the butter aisle
Have you watched the TV program “Amazing Race” where teams race from city to city? Same deal here, but we’re inside a supermarket. We started in the cereal aisle and then moved to the bread aisle, searching for foods that met our health criteria of whole grains plus more natural fiber than added sugar. Unfortunately, only a few products passed our test. Finding healthy foods outside the produce department isn’t that easy.
Today we’re in the butter aisle. At least I think of it as the butter aisle, but it’s mostly soybean oil. It’s a strange world, not as simple as I thought: there are 72 different products offered. This seems like marketing trickery: instead of offering a few healthy products at good value, there is a confusing jumble of stuff of unknown healthiness. Butter and hydrogenated margarine products are at opposite ends of the aisle, glaring at each other over the tubs of “spreads”. Spreads? Spreads are the new name for what we used to call soft margarine.
Butter: There's a good feeling to the butter section. The companies are old, venerable. Challenge Dairy Products has been in business since 1911; their Danish Creamery brand has been around since 1895. Things are simpler here; butter is mainly sold salted in cubes. You can also buy it unsalted, whipped, or organic (Horizon Organic, or Wild Harvest). The ingredient list is refreshingly short for butter. Prices range from $4.49 for the store brand to $8.78 for Plugra European Style Butter, but most brands are around $5.00 a pound. This could be all you need except some are allergic to milk products or are avoiding saturated fats (a topic for another day). Land O’ Lakes is a cooperative offering butter but also blends it with olive oil, or canola oil (which gives an omega-3 label claim). Life’s good in the butter section; the local Henry's even has natural cream from pasture-fed cows.
Margarine: Margarine was a bad idea that hung around for a century. The soft margarines were highest in trans fats and they have pretty much disappeared. The hard margarines have trans fats too, but less, so they are still sold. How much trans fat? It ranges from 1.5 to 3.0 grams per serving. Several brands claimed “zero” as allowed by the FDA but the ingredient list said “hydrogenated” so this suggests they just have less than 0.5 grams. The Institute of Medicine recommends that we eat no trans fats so why are these products still offered? Because some poor person will buy them—they sell at rock bottom prices, as low as $.99 per pound for the store brand. Some day we’ll address why the supermarkets stopped caring about their customers.
Spreads in Tubs: The old margarines are called spreads now. In recent years a product called Smart Balance made life difficult for the bully of the spread market—the British company Unilever. (Unilever dominates with brands like Imperial, Shedd’s Spread Country Crock, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Promise, and upmarket Brummel & Brown.) What Smart Balance did was to develop a patented method to make an oil emulsion (using soybean, palm, canola and olive oils) that didn’t have trans fats and then make a big noise about their lack of trans fats. This put pressure on Unilever and forced them to abandon their hydrogenated products in 2010. They replaced them with a new process that uses interesterification to blend soybean and palm oils. Is this a healthy product? Good question; it was good enough to pass FDA requirements, but we don’t know what the long-term effects might be. On the other hand, I don’t have any information that the Smart Balance product is better—it has a long ingredient list too. Prices range from $1.39 to $3.79 for a 15 oz. container. The higher priced brands have canola or olive oil plus some synthetic vitamins added. There’s some marketing trickery in the tub products: some use terms like “buttery” or “butter taste” but they don’t contain butter.
The bottom line? I’m going to enjoy butter in moderation. If you have a milk allergy and can’t eat butter, what do you do? I don’t have an answer because I’m uncomfortable with soybean oils. Many of the soybeans grown are GMOs, most oils are extracted using the toxic chemical hexane, and there are concerns about thermal damage to the oils during processing. The industry has not been open about how they process oils, perhaps to protect trade secrets, so we don’t know enough to choose their products. Wouldn’t it be better to inform more and market less?
Question for comment: What do you use besides butter?
Friday, March 18, 2011 at 12:51PM | by Skip Hellewell | 37 Comments | 1 Reference | Share Article | in fats 101, grocery shopping | Email Article
Reader Comments (37)
I have a friend who is allergic to MSG and has to be really careful about what he eats because MSG can be sold under lots of things, including "Natural Flavors" which is a very common ingredient in most everything, but especially in butter. I've looked recently (though not as extensively as you have) and the only brand I've found that doesn't list, "Natural Flavors" as an ingredient is Land O Lakes (but not all the varieties). Their ingredients are simply "Sweet Cream, Salt". That's what I'll be buying for awhile unless I can find an unsalted butter that doesn't include "Natural Flavors" in the ingredients.
I have a question - what are GMOs?
i was a big proponent of butter in moderation until i met my husband, who is vegan. so no butter for our household. (he wouldn't mind if i used it, but i prefer to not double up on groceries and cooking and would rather find the best solution for us both.)
we use earth balance "butter spread" - it has no trans fats or hydrogenated oils, and while there is soy oil in most of their products, they use non-GMO soybeans.
it's a compromise i've been happy with, and while the taste isn't quite the same as a really rich, fresh butter, it works extremely well in baking and other cooking, and as a spread on toast and other goodies.
I use olive oil for nigh everything that needs it, and then butter for select recipes. I substitute apple sauce in place of oil for some baked goods too.
GMO means "Genetically modified organism." Often times these varieties haven't been studied long enough to know the repercussions of the modifications.
Gerb, your question was answered, quite well, by ajbc's comment. Regarding unsalted butters—all those I saw had "natural flavors" added. It can be surprising what passes for a "natural flavor" so I wonder why the butter suppliers don't give more detail so people can relax and enjoy their product.
