What's cultured butter? Most of the butter found in Australian supermarkets is made following an industrialised process where the cream is churned.
In Australia butter has a requirement to have a minimum of 80% butterfat. In France the minimum is 82% and some European butters have as much as 84% butterfat. Although this seems like a small variation it makes for a significant difference in taste and performance in various baking and cooking recipes.
Essentially, cultured butter has a more pronounced butter flavor. It's creamier than traditional butter with just a slight tang from the cultures—the same way you can detect a bit of tanginess in buttermilk or yogurt. If you opt for salted cultured butter, that flavor will be even more noticeable.
As the name implies, cultured butter is essentially butter to which some form of live culture has been added. That could take the form of anything from buttermilk to yoghurt, and the process really couldn't be simpler.
Made by hand by the same team as our Baron Bigod Cheese at Fen Farm, this is a raw, cultured butter made using milk from their grass-fed Montbeliarde and Friesian cows.
European butter is a cultured butter that has been churned to achieve at least an 82% butterfat content (the EU standard). The higher butterfat content in it creates a softer, super spreadable product (perfect for when you forget to pre-soften your butter before baking).
Product details. Lurpak Unsalted Butter is made from fresh cream, lactic culture and nothing else. It is Lurpak in its purest form, and doesn't contain any salt at all.
European-style butter refers to a cultured butter that has been churned longer to achieve at least 82 percent butterfat. Traditionally the butter is allowed to ferment to achieve a light sour taste, but you're more likely to find butter made with added cultures.
France's Bordier is often considered by many in the culinary world to be among the best butter brands on the market.
French butter is indeed higher in fat than American butter – about 82 percent minimum, as opposed to the 80 percent required in the U.S. But in addition to being higher in fat, French butter is also cultured, a process whereby live active cultures are added to the cream before the butter is churned.
European Butter
The standards for the minimum amount of butterfat in butter are different in Europe and America. Abroad, the minimum is 82 percent; here, it's 80 percent; everywhere, it's lower for salted butter. So, whenever you use European butter, you're likely to have a richer dish.
How is European Style Butter different from the Butter I usually buy? The difference between European Style Butter, such as our Extra Creamy Butter, and traditional Butter is that it is churned to produce a higher milk fat content of 82%, resulting in a creamier texture and richer flavor.
This type of butter is usually more nutritious and higher in beta carotene and omega-3 fatty acids, too. European versus American butter - European-style butter contains more butterfat than American-style butter, 82 percent versus 80.
“In Australia and New Zealand, the cows are fed on pasture, so their milk contains a yellow-orange pigment called beta-carotene, which makes the butter yellow. In many other countries, especially Europe, the cows are fed on grain, so the colour of the butter is a pale, cream colour.”
Western Star is an Australian butter and spreads brand founded in 1926 in the Western Districts of Victoria. Products are widely distributed across Australia and available in most supermarkets.
The quality of butter is determined by the quality of the milk used to make it. With New Zealand's temperate climate, cows are outdoors grazing on pasture all year round, thus producing superior milk and consequently a butter with a fuller, creamier flavor.
Bottom Line: If You Have to Eat Butter, Choose Grass-Fed
“Grass-fed butter has the nutritional edge in that it offers more heart-healthy nutrients than regular butter in a less-processed product than margarine,” Malkani says. You can typically find grass-fed butter at the grocery store or natural foods market.
Challenge Unsalted Butter, also known as "sweet butter,” is 100% real cream butter but with no salt added. In cooking, many recipes call for unsalted butter to give the cook greater control over the flavor and savoriness of their dishes.
There, chefs baste the meat with Devonshire Butter, like you would a turkey on Thanksgiving day. You don't have to babysit the meat on the grill like that to take the technique to the next level, though.
“There is no real difference in fat content between regular butter and cultured butter,” Saya explains. “But let's face it: healthy eating includes health fats as well. “It's simple: If you're going to eat butter, the cultured type is what you should be having.”
So Irish butter is a cultured butter that has been churned to at least 82% butterfat content. The higher the butterfat content, the richer and softer the butter.
Ploughgate Creamery pairs European tradition with fresh local cream to make small-batch, artisanal, cultured butter.
The butter company raised the price of its products to ensure that dairy farmers get a "fair deal", according to the BBC. In a announcement, Lurpak's owner, Arla Foods, disclosed that dairy farmers have been losing money as a result of rising fertiliser and fuel prices.
3 November 1886
From a dairy factory at Pukekura, Waikato, Henry Reynolds launched Anchor butter.
Genuine excellence and mouth-watering flavour doesn't just come out of nowhere, and Lurpak® has had an uncompromising approach to making quality butter since 1901. Butter (64%) (Milk), Canola Oil, Water, Lactic Culture (Milk), Salt, Vitamin D. Contains milk.