Vegan butter - Margarine

To replace butter in recipes, margarine is the best solution and, if you do not want to buy it, you can also make it at home with just a few ingredients. Margarine does not contain strange ingredients: it is simply an emulsion of water and fats. To obtain a consistency similar to butter, you just need to replace the percentage of animal fats with vegetable fats. Margarine is often still seen as an old-fashioned product, but in reality, today it is very different from what it used to be. Most modern margarines do not contain hydrogenated fats and are simply made with water, oils or vegetable fats, and emulsifiers. Many products sold as "plant-based butter" or "vegan butter" are, in fact, margarines. The name is often used for marketing reasons, but the composition is very similar. To check this, you can simply compare the ingredient list of a product called margarine with that of a product called plant-based butter. What can change from one brand to another is mainly the type of vegetable fat used. Most products are quite similar, but some brands may use different vegetable fats. Another important aspect is the fat percentage, especially when comparing block margarine and spreadable margarine. In pastry, it is important to use block margarine, meaning solid and not spreadable, because it contains around 80% fat and allows you to replace butter in equal quantities without having to rebalance the recipe. By using block margarine with a fat percentage similar to butter, you can therefore replace butter with margarine in the same quantity, while maintaining the structure, texture, and balance of the recipe.