Craft Butter

Recently there have been magazine stories and cooking show info on "craft butter", typically made in small batches, often right on the dairy farm. Is this just a case of writers getting ideas by reading the competition, or is craft butter the next big thing in food?
I would love to get back into full time farming, but I have doubts about venturing into craft butter. I still have a farm, I like Jersey cows, (brown cows, esp Jersey are known for more and "better" butterfat in the milk)and I am experienced at making hay (hay makes a better milk than silage). I also have a basic understanding of numbers. I would need to charge over $7 a pound for butter that would not be all that much better than supermarket butter.
My most recent purchase was Cabots at 2 for $5. Before that I bought and froze a supermarket brand at less than a buck a pound. I tried a local small scale brand (but not really "craft"), Marie's, made in Maine, and found it to be no better than Cabot's, but at a higher price.
Would you pay extra for a "better" butter, as you pay extra for a better wine, cheese or chocolate? Do you think that butter is butter? Could you even tell the difference between Land O Lakes, Cabot, and the store brand? If you can tell the difference, can you tell when it is used in cooking? Can you imagine a butter worth $7 a pound?

I certainly enjoy real butter but I have to admit that I would have a difficult time telling the difference between a craft butter and some of the brands sold at local grocers.

I am sure that there are many on this forum that can tell the difference. I am sure that it is my old age taste buds.

Good luck if you try to do it. No doubt that Jersey milk is higer in butterfat.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Where do you live? I can assure you that, at least in Northern California, the foodies go mad for "artisanal" anything, very much including dairy products. Admittedly, the most marketable product made from milk or cream is probably cheese, not butter. Check this out: http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/aboutus/index.html . But one popular market in San Francisco, Mollie Stone's, carries butters from all over the world. And I'm quite sure a good local product would sell at a farmer's market, e.g.: http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/ . If you decide to do it, I think what most people are looking for in an artisanal butter is high butterfat content like that found in European-style butters such as Plugra (which sells wildly here at a premium price): http://www.kellerscreamery.com/products/plugra/index.php . Read through this-- http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cooking/msg111515344439.html --and you'll see that people are paying up to $6.99/lb (sounds better than $7.00) for butter with a butterfat content between 80 and 83%. If you can match that and have a way to market the product in a foody town like San Francisco, Portland, Seattle or Boston, I think it could work out.

To get the premium that goes with "artisinal" foods, you might have to start with the cow; i.e., an unusual or unique breed, no growth hormones or prophylactic antibiotics, organic feed, etc. If it involves a heritage breed, so much the better -- are Belted Galloways dairy or beef?

The folks at Heritage Foods are building a nice business sort of along the above lines, starting with poultry & branching out into other stuff. I'm a big fan of what they're doing; maybe they can give you some thoughts.

For myself, I'd be a buyer at $7/lb if it was noticeably better, or at least different than supermarket butter. But my understanding is that commercial butter is one of the simplest & least adulterated products on the market these days (subject, of course, to the quality of the milk they start with).

Good luck

I'm 40 miles from Boston. Irish butter sells in the supermarket for $3.79 per HALF pound, but I don't know if they sell much. I'll have to admit that I would never pay extra. The only dairy farm in left in my town sells their milk and ice cream (no butter) on the farm. It IS better, and costs a little more, but I buy supermarket milk most often for convenience. I have been in business(s) long enough to know that at the end of the day, the best product and production methods matter little if you don't have distribution and sales.

quote:

Originally posted by rjb

an unusual or unique breed, no growth hormones or prophylactic antibiotics, organic feed, etc. If it involves a heritage breed, so much the better -- are Belted Galloways dairy or beef?

Good luck

Belted Galloways are beef. I looked at raising them once, and got to meet some breeders. There is a belted dairy cow too, but I don't know if they are raised in the USA. The Jersey is a small breed that can be skittish, especially in "factory" herds, but they respond well to regular attention from the owner, and can become very friendly. If not stressed they are also often less likly to get sick than some other breeds, which is very important in organic herds. There is a farm in Vermont that runs with just 7 of them, but he makes cheese, not butter.

I do prefer real butter over margarine but store brand or land-o-lakes is just fine for me. Sometimes I splurge and get a tub of WHIPPED sweet butter but generally its the lightly salted variaty. Personally 7bucks a pound is way over the top but I'm sure there are people who would pay the premium even if only to be able to brag.

Here is a little story on our local butter.

http://www.citypages.com/databank/23/1119/article10396.asp

quote:

Originally posted by tmiles

quote:

Originally posted by rjb

an unusual or unique breed, no growth hormones or prophylactic antibiotics, organic feed, etc. If it involves a heritage breed, so much the better -- are Belted Galloways dairy or beef?

Good luck

Belted Galloways are beef. I looked at raising them once, and got to meet some breeders. There is a belted dairy cow too, but I don't know if they are raised in the USA. The Jersey is a small breed that can be skittish, especially in "factory" herds, but they respond well to regular attention from the owner, and can become very friendly. If not stressed they are also often less likly to get sick than some other breeds, which is very important in organic herds. There is a farm in Vermont that runs with just 7 of them, but he makes cheese, not butter.

Do you happen to know what the breed of cow is prevalent in Normandy (France, that is) that they use to produce the fabulous butter there? They're big and the color of a vanilla milkshake.

tmiles;

I buy butter at Whole Foods ands its made and packaged locally in Mendon MA....I don't have the specifics since I am on the road now, but I can post the name of the place and price when I am back.

It is sold in small round paper containers, and they have varieties like low salt, maple cream, roasted garlic.

I too would pay 7 or 8 bucks a pound if it was noticeably better. For my day to day butter, I buy Tillamook.

quote:

Originally posted by tmiles

If you can tell the difference, can you tell when it is used in cooking? Can you imagine a butter worth $7 a pound?

I can tell the difference, but only when using the "fancy" butter on bread - I would not use an artisanal or import butter in cooking.

We have tried several import and local artisanal brands. The cultured butters such as the French imports have a more noticeably different flavor, bordering on a cheese-like tanginess. We did find that there wasn't much difference from Cabot's in local butters that weren't cultured, and I admit that we've reverted back to Cabot's (hooray for the winter sales! I've been filling my deep freeze...)

quote:

Originally posted by Wistah

tmiles;

I buy butter at Whole Foods ands its made and packaged locally in Mendon MA....I don't have the specifics since I am on the road now, but I can post the name of the place and price when I am back.

It is sold in small round paper containers, and they have varieties like low salt, maple cream, roasted garlic.

I have read about them, but don't know them even though they are only a few towns away. I don't remember for sure, but I don't think that they have their own dairy cows. I WILL look for their product next time I am near a Whole Foods......Thanks

tmiles- I don't know if you have a Trader Joe's down in the Millbury area but this month they have a butter from Keller's creamery in Harleysville Pa. called Plugra it's supposed to be the same as the butter from that other country but only better because i'ts made here in the U.S. price is only $3.50 a lb. bought it but haven't tryed it yet. Chow Jim

They have a web site. I was unaware the company was that big, suprised that Borden or Tyson hasn't sucked them up. any way the link is www.plugra.com Chow Jim