Real Butter

HillStreetBlues

Can anyone tell the difference between butters from branded to non branded or the special ones.
I tired the Lidl special one (think it was West Country & Sea Salt) and found I just can't tell the difference between any of them. So wondering if other people can?
I know the fake butters (spread) will have different taste as ingredients will vary. 

MattMattMattUK

HillStreetBlues said:

Can anyone tell the difference between butters from branded to non branded or the special ones.
I tired the Lidl special one (think it was West Country & Sea Salt) and found I just can't tell the difference between any of them. So wondering if other people can?
I know the fake butters (spread) will have different taste as ingredients will vary. 

The difference is down to the difference in fats, salt if added including the quality and flavours in the salt, as well as in the flavours in the original milk which comes from what the cows are fed on. Purely grass fed cows produce different tasting milk to feed fed, silage fed cows etc. and that follows over until the subsequent products such as milk, cream etc. It is usually subtle and you would not notice in a sandwich or when cooking, but on fresh bread, or spread on water biscuits the difference is usually fairly obvious. 

Any of the spreads, spreadable etc. are far less butter and contain varying amounts of vegetable oils resulting in a considerably different taste, texture and mouthfeel.

oldernonethewiser

I have tried that Lidl one and it is quite nice although I prefer the one from Graham's dairys which has Skye sea salt.

Normally I use usalted butter and there is a noticable difference between different ones.

Brie

Yes.  A really really top rank butter tastes quite different than your Lidl/Aldi/Asda basic butter.  I'm thinking of the ones we've bought in France (President?  Issey?) or the Austrian hohe milch versions and I suspect that the more expensive organic ones here would be better.  The better ones from Lidl - with the sea salt - are nice and different but that's because you have what is essentially sweet butter with salt chunks in it.  Lovely on your croissants but if you're using it for cooking why pay extra?   

To me it depends more on what butter am I using on/with what other items.  So making a cake, buy the cheap stuff.  Having a expensive sour dough artisan boule, use the good stuff.  The more "other" there is the less obvious quality butter will be.  That's one of the reasons I stopped buttering my sandwich bread.  Could never taste it what with the ham, cheese, mayo, mustard, pickle filling.  

DullGreyGuy

You can also get things like cultured butters which have an inevitable tang 

pumpkin89

For me, there's a big difference.  Personal preference is Président (for a really creamy, salty flavour on fresh bread) or Guernsey Dairy (a lovely clean flavour for general use).

Mnoee

I can't really tell the difference, but I'm a heathen who actually prefers a non-dairy spread like Flora for everyday - I just get butter in on occasion for guests or baking. I've been assured that the butter served on a rock in a restaurant is local organic top tier stuff, but it tastes like the £1.99 stuff with some rock salt added. I've even made butter at home and been underwhelmed. 

It's not a total lack of palate, I'm a coffee fiend who's amazed that people actually enjoy a 'latte' made from powdered milk in a sachet. I'm just not really into butter. Handy, really, more money leftover for coffee beans!

thriftytracey

I buy the Lidl West Country butter with sea salt for sandwiches and I really like it, it is comparable to French butters.  Lidl in France stock a Brittany butter with the sea salt its a little more expensive than here (mind you most things are more expensive in France).

I buy the Lidl basic butter for cooking if a recipe lists butter.  I used to buy the Waitrose Brittany sea salt butter before inflation kicked off.  It was £2 a pack I think it is now £2.75!

sarah1972

I never have butter in sandwiches as I’ve always thought that I don’t want a butter sarnie, I want one with filling. If I want it wetter I use Mayo. 

I often make my own butter for toast or crumpets 

I use some for cooking and just buy supermarkets own salted. 

A._Badger

For a few glorious months last year Aldi was selling Beurre d'Isigny - albeit not the really super unpasteurised version that Waitrose sells. It was doomed not to appeal to the majority of Aldi shoppers who are by definition price conscious but it was an excellent butter and not hugely more expensive than the usual stuff Aldi sells. It's gone now and greatly missed.

MrsStepford

When removed from rent to mortgage we saved a couple of hundred a month IIRC. We ditched the ASDA equivalent of Flora and bought butter and would never go back. Confess that I bought a Kilner butter churner in  John Lewis and haven't ever used it.

We buy organic butter mostly. Pure Nature organic whole milk unsalted Belgian butter (and their yogurt) and Netherend Farm unsalted organic, both from Milk & More. I really like Président unsalted though as well as the Eastern European Mlekovita brand butter. Don't like Kerrygold at all.