How much do you pay for butter?

[xpc]

I know you didn't just say "sandwiches of fat"!!!!!

Not as phat as a dirty coop with tiny fried eggs running amok.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Not as phat as a dirty coop with tiny fried eggs running amok.

OK, what did I miss?

BBH, Have you ever heard the story of Lard Balls? OMG!

 

[delia_peterson]

I know you didn't just say "sandwiches of fat"!!!!!

Not as phat as a dirty coop with tiny fried eggs running amok.

 

[big brown horse]

Hi delia!


O.k. DrakeMaiden, you have to explain lard balls!!! Is that like Schwetty Balls? (Remember Delicious Dish anyone?!!)

 

[ORChick]

Just in case anyone thinks it important (I do) most supermarket brands of unsalted butter have an additive (don't remember the name) to make it more "butter-y" flavored. I prefer to buy unsalted butter; I also prefer to buy my butter without that additive. As organic butter is not in my price range, I buy butter from Trader Joe's, which is the only brand I have found without this additive. Because of this I cna't tell you how much it costs - as it is the only one within my parameters it is as much as it is, and that is what I pay. When I go to TJ's, about once every 6 weeks, I stock up, and freeze enough to last until the next trip.

Interesting, ORChick. They also add colorant. Why do we need colorant in butter? It is beyond me.

Yeah, I buy the organic stuff and right now I'm paying nearly $6 for 4 sticks. That is lower than it was over a year ago. I will probably go poor keeping us in organic butter.

The colorant doesn't bother me greatly, though I do also wonder why? Well, actually, I know why. The butter would otherwise be so pale that it wouldn't look "butter-y", and some people would complain. However, they usually use annato to color, and that is a perfectly natural seed that is often used in Caribbean cooking; I have some on my spice shelf. However, the flavor enhancer diacetyl, although a natural byproduct of fermentation, is not a good thing to take in in quantity. I'm not going to worry about my sauerkraut, but I see no reason to ingest the stuff in butter if I don't have to. And I have never been fond of microwave popcorn

http://www.osha.gov/dsg/guidance/diacetyl-guidance.html

 

[delia_peterson]

Hi BBH!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

BBH!

I was looking for the story, on-line but cannot find a trace of it, which is too bad. One of our local NPR stations had this cooking segment on around noon and we were listening to it one day while we were driving and they were talking about LARD BALLS. You have to understand that every time they mentioned lard balls, they had this woman's voice recorded in this sing-song manner (like on a commercial, as if it were some glorious new product) and it was just hilarious. OK, had to be there. Well the story was along the lines of this couple being short on funds and deciding that the cheapest thing to eat was fat fried LARD BALLS. So they were eating this for months?, but then they started having some health problems and went to the dr. The dr. said they should be eating more vegetables, but they got confused because the lard was vegetable based (Crisco?) so I think they kept eating LARD BALLS . . . and then my mind blanks on how it all ended. It was just such a silly little segment that I nearly wet my pants. I wish I could find it for you.

 

[ORChick]

For those of you new to the idea of freezing butter - make sure you overwrap the butter (for this I use heavy duty plastic freezer bags, even though I am really trying to use less plastic ). Just popping the boxes into the freezer, as I used to do, shortens the shelf life considerably. I believe it was Alton Brown who likened the result to "rancid yak butter" . With the extra protection it lasts much longer in a usable state.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yeah, but I bet you would still eat butter if it was pale, right?

 

[delia_peterson]

Hi delia!


O.k. DrakeMaiden, you have to explain lard balls!!! Is that like Schwetty Balls? (Remember Delicious Dish anyone?!!)

Lard and Schwetty Balls? Geez, what have I been missing here?