Cultured butter
Ripened-cream cow's butter · Dairy
Top 10 pairings
Cultured butter is butter churned from cream that has first been ripened with lactic-acid bacteria, the way most of Europe has made it for centuries. That fermentation gives it a tangy, faintly cheesy depth and a heady buttery perfume that sweet-cream butter lacks, and the traditional beurre de baratte — churn butter — is the benchmark against which cooks measure a fine table and pastry fat.
Picking a good onedrag
Even pale gold, cream and clean tangDarkened, stale, rancid-butyric
Shop freshEveryday bestSealed, cold and in date: pastry fat, sauce, a finishing knob. Almost pure fat, but the milk solids carry milk protein - a major allergen, and not low-lactose.
Wrap and chillCold and sealed, the date still a good way off
The cut faceEven colour, the cut face only just glossing over
Smell itTangier, faintly cheesy or yoghurty - the culture, not a fault