for! How butter and margarine differ in the production process - perfect ?

Personally, I am one of the butter clan. I just prefer the taste.

Thanks all!

WSS. ?

Also I thought a lot of margarines had the "bad" trans type fats in them?

Some do, yes. Proper, old-fashioned margarine shouldn't because the vegetable oil in that is fully hydrogenated. The problem comes when you partially hydrogenate the fat as you can introduce trans fats. I can explain why it happens if anyone's interested but I shall hold off the chemistry otherwise ?

Check the packet for partially hydrogenated fats - it might also say the trans FA content. I think Flora is OK.

Ooh Hazel, I've been meaning to ask this for a while- my parents use "white flora"- hydrogenated sunflower oil. I always thought this was a saturated fat (because isn't hydrogenation what makes it saturated?) but my mother says not and that it's as healthy as normal sunflower oil. Who is right?

A but of both. As you say, hydrogenation turns "good" unsaturated fats into "bad" saturated ones but at the same time it changes the physical properties. Vegetable oils contain lots of unsaturated fats which makes them liquid at room temperature. As you increase the saturation, you increase the melting point, meaning that you get fats that are solid at room temp.

White Flora does contain hydrogenated fat which is saturated, however the saturated fat is mixed with neat sunflower oil (which is unsaturated), giving it a lower overall saturated fat content than something like lard. However it's got more saturated fat than the straight sunflower oil.

Thanks Hazel- that's really helpful ?