The Flavor of Butter Can Change by Season
As if you needed more reasons to love it
It’s true. I love butter. Smooth, silky, creamy butter. There is nothing like it to transform pan sauce into a glistening, slightly thick, lip-smackingly rich perfection. Substitutes just will not do.
I remember my grandma talking about “oleo.” During World War II, butter became scarce, so oleomargarine became the norm. Thrifty people found ways to convert all of their recipes requiring butter to this vegetable oil-based invention.
I thought it was created during this war, but no, Emperor Napoleon III in the 1800s was the one who demanded something to feed the poor and the military. Scientists initially used beef tallow to create a butter-like spread that was of lower quality and cheaper than real butter.
Eventually, beef tallow was hard to source, so vegetable oils were used to create oleomargarine. In the U.S., the term “oleo” was used, while in Australia this spread was colloquially known as “marge.”
Honestly, I wish we called ours “marge.”
But, all of that aside, and even growing up with a multitude of butter substitutes, I prefer actual butter.
Did you know that butter can have different flavors? The breed of cow, the content of their diet, and even…
