What Happened to the Butter?

[Gray Ghost]

I went into Food Lion the other week looking for real butter and all I could find was that fake crap. I finally did find real butter after looking for awhile. They had only one brand. Cant remember the name. I am thinking about churning my own. My mother grew up churning butter. Her mother would add a coloring agent to it to make it yellow since real butter is usually white in color. They would also add some salt to it. I would not add any coloring because I could care less what color my butter is as long as it is natural. I do plan to use organic cream to make it though. I cant stand additives.

Gray Ghost

 

[lindylady]

How long does it take to churn butter?

 

[Kt Templar]

After mentioning spreadable butter I started to wonder what was in it! (Bit late some would say!). So I took a look, it's butter plus some rapeseed oil. No added transfats or weird chemicals. That's good enough for me!

Q: Could you please give me the nutritional information of LURPAK Spreadable?
A: Typical values per 100 g (3.5 oz):
Energy: Kj 2977 = 724 kcal.
Fat: 80 g (of which saturates 40 g)
Protein: 1.0 g
Carbohydrate: 0.75 g
Moisture: 17 g
Salt: 1.0 g
Ingredients: Butter, vegetable oil (rapeseed oil), lactic culture, and salt
Blend: 80% fat content (75% butter fat and 25% vegetable fat)

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Stopped at the supermarket on the edge of town on the way home from work this evening. Price of store brand butter about $2 a pound. Salted or sweet. Their margarine has gone way down in price to .59 a pound. More butter and marg displayed in a second case. [huh] Half pound cartons of Land O' Lakes for $2. Now to the LARD: sold out! .99 a pound. Baking is gonna have to wait until I get back from Las Vegas.

 

[Jovan]

Her mother would add a coloring agent to it to make it yellow since real butter is usually white in color. They would also add some salt to it. I would not add any coloring because I could care less what color my butter is as long as it is natural. I do plan to use organic cream to make it though. I cant stand additives.

Gray Ghost

I wholeheartedly agree. I really don't get the American obsession for colouring foods ghastly unnatural colours.

 

[Mr. Rover]

I wholeheartedly agree. I really don't get the American obsession for colouring foods ghastly unnatural colours.

Remember when Heinz came out with green,blue, and purple ketchup a few years ago? Man that was nasty...

 

[Jovan]

Ick. See I didn't mind the Hulk green chocolate syrup for some reason (except that it made almost everything er, inside me turn green) but that was indeed pretty gross. It's one thing to colour cheddar orangish to identify it from other, less sharp cheeses. It's quite another when a tomato product is bright green instead of a healthy dark red.

 

[Miss Dottie]

Another reason for the change in flavour over the past 60 years is that the diet of most dairy heards has been modified to be as consistant as possible the year round in order to provide a consistant (non)-flavour. Used to be that Spring butter tasted the best because the cattle were eating very fresh new grass. Diet really affests the flavour of the milk. One of the reasons you don't want wild onions growing in your pastures.

Haversack.

Ah yes, like in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles--when they tried to find the chives in the field...

When I worked at a living historical farm based in the 1830s, they wanted yellow butter even in the winter, so they would try to dye the butter using calendula petals to get that yellow butter look even back then. So this is nothing new.

 

[Haversack]

Miss Dottie wrote: "When I worked at a living historical farm based in the 1830s, they wanted yellow butter even in the winter, so they would try to dye the butter using calendula petals to get that yellow butter look even back then. So this is nothing new."

That is very true. People can be very conservative about the appearance of their food. Consider the shunning of white cheddar in large parts of the U.S. in preference for that dyed with annatto. Sometimes these preferences have a historical base like the US preference for salted butter vice unsalted. (warmer climate, migrant population.)

Haversack.

 

[Jovan]

I just don't get the need though. I've eaten grey hot dogs, white butter and cheese, etc. and not been offended by their colour.