Curious to what butter everyone buys for use on their toast/sandwiches etc.
We buy the Western Star super spreadable, but my parents use a mainland equivalent and thinking of changing!
Out of curiosity wondering what everyone else uses?!
If the option isn’t there, please add it!
we been using ww olive oil 'spread' as butter
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/492690/woo…
similar at coles brand
Mainland Butter Soft for times the butter will be directly tasted in something like toast or sandwich.
Generic salted or unsalted for general cooking, baking, etc.
Had to use Mainland Butter Soft for cooking yesterday. I knew I was doing it wrong. Where do I return my OzBargain badge?
Yeah I get lazy sometimes too and use mainland for random cooking too. Get an ear full from the wife about it every single time, which is fair enough.
+1
My advice is always to read the label. Majority of spreadable butter options are some dairy mixed with vegetable/canola oils. Mainland Butter Soft has one of the highest contents of dairy.
one of the highest contents of dairy
It's 100% diary.
@andrek: There's an unsalted variety, which is the one I get, most bang for buck, even if it's that 1% extra dairy :D
100% dear diary
100% diary its like a rock :)
Just the fact it's spreadable at room temp should tell you there's something added and is no longer pure butter. I can suffer the mild inconvenience for the real thing.
It's spreadable because of the way they get the butter. I know when I leave out the buttersoft and it melts more than it needs to (summer) the next time I use it it's rock hard and not spreadable anymore. It's like the molecular structure has changed.
@jlogic: Because its whipped aggressively just prior to packing. More air.
When it melts for the first time, its allowed to settle and compact a bit.
Nothing special about it, other than you're paying for a little extra air before opening :).
@UFO: I've never used it but someone above said they noticed it has higher oil content too. Perhaps different brands, there's definitely whipped butter out there like the kind you get in the single serving packets, might be a bit of both methods
@UFO: This is why I like Mainland. It is still 100% butter - it's not some part margarine.
But yeah, to get it spreadable, they just whip air into it - kind of magic.
100% butter - the good old French/EU forced Fonterra to reveal the novel process cause they didn't believe it either…
Yes can someone actually explain this?
Are the above "spreadables" actually butter or not?
I've read the label and it's quite misleading or deceiving as none would say specifically 100% butter.
Butter seems to be the throw around word for shit mixed with vegetable oil. And vegetable oil is bad.
We buy whatever is on special, we're using Flora with butter at the moment which is nice.
Home brand blocks for cooking
Western star or lurpak blocks when on sale
I never buy the “spreadable” stuff because of all the unnecessary ingredients. I just put part of a block in a Tupperware container and leave it on the bench. Now it’s spreadable.
FYI, the Western Star Spreadable is Butter (ie churned Cream), Cream and Salt, nothing else.
Dunno why the others can't do the same cause I agree.
I can't bring myself to buy imported butter like Lurpak.
interesting to know! Thanks :)
I can't find any 'spreadables' that don't contain some vegetable oil. Do you have a link?
Are you sure about that? Did you mean Mainland?
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/31727/west…
Cream (From Milk), Vegetable Oil, Butteroil (From Milk), Salt, Buttermilk Powder (From Milk), Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin), Flavour, Vitamins (A, D), Colour (160a).
Just checked and you're right… it's Mainland.
Weird, I only bought it a few days ago and could have sworn it was the Western Star.
@ESEMCE: No, I changed from the Western Star to the Mainland for just this reason (don't want the extra oil in my life, even more so when it separates).
agreed, spreadable isn't usually butter. If people are just talking real butter, I don't think there's much difference, not enough to ship butter half way around the world when you can get it from your own country and maybe even state
How long does butter last on the bench?
We keep it covered on the bench year round.
Butter spoils by going rancid, an oxidation process where the butter becomes a darker yellow and tastes acidic. This happens from the outside in, and is not harmful.
If we go on holiday we’ll just leave the butter on the bench, and it is fine a few weeks later. Put it in a butter dish with a lid to slow down oxidation.
Thank you! I've told people that you can leave butter out for weeks and no one will believe me.
I put it in an air tight container and usually only put about 200g in at a time to make sure that it doesn’t have the chance to spoil. If I know I’m gonna have more or less, I’ll adjust the amount I put in the container.
It lasts ages on the bench. I haven’t had it spoil for ages. I tend to put less in the container in summer though, because the heat will speed it up. But even then, it’s never been so spoiled I had to chuck it away.
Not long at my house :)
Biggest problem I've found is occasional mold in the container
Duck River Soft Blend Butter.
Might be a Taswegian only thing.
Same here - assume it's Tas only but it's good stuff.
Lurpak spreadable for toasts, Western Star Salted for cooking and Western Star unsalted for making Ghee at home.
Lurpak original, mostly unsalted. I hate the spreadable stuff, full of oil.
Try Mainland Buttersoft, I had the same hate (real deal only) for a long time because of the oil until I found the Mainland (no added oil, just dairy and salt)
Western Star spreadable or salted depending on the time of year. Can't leave butter out of the fridge here for spreadability in summer - even a small amount goes rancid really quickly and it's too much of a faff to get a bit out for the day each day.
Generic brands or whatever is on special for unsalted in baking.
spreadable
This is crap.
Just heat the knife before you use it in the block.
