August Favorites - Butter & Yogurt

KerryGold Butter (spendy)

This is the butter you spread on warm cornbread, a baked potato, or steamed broccoli:  that is, KerryGold is butter for the table.  It has a higher butterfat content than typical butter and a lower water content, which makes it stay more solid at room temperature.  I keep my butter out of the refrigerator in a glass container.   This is not recommended by the pros, but I have never had butter go rancid.  I like softened butter when I want softened butter, don’t like to wait!  I believe if butter is soft for spreading, you actually use less.

If you bake your own bread, it deserves this butter.

It is expensive, and I keep butter from Sam’s on hand  in the freezer when I use butter for cooking, to economize.
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KerryGold has a pretty foil covering, but it’s not just to be pretty.  Foil is an effective  preventer of the transfer of food odors which can hurt the flavor of butter.   When you see that big roll of Amish butter at the Farmer’s Market, wrapped in wax paper, keep this in mind.  Suggestion to the Farmer: wrap that butter in foil.   Most European style butters are wrapped in foil.  And, yes, I’ve tried all the brands!  KerryGold is best.
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Cabot Full Fat Greek Yoghurt (great value)

Read the label carefully, because there are a few kinds and you want the full fat.  Food companies don’t like to admit that their dairy products might contain butterfat!  This yoghurt is made from 4% whole milk, and by the time it is turned into yoghurt, the product is 10% butterfat.

This makes this particular yoghurt wonderful, because it is better and tastier than sour cream!    Sour cream is generally close to 50% butterfat and has little protein.   So by substituting this for sour cream, you get less fat and more protein.  But it tastes beautifully creamy.   I use it in stroganoff, on baked potatoes, chip/dip, smoothies, any recipe calling for sour cream or even whipped cream.   Use it instead of crème fraiche and mix it with some soft cream cheese for a not-bad mascarpone.  I can’t be without this product now.
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 Tip: to make this yoghurt look more like sour cream, just put it in a little bowl and stir it up to break up the curds and make it smooth.  It will actually seem creamier than sour cream.

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​Quick Spread:

Mix half cup yoghurt with a couple tablespoons mayonnaise, salt and pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil.  Add your flavorings of choice—herbs, taco seasoning, crumbled bleu cheese, or chives, or cooked onions.  Mix well, crushing up the ingredients. Drizzle in buttermilk (best for flavor) until desired consistency.  This is really better if you make it, cover it,  and let it sit around for a few hours in the refrigerator while the flavors develop.



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