Spread The News! This Butter's Got Class.
They say travelling expands the mind.
They never mentioned what it does for your taste buds.
On a trip to France years ago, Kristie Lee tried butter that was so good, it changed her life. It was creamy. It was tangy. It was slightly salty, too.
“You just wanted to eat it with a spoon!”
Coming home, there was now a huge void in her life as it was impossible to find this unique and fresh cream/butter in Calgary, let alone Western Canada. She began experimenting with making cultured butter at home and tried to emulate the European style of butter by adding back in active bacteria (it’s the good kind, like the stuff found in yogurt) to jars of cream.
The resulting butter was excellent, with that tangy European taste she had grown to love. Friends and family loved it, too, so she kept making it at home, one small batch at a time.
How does Butter get Culture – the Opera, or Classical Music?
Before churning, the cream is cultured for two days. That process, like yogurt-making, uses a bacterial culture that eats up the lactose, leaving lactic acid that gives cultured butter its distinct tangy flavour. After churning, each small batch is washed by hand, and the buttermilk is squeezed out, also by hand. This yields a final product with a higher butterfat content than regular butter.
The unique and rich flavour is exactly what Kristie had fallen in love with and she found that part of the magic for her butter was the local cream and ingredients she was sourcing from Alberta dairies and farms.
A Butter for All Occasions.
Sorry, your life will never be the same.
Cultured Butter uses ingredients from local suppliers to make her regular lineup of flavours that includes Sea Salt, Parsley Lemon & Garlic, Basil and Parmesan, Chili & Garlic, Caramelized Onion & Date, Porcini Shallot and Cinnamon Cardamom and & Honey. Depending on what is in season and locally available, Lee adds limited edition flavours – here they are about to make a batch of parsley, lemon, and garlic.
One thing that the Cultured Butter team is quick to point out is that one of the biggest reasons why their butter is so flavourful, cream and rich is because you are enjoying it within days of being churned, rather than weeks, which is the case for butters that are imported or shipped from out east.
Carrying on the Tradition
In June 2019, long time family friend Kim Harrer was finally able to convince Kristie to sell Cultured Butter to her, instead of winding down the iconic brand, which means that we are going to all be able to add some Cultured Butter to our lives for a very long time!
BBQ Salmon with Roasted Parsnips and Cultured Butter
INGREDIENTS
- 2 Salmon Fillets
- 1 lb Organic Parsnips
- 1/2 Yellow Onion
- 1 Tbsp Green Garlic or Regular Garlic
- 2 Tbsp Chili Garlic Cultured Butter
- 2 Tbsp Chicken or Vegetable Stock
- Microgreens
Chop onion, garlic, and parsnips. Wrap in foil with 1Tbsp of the Chili Garlic Butter and the stock. Roast parsnips on the top rack of bbq for approximately 40 mins at 450°F.
Salt and pepper salmon, then grill. Place salmon on roasted parsnips, top salmon with additional Chili Garlic butter, and microgreens. Enjoy!
Butter Up Dad This Father's Day
Father's Day is this weekend, and if you've had a hard time choosing a great gift for the father figure in your life, we highly recommend a CultivatR gift card to butter him up (pun intended). Our gift cards are available in $10, $15, $50 and $100 amounts and are the ideal gift for the foodie dad! Not only does Dad get to choose his favourite ingredients from our Online Farmers' Market, he might even cook for you! Double win!
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