Butter
The Beauty of Cultured Butter, Explained
Our Test Kitchen loves cultured butter (and you should, too).
We've teamed up with Vermont Creamery to share a guide to all things cultured butter. Its tangy, extra-buttery flavor and high butterfat content makes it a favorite in our Test Kitchen, where it elevates everything from pastries and pie crusts to a simple slice of toast.
It’s no secret that here at Food52, we love butter. Like, really love it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that means that we take our butters very seriously, whether we’re cooking with it, baking with it, or simply slathering it on fresh sourdough.
When it comes to picking a type of butter, there’s no shortage of options, from sweet cream, to European-style, to plant-based. Our unequivocal favorite? Cultured butter—and specifically, Vermont Creamery’s Cultured Butter With Sea Salt. In fact, we like this butter so much that is was the exclusive butter used in Food52’s Test Kitchen throughout 2022. If you’re cultured butter curious, or you’ve never heard of the stuff, read on to find out exactly what makes this particular variety of dairy so special.
What is cultured butter?
First things first: What exactly is cultured butter, and what makes it different from the regular ol’ sticks of sweet cream? Cultured butter is made from pasteurized cream that’s been exposed to live bacterial cultures (much like the cultures used to make yogurt and cheese). The bacterial cultures jumpstart a fermentation process, which thickens the cream and gives it a tangier, more complex flavor. Once the fermentation period is finished, the cream is churned into butter—that’s all there is to it.
Why we love cultured butter
Vermont Creamery’s Cultured Butter contains a particularly high percentage of butterfat, clocking in at 82 percent (which is higher than the USDA minimum requirement of 80 percent). “Higher butterfat is more desirable…because the fat is where the flavor lives,” says Food52’s Food Stylist Anna Billingskog, who calls it “the butteriest butter” one can get. In addition to its flavor benefits, a higher butterfat content can also improve the quality of baked goods. “A higher butterfat percentage means less water [in the butter],” adds Test Kitchen Assistant Nikki Jessop. “Lower moisture when baking results in flakier pastries, extra-moist cakes and good shape and structure for your baked goods.”
Also unique to Vermont Creamery’s butter is a “delightful and perfectly balanced sea salt addition,” says Anna. Though many recipes call for unsalted butter, she likes to use the inclusion of salt in this particular stick to her advantage when tackling sweet baking projects. “The blend of salt and buttermilk-like tang from the cultures lends something fun to play off of the sweet flavors in the recipe,” she says.
In general, cultured butter is also said to soften faster at room temperature than regular butter—a fun fact Anna recently put to the test. After putting a stick of each next to her computer while she worked and waiting several minutes, she was able to “press and indent” into the cultured butter more than the regular butter. For impatient bakers, this slightly speedier process might ease some of the annoyance that comes with realizing your butter is too cold for a given recipe.
So it’s clear: When they’re not slathering Vermont Creamery’s cultured butter on toast or English muffins, Nikki and Anna are using it to elevate their baking. But which baking projects are best suited for it? According to Anna, shortbreads, pies, and laminated pastries are all great candidates for cultured butter, because they’re baked goods that really let the unique flavor of this butter shine. Because the salty tang provides a welcome counterpoint to the super sweet frosting, Nikki also likes to use it when making buttercream. Don’t believe us? Swap cultured butter into one of the recipes below (or any recipe that calls for butter, really) and thank us later.
Our friends at Vermont Creamery know a thing or two about producing the best cultured butter. They’ve been making delicious dairy products in the Green Mountains of Vermont since 1984, and time flies when you’re churning out cultured butter with a cult following. All of Vermont Creamery’s award-winning cultured butter contains just three ingredients—fresh cream, sea salt, and live bacterial cultures—and is distinguished by its rich, nutty flavor and ultra creamy texture. Find your nearest retailer, right this way.
Written by: Anabelle Doliner
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