Our Butter Tasting Experiment

I have been in love with butter since childhood. My mum went through a margarine phase, believe it or not and I was horrified even as a girl. I think that phase lasted as long as it took for the parents to realise the flavour was not there. (The marketing spin on margarine was incredible in the 60's...yes, I am that old!)

So recently, in a fit of curiosity about the difference that butter can make in both taste and baking I decided to hold a butter tasting and to video the entire experiment. we were shooting Insider videos with French pastry chef, Louis Boeglin, so it seemed appropriate to rope him in to butter tasting. He is an expert at using butter in all of his wonderful creations afterall...

Happily I was able to source a lot of butter from around the world in a relatively easy way. I did a couple of trips away from my suburb to specialist grocery stores, and I had sourced some amazing butter from Pemberton on a recent foodie weekend with my family. Even the morning before our butter tasting video shoot, I opened up my instagram feed to find a post on a local butter maker from the Swan Valley here in Western Australia and I reached out and Kylie from The Homemade Kitchen rocked up with some of her beautiful butter to add to our already impressive list.

Watch the video to see who our favourites were. Needless to say my two faves, Pepe Saya and Lurpak are right in there!

Quality counts in butter especially, so we often opt for European butter from France, with its high relative fat content and a distinct depth of flavor enhanced by the culturing process. (Cue Pepe Saya, for the Australian equivalent of French cultured butter!) Butter, at its most basic, is an emulsion of water in fat; most of the domestically produced stuff cuts out at 80 percent fat. French butter, by comparison, contains a minimum of 82 percent, and can go up to 85. This change may seem subtle, but the difference in richness is noticeable. Combine that with the slightly tangy umami flavor that comes from culturing—a process in which the cream is fermented beforehand—and it’s no wonder the French are known to slice it atop their bread like cheese (an approach we fully endorse, by the way).

If you are into making your own butter, (and why wouldn't you be?) then actually spring time is the best time to make as much butter as you can and store it away as the cows are happier in greener pastures and so the colour of the butter will be a more golden colour. By the way, older cream will also make more yellow butter. But I digress.

The other thing we did with all that butter, was to make the same recipe, my classic Butter Shortbread, over and over and over. (Which wasn't the hardest thing we have ever had to do!) We literally smelt like the best bakery ever. It was fantastic. Shortbread freezes really well too, so if you are in the mood to get organised way ahead of needing it, go for it and freeze away!