JSaus
TVWBB Wizard
I have never tried grass fed butter. Grass fed beef definitely has a different taste, so I assume that would also apply to butter.
Butter
- Thread starter LMichaels
- Start date
LMichaels
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
Grass fed butter is very high in omega 3 and since I have been using it my cholesterol numbers have been FAR better. Regular butter like Land O' Lake and I would say every other American style butter, I can tell it a mile away. So much water whipped in it, no taste. The difference in baked goods when wife bakes with good stuff is amazing. Her pastries and pie crusts come out much flakier, basically everything with it is just plain better and better for you
Brian B Atlanta
TVWBB Gold Member
In GA don't know about other states I believe you can only own 2 locations that sell Liquor you need a retailer license. So my local Costco does not funny thing is one of those locations used to maybe they just shifted liquor store sales to a higher traffic area.Never bought primers at Sam's or Costco but would be willing to try them. Liquor at Costco? Never seen that either!
Larry, I'm gonna beg to differ on that. If water is used as an ingredient, the FDA requires it listed. Looking on the packages I have here, it's sweet cream and natural flavors, optionally salt. I won't dispute that it may be an issue with the super economy brands, but I just don't see water staying in suspension in the emulsion. What you are seeing is the butterfat content, and no argument, higher fat contents will cook up and bake up quite differently. Some steam is required for super flaky pastries & crusts, otherwise, you won't get the puffed layers.
LMichaels
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
All I can say is American butter all I get is watery. Even if I put it in a pan to cook scrambled eggs. The amount of "water" that comes out is terrible compared to a high quality European style butter. This is a style and quality thing more than a type of feed thing. Just put a high quality butter between your fingers then maybe land o lakes. The difference is amazing. To be fair I have found and bought very high quality butters from WI and such and you cannot tell the difference between them or European style ones. Those butters like LOL and such use FAR less cream. Just enough to solidify it. And yeah maybe they don't "add water" but they sure don't make a high quality butter either and it turns out to be "watery". So yeah, water may not be "added" but they do everything they can to keep the final product as watery as it can be and still be "called" butter
Brett-EDH
TVWBB Olympian
Water naturally is in butter.
All you’d like to know about butterfat in butters:
Everything You Want to Know About Butterfat | Nellie's Free Range
Butter may seem like a simple fridge staple on the surface, but its butterfat content plays a major role in flavor, texture, and quality. At 84% butterfat, Nellie's Free Range Butter will make a big difference in your cooking, baking, and everything in between.
www.nelliesfreerange.com
Actually.... on further reflection..... bet I know what's going on.
At least in the US, raw milk on intake is separated into cream and non-fat milk. Pretty much all commercial dairy production has a butterfat content higher than than most of the end product. Skim/non-fat can get bottled right up, 0.5%, 2% and full fat will get cream added back to the desired fat content for milk bottling.
Butter, ice cream, sour cream, etc. will all get the non-fat milk blended back with cream to the desired fat content. I won't argue that non-fat milk SHOULD be called water (yeah, I've said that myself, I only keep whole milk in the fridge,) it's pretty much water with lactose, calcium, and a few other trace stuff. This is where the manufacturer will get it's desired butterfat content. And by rigidly controlling the fat content, a much more consistent end product will result. Changing the cream/non-fat proportions has a major effect on the end product.
I've been told that the cream is far more valuable as both a product and a feedstock than non-fat milk. Stands to reason, as far as I'm concerned, that's the good stuff.
The funny thing, Larry, is that commercial food service folks actually tend to keep (or did, at least as of just a few years ago,) Land O'Lakes butter at home, as they consider it to be a reasonably high quality, a very consistent quality, and that it's available everywhere in the US. As of the last article I read, it's the only major butter brand available in the entire country. Kerrygold may have recently put a hard dent in that, though. I do know that Land O'Lakes does have a higher butterfat than nearly all of the house branded butters (hence why it almost always commands a premium price.)
But, in short..... water really isn't an ingredient, but it's a long manufacturing process to get from raw milk to butter commercially.
LMichaels
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
Yes, as far as commercial butter from the US LOL is one of the better ones. But, you will not find it in my fridge anymore. Only KerryGold or the one from Costco. Occasionally there are a couple other European ones I will get if I see them on sale, or if I see some of the higher end ones from smaller farms here in WI made properly I will buy those as well. But, I find KG and the Costco New Zealand import to be exactly what butter should be. Yeah it costs more but again. If something is of high quality I see the value and will buy it