{"id":1864,"date":"2018-09-05T08:32:32","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T12:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lionsdeal.com\/blog\/?p=1864"},"modified":"2022-07-06T11:20:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T15:20:46","slug":"butter-renaissance-how-to-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lionsdeal.com\/blog\/butter-renaissance-how-to-make\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn About Butter\u2019s Renaissance and How You Can Make Your Own"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Butter<\/p>\n

Butter is Back<\/strong><\/p>\n

Butter is having a renaissance. As a growing number of consumers try to avoid foods that are perceived as artificial and unhealthy, such as vegetable oil-based margarine, butter is experiencing a revival. The food pendulum is always swinging and what is shunned one year can be embraced the next. So it\u2019s not surprising that butter \u2013 natural, fresh from the farm, and simply delicious \u2013 is staging a comeback. And, like many foods of late, the fancier the better. Premium innovations from national brands, as well as from regional family-owned creameries and artisan culinary professionals, are helping drive the better-butter business and it seems like the sky is the limit.<\/p>\n

Americans Love Butter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in 2014, food author\/expert Mark Bittman wrote in The New York Times<\/em> that \u201cButter is Back,\u201d and the trend that he predicted is continuing. Consumers are buying more butter at the retail level and chefs are cooking more with butter, as well. Recently, McDonald\u2019s announced that it would switch from vegetable oil to real butter to grill eggs and to spread on toast, English muffins, and bagels. Signs in branches now state, \u201cWe cook with real dairy.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Butter is at a 40-year high in per-capita consumption, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2016, volume sales for butter were more than 735 million pounds, representing a significant increase from the previous year. Volume sales of margarines and spreads, on the other hand, were down 7.1%. In terms of dollar sales, butter was at about $2.8 billion (up 2.7%) during the same period, while margarine showed a decrease of 7.8%, down to $1.4 billion. These stats are even more surprising when you consider that ordinary butter is about two or three times the price of margarine, while premium butters often command more than five times the price per pound of margarine.<\/p>\n

\u201cButter consumption is up 25% in the last 10 years,\u201d said Cindy Sorensen, of the Midwest Dairy Association. \u201cButter is benefiting from consumers\u2019 desire for fresh, real and natural products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butter Gets Fancy<\/strong><\/p>\n

These days, everything \u2013 from flour to coffee to chocolate \u2013 is getting the craft treatment, and butter is joining the movement. In \u201cFat Is Back and Premium Butter Makers Are Taking the Cream<\/a>,\u201d the Bloomberg website determines that \u201cconsumers aren\u2019t just eating more butter they are willing to pay more for it, a boon that\u2019s giving outsize gains to makers of premium brands.\u201d
\nSorenson of the Midwest Dairy Association agrees. \u201cThe popularity of premium butters, including European-style butters, is growing due to the rise in foodies and home chefs. Gourmet cooking is very popular and cooking shows are one of the most watched types of TV shows. As cooking skills increase, so does awareness of the importance of high-quality ingredients, such as butter. Chefs are one of the most influential groups of people impacting food trends.\u201d<\/p>\n

What this means is that when you search for butter in the stores, you\u2019ll be seeing high-end butters with a variety of looks and flavors. It is no longer unusual to see organic roasted garlic and herb butter, alongside organic cocoa coconut butter, as well as other premium flavors such as black truffle, caramel sea salt, chili lime, honey pecan, lemon pepper, maple syrup, porcini sage, roasted garlic herb, and sea salt and black pepper butter.<\/p>\n

\"Companies<\/p>\n

Companies Jump on the Premium Butter Wagon<\/strong><\/p>\n

While European-style, super-premium butters comprise only about 1% of the entire market volume, sales are rising quickly, and the category is growing. Premium butters can be sold at ambient temperatures (for up to two weeks) alongside bread in the bakery departments of supermarkets; this is a boost to both sectors, as nothing is more basic than the symbiosis between bread and butter.<\/p>\n

Doing business under the brand name Chef Shamy Gourmet<\/a>, DFS Gourmet Specialties, a family-run business out of Salt Lake City, produces high-quality, premium flavored butters, including garlic butter, honey butter, passion fruit butter, and vanilla bean butter. DFS also sells ready-to-use real butter cream frosting, a food-industry precedent in the United States.<\/p>\n

Vital Farms, of Austin, Texas, developed Alfresco Butter, a premium, small-batch, slow-churned butter that is made from the milk of small herds of grass-fed Jersey and Guernsey cows. The family-owned company uses old-fashioned churning techniques to produce butter with 85%(!) milkfat. The Vital Farms website says, \u201cHow cream is churned really matters in butter-making, and the secret is going small and slow. Artisanship and patience are rewarded with a butter that is beyond compare. The folks who slow churn our pasture-raised grass-fed butter in small batches have been doing it the same way for over 120 years, with five generations of the same family passing father to son, at one of America\u2019s oldest creameries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty of other companies, such as Minerva Dairy of Minerva, Ohio; Slate Roof Creamery, of Drexel, PA; and Champignon North America, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J. are offering premium butter; and even Minneapolis-based Land O\u2019Lakes, a long-time leader in the butter sector, has gone upscale with European-style offerings that are made with sweet cream, resulting in butter that is 82% milkfat.<\/p>\n

Craft Butter Can Work for You<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the days of the pioneers, and maybe even when some of us were kids 😉 , butter was made by hand<\/a> in the most elementary of ways. By simply pouring heavy (or \u201cwhipping\u201d) cream into a jar, and shaking, shaking, and shaking, the cream would become thick. More shaking, and it would become whipped cream, until suddenly and magically, after some more shaking, the cream would separate. There would be butter, and the semi-opaque milk called buttermilk. Drained and mixed with salt, it would become butter as we know it – creamy, flavorful, and rich.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today and craft butter is becoming a major trend. But it\u2019s no longer about simply shaking cream in mason jars; rather, it\u2019s about infusing butter with flavors to create new and incredible combinations that no one even thought of a few years ago. At your next catered event, you can serve strawberry butter (to spread on pancakes, toast, and muffins); cinnamon vanilla honey butter, to slather on rolls; lemon butter, as a perfect accompaniment to your breakfast or brunch buffet; and garlic herb butter, to use with pasta and garlic toasts that will make your guests swoon with pleasure.<\/p>\n

The Handle the Heat<\/a> website, will help you whip up a batch of Whipped Cinnamon Pumpkin Butter that brings the premium butter trend straight into your kitchen. You don\u2019t have to churn, shake, or make butter from scratch (though you can), but you\u2019ll be giving your guests an original flavor that they\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n

\"Whipped<\/p>\n

Whipped Cinnamon Pumpkin Butter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/u><\/p>\n