I did a butter tasting...

A skeptical home cook tests fancy butter to see if it’s actually worth it

I’ve found Instagram Reels to be a good source of novelty in my life if I can keep it under control, which I can’t. So I often uninstall it.

But one thing it showed me was the world of fine butters so I decided to do a butter tasting. I went into this pretty skeptical, how good could butter possible get? I mean it’s already pretty great just getting the basic super market brands.

I have known some butter is better than others. One time I tried the store’s brand of butter because it was cheaper but it was noticeably worse. To the point where I never bought it again. My go to butter is now Tillamook Unsalted for cooking, and sometimes toast. Land O Lakes is pretty comparable.

I started off with Tillamook unsalted, which isn’t a fair comparison because the other butters were salted, which tastes better, but I wanted some base level I could compare the others with. I went to Whole Foods right before the tasting and got a fresh baguette, baked only a couple of hours earlier. I set the butter out about 2 hours before we sat down to eat it so it was soft and spreadable. Did not toast the baguette so the butter retained it’s thick consistency. I had my son with me, and for the record we both agreed on all points.

Fond O’ Foods German Butter

All the talk I had seen online were for French butters but I saw this at the local fancy super market (Metropolitan Market) and wanted see how it measured up. It tasted OK, but I didn’t feel like there was any real different between this and the basic butter. Not bad, but not worth paying more.

Paysan Breton French Butter with Sea Salt Crystals

This was the second butter I tried. This difference with this one was noticeable. It had a way creamier texture and better flavor. The French definitely know what they are doing with butter. In this butter the cream is separated from milk and concentrated more aggressively before churning. Only the richest cream fraction is used for the butter. This is still considered a mass market butter.

Beurre de Baratte with Guerande Sea Salt Crystals

For this butter I went to DeLaurenti Food & Wine in Pike Place Market which is a specialty market with much higher end foods. They have a much larger butter selection and this one was recommended to me by a clerk.

This one has salt crystals in it that actually crunch in your mouth as you eat it. This was the clear winner. The butter is slightly fermented giving it a richer flavor than the other butters. The cows are from Isigny-sur-Mer, a small town in Normandy famous for rich dairy, due to its salty sea air, lush pastures, and mineral-rich soil. It was also, surprisingly, cheaper than the previous butters from Metropolitan market.

My takeaway from this whole experiment: I learned that I could eat much more butter in one sitting that I would have thought possible. Also there is definitely a difference in premium butters. Having said that, it’s not like the different Select steak and A5 Wagyu. I don’t think anybody would try the higher end butter and have their mind blown. You have to be pretty nerdy about food to really appreciate this, however I am pretty nerdy about food and I know many others out there are too.

I wouldn’t use these for cooking (except the German butter perhaps), I think melting the butter would remove most of it’s character. I think spreading it on an English Muffin or putting it on top of a baked potato would be a good idea though. And of course freshly baked bread and butter would be amazing.

One last thing, you should click the butter below. Great things will happen for you.