What is meant by the term “butterfat content”?
Cheese is essentially made up of water, fat, and protein. “Butterfat content” is the ratio of protein and fat that remains in a cheese after all the water is removed. Butterfat percentage is very different from the percentage of fat in a cheese. A 50% butterfat means that half of the dry matter is fat, and the other half is protein and minerals. Most of the world’s best known and most widely-used cheeses fall into the category that’s referred to as full fat cheese—cheeses such as Cheddar, Swiss, and Provolone that have from 45% to 55% butterfat in their dry matter. For some cheese, extra cream is added to the milk to increase the butterfat content. For example, this is done with some Bries and they’re referred to as double crème cheeses. This means that the butterfat content has been increased to about 60%. There is another category with an even greater butterfat content—as much as 70% to 75%. Those are known as triple crème cheeses. Partial fat cheese is usually made from milk which h
