Please Pass the Butter

I have a family history of butter eating. My maternal grandmother served us butter sandwiches. Knowing my Grandma Frisen and her sweet tooth, I’m pretty sure she sprinkled a little sugar on there, too! Butter mint candies were often in her well-stocked candy dish. My grandfather was also a butter nut, though he favored a more elegant version of buttered bread: buttered angel food cake.

As far as my mom is concerned, baking cookies with margarine is sacrilege. Must. Use. Butter.

And when I was a kid, my best friend Julie and I would eat bread balls. We’d spread a whole lot of butter on slices of white bread, squish them into balls and eat them. With our Spaghettios.

Is butter real food? Yes. Is butter bad for you? No. Just don’t eat a whole stick in one sitting.

Butter has been around since….practically forever. Margarine was originally invented in the 1860’s, but the margarine as we know it now grew in popularity in America during the 1930’s and 40’s.

For years experts said to stay away from butter. Then they said to stay away from margarine. So the margarine section in the dairy case has largely been replaced with “buttery spread” products.

You be the expert

Which would you rather put in your body?

Ingredients in butter: Sweet Cream, Salt.

Ingredients in buttery spread: Vegetable oil blend (liquid soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, hydrogenated cottonseed oil), water, whey, milk, salt, vegetable mono and diglycerides, soy lecithin, potassium sorbate, calcium disodium EDTA, citric acid, artificial flavor, vitamin A (palmitate), beta carotene (for color)

Choosing butter

Organic butter is better than non-organic. And, as with eggs, butter from animals that were raised on pasture is even better. And making your own fresh, organic butter is well….Ma Ingalls.

If you use a lot of butter, like I do, try to buy organic, pastured. If you don’t, then get what’s on sale. And if you find butter at a good price, go ahead and stock up. Butter lasts for a year in the freezer.

(Note: I typically buy unsalted butter and then add salt to taste for each recipe.)

Ghee

Ghee is clarified butter. Need me to “clarify” that?! Clarified butter is butter that’s been heated to the point that the butterfat, milk solids, and water separate. The milk solids and water are skimmed off and what’s left is pure butterfat. Ghee is what clarified butter is called in India, but the term is catching on here, too. Ghee has a higher “smoke point” than regular butter, so it’s great for sautéing. Some chefs say it has a more complex taste. I don’t know about that, but I swear by ghee for making eggs.

Bonus points for ghee: some people whose stomachs are sensitive to dairy may be able to tolerate ghee.

You’ll find ghee on the shelf in one of the middle aisles, often with the baking supplies. Ghee doesn’t need to be refrigerated. Neither does regular butter for that matter. It can stay out on your counter, covered, for several days. This is good news since cold butter is super hard to spread and who wants to wait for it to soften?

Get Creative

My son starts asking for Radish Butter as soon as radishes appear in our garden.

Artsy butters are very easy to make. All you do is soften a stick of unsalted butter at room temperature and add your mix-ins, including salt. (I use kosher salt for this.) Combine well in a bowl with a spoon then store, covered, in a small serving dish. Or get fancy and form the butter into a roll in some plastic wrap. Chill.