I am a fan of ghee ... it has a higher smoking point than butter and is wonderful for sauteeing. I get mine from Pure Indian Foods and they guarantee that is from grass-fed cows. It is my understanding that people who have dairy allergies don't have the same problem with ghee because the milk solids aren't in ghee. (If I understand it correctly, ghee is the oil/fat of the butter without the solids.)
As this subject (Word of Wisdom) has been a subject of personal study recently, I was glad to find your website. It was cited in an article of our local paper.
I have appreciated reading through all your research and insights.
In Defense of Food was my most recent read-- I agree it was an excellent book.
I'm not really afraid of saturated fats, so I use butter along with some coconut oil and bacon grease.
Other than that, Olive Oil is usually a great substitute if you're looking to add some richness to otherwise bland stuff.
I try to stay away from all vegetable and seed oils, as these are LOADED in Omega 6 fatty acids, aside from the other creepy facets in processing and the way our body uses them, already mentioned in previous posts.
If you'd like to read up on the potential negative effets of Omega 6's, then stop by wikipedia
Holy crap Erin, that was something I've been looking for the past couple days to no avail. Thanks! I love ghee, but I've been concerned about all the junk going into it from grain-fed cows.
great post! i rarely eat/cook with butter. i use either coconut oil or EVOO. however, my husband loves butter on his toast ( i prefer coconut oil!) so i make a 'spread' by blending 1/2 cup butter with 1/2 cup of olive oil. that way it can be refrigerated but is soft.
What about palm oil? I was surprised that you didn't mention anything about it. I systematically avoid products containing palm oil, not because of the impact on our health but because of their dodgy process to extract it.
cooking: i try to honour our mediterranian tradition, so olive oil (obtain from mechanical processes only) on ALL our cooking.
bread and butter: can't resist one of the many great butters we have here (but we also go for the bread and olive oil marriage)
We've had several short dinnertime conversations recently about what "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" IS if it's not butter. To my kids, anything yellow that you spread on bread, noodles, or whatever is butter.
For myself, I stick with real butter, but the rest of my family uses those "spreads in tubs" you mention. However, I sometimes wish that butter were easier to spread on toast. Do I need to develop some kind of safe countertop storage solution, or are there real whipped butters that I should check out?
In response to r8chel's comment, I've used a butter bell for a few years now as a compromise to a husband that grew up with butter left out on the counter (which seems dodgy to me). It essentially encases the butter in a water seal, but keeps it soft for spreading.
Butter and olive oil. That's mainly what I use. But now I'm going to have to look at the ingredient list on my butter. Naive me, I just assumed butter was butter. I LOVE butter. Mmm, the French stuff . . . so good! I don't think I could ever give up my butter.
I use butter, coconut oil and olive oil. Any one of them is great on toast or a crusty bread. I especially love coconut oil with a drizzle of honey on toast. Great for baking too.
As far as butter storage - I use those Ball freezer jam containers and keep it in the cupboard. I've found them at the grocery store and Wal-Mart in the canning aisle. When the butter gets low, I just pull another stick out of the fridge and add it. Stores wonderfully that way.
Off topic, but I also use the containers for individual servings of homemade yogurt. The lids screw on and are great for the lunchbox.
We use butter or olive oil for almost everything. I don't cook with butter every day; I use olive oil for almost all my cooking. I keep vegetable oil for times when I need a neutral flavor, which isn't very often. And sesame oil, of course, for flavor. I wish I kept peanut oil, but I end up using vegetable oil for stir fry since olive oil's smoke point is too low.
As I've cut dairy out of my diet recently (though I still use butter occasionally), I really looking into alternatives. My very favorite is coconut oil. I use canola oil occasionally in baking, but do very little of that anymore. Olive oil is my go-to. I don't eat bread very often, but when I do it's real butter or nothing.
Two vegan margarines I've tried have been horrible and I have issues with the aforementioned reasons to avoid it. But, I do use the Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks because sometimes it works better for baking.
I just read an article in Bon Appetit today about alternative nut, seed, and avocado oils. Very interesting. I just wish they weren't so darn expensive. :)
Great post, Skip, as always.
3rd vote for ghee. You can make your own very easily by melting your butter over low heat and skimming the "scum" (can't think of a better word...) off the top. You get rid of the sugars and proteins and are left with just the fat. Takes a minute, but saves some cash.
I've been using coconut oil for a few things lately too (yummy for popcorn). I know it's touted for its health benefits, but I am extremely wary of palm kernel oil, and Wikipedia seems to say that they are all from the same plant, just different parts of the seed. What? Can anyone clarify this for me? Is coconut oil really that healthy?
Skip, I'm loving this blog.
Organic coconut oil from Tropical Traditions. I'm in love with it, on toast, in baking, even on popcorn. I rarely even buy butter anymore.
Great post and great comments. About using butter on things (such as on toast, veggies, etc)--I worked for a family at one time and the mother just didn't put anything on things, so I stopped too. ANd it was great. I didn't need butter for my toast--odd, right? I never put anythingon any of my vegetables at all and I don't miss it in the least--the flavors of the veggies are enough now. It took some time, and it take consistency, but it works!
Also, I put my butter in a butter bell (like comment written above). Is it bad to leave butter out? I always have, thinking that it was okay. I hope I am not doing anything bad!