SC - English butter?

[Philip & Susan Troy]

snowfire at sprynet.com wrote:
> 
> -Poster: Jean Holtom <snowfire at sprynet.com>
> 
> As far as I am aware, there is no such thing as a superior form of butter
> called "English Butter".  In Britain most of the butter we eat is imported
> anyway, notably "Danelea" (salted) and "Lurpak" (not salted) from Denmark
> (those Vikings are still at it!) and "Anchor" from New Zealand.  Welsh butter
> that is locally made tends to be VERY salty, and most salt butters in Britain
> are saltier than those you can buy here.

Hmmm. It occurs to me that either a) Americans are used to eating foods
that are not really  preserved, but just sort of taste like they are,
like bacon that'll go off in a day, and comparison between American and
British butters makes British butter seem saltier, or b) as has been
pointed out in connection with fat, perhaps the British haven't [yet]
become as insanely sodium-conscious as the average American.
 
> We do call butter "Best Butter" sometimes however, and I'm guessing it is
> referring to commerically produced butter probably of a certain quality
> standard.  This would be pehaps used for Sunday tea, or for when visitors come,
> ("Lurpak", "Danelea" and "Anchor" all would qualify as "best butter") whereas
> perhaps people used locally churned butter bought in bulk for everyday use, or
> margarine.  Perhaps they are meaning this?  I certainly think Land o'lakes etc.
> are up to the commerically packaged butters available in Britain!  (Also we do
> not have sweet cream butter there).

Certainly I'd bet the worst American butter is easily as good as or
better than the worst British butter, largely because what the American
food industry is really obsessed with is consistency, even over quality
(witness McDonald's). A sort of dedicated mediocrity.

I gather that the concept of "Best Butter" probably corresponds to the
USDA's grading system. Here we have grade AA butter, etc. I have an aunt
who used to send me to the grocery store in search of a pound of "Best
Butter", and the bemused man used to hand me AA butter, saying it was
the best he had. It does bring to mind the question of what kind of
market exists for Worst Butter. Ghee?  

Adamantius
Crown Province of Østgardr, East Kingdom

Argent, an owl displayed guardant sable, between three pheons inverted
gules, all within a bordure sable.
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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