I just put the knife in the microwave for 30secs
I put the whole block in the microwave for 30secs. Anything I use cuts like butter!
It's better in the toaster. More even heat.
So I put the knife in the toaster?
Ok, I'll let you know how I go..
Get a japanese butter knife and you don’t even have to do that.
The knives are probably already on the top of the stove.
Butter dish exist, long as it isn't in the fridge that's half the battle won.
1KG Tablelands Dairy Blend . Only place I know it is at is Woolies .
That's not butter
I can’t believe it’s not butter!
Unsalted for baking: Mainland Butter
Everyday spread, breakfast: Lurpak Spreadable
The unsalted 500gm Aldi one. We have a butter dish.
Also: A life hack my wife learnt for the kid's lunch box, is to freeze the sliced bread. When you make the sandwich in the morning, much easier to spread and cut up when frozen, and it will be defrosted by the time they eat it.
Have to try this out, my wife insists sandwiches from defrosted frozen bread tastes bad compared to fresh, even when fresh is a few days old.
I'd agree with her. I chuck out unused bread after a few days instead of putting it in the freezer as I know it will never be used once it hits the freezer.
I think the freezer ruins just about everything, unless stuff is vacuum sealed.
Bread, fresh meat (especially steak, chicken and bacon), fresh roasted coffee beans, etc. It's all never as good even after freezing the day I buy it.
Frozen bread smells a bit odd, however once toasted, it's fantastic!
The freezing process removes some water from the bread, and makes it crisp up faster in the toaster.
I haven't noticed any freezer taste, maybe if the bread has been in the freezer for too long?
If you plan on leaving it out of the fridge all the time, you should replace this with the salted version. Salt is a preservative and stops it going rancid at room temp.
Thanks for your concern, but we don't put much in at a time < 30g which is used up within a few days anyway.
Something from the market. Amazing.
Can we enable multiple votes?
Nuttlex Lite Nuttlex Buttery for spread. Grew up having it with a family member being lactose intolerant, kept having it as an adult (even though I'm not lactose intolerant).
Woolworths Essentials unsalted for everything else.
I did too much reading about the dangers of seed oils, e.g.
https://drcate.com/the-hateful-eight-enemy-fats-that-destroy…
https://www.israel21c.org/diet-the-biggest-covid-risk-factor…
It may or may not be true, but if I'm going to get diabetes, inflammation or die of COVID; I'll do it with something which tastes good (Did someone say KFC?)
Mainland Buttersoft Pure Salt Reduced Butter
Mainland is the best and I'll entertain no arguments to the contrary.
*for spreading. For cooking, I prefer stick butter — far cheaper and easier to work with.
Oh for sure but the OP said toast and bread etc.
I just use Coles cheap butter for cooking and it's great.
Bertolli Butter with Olive Oil - it's delish
Western Star Salted Butter, on everything, in everything with everything!
President - its available at woolworths.
The best butter I've bought in Australia. After having french butter in France I'd lost hope of ever getting good tasting butter in Australia… Thanks Woolies! At $4 each it's surprisingly affordable too. Unsalted President butter gets my vote over all others, after having tried nearly all those available.
Yep, would have voted for this too if it was in the poll.
Oh No! I thought you could add options as a responder…. my bad!
Same. Does the job. Also use the Aldi butter blocks for cooking.
Same here, although I get the caterers tub for $4 because we have a lot of toast and sandwiches in our family.
Caterers tub is just margarine and is very different from the 500g pack. Made that mistake once.
Is it? I can't taste the difference. Better get the small tub next time
I use mainland because they don't add oil
NZ Golden churn.. hard to find
Otherwise I am happy with the Aldi one, better than most branded butters Ive tasted
Aldi Butterfully
Aldi Butter
In Winter I keep about 250gram in a butter dish on the bench.
In Summer I cut it smaller to about 100grams so it doesn't spoil.
Anyway, some options on the Poll aren't butter. I suspect some people don't know the difference either.
Buttery, spreadable, etc may not contain butter and at best is blended butter.
I like this regime, going to implement it.
Imagine being able to not rip your sliced bread when buttering.. lol
Lol yes, or avoiding over-microwaving it.
I try to slice cold butter thinly as possible and gently lay it on top of the bread.
Mainland Buttersoft salt reduced. When I started looking into ingredients with our toddler I was pretty happy with this in relation to it’s spreadability. I’m okay with it being mainly NZ owned.
Western Star spreadable for me :)
Interesting that a non dairy coconut based “butter” ranks number 4 and only mentioned in 1 comment before this.
Nutellex No Palm Oil Coconut spread
Butter is important to me.
I object in the strongest terms to anyone who considers themselves a fan of bargains also consistently buying full-priced brand-name butter. It's all the same. Lurpak! You need to check yourselves
There's a big difference in omega 3 to 6 ratio between grass and grain fed dairy.
Grass fed butter is significantly healthier. Paying a bit more for dairy and beef that came from grass fed cows can save you lots in medical bills and lost time due to inflammation related diseases which a diet high in omega 6 ratio are associated with.
It's the same with a lot of food. It's a better bargain to pay more for the healthier options to save thousands in medical bills and increase lifespan/quality of life.
Not true, thankfully the omega ratio and inflammation theory has now been debunked.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livekindly.co/myths-about-o…
Also most Australian beef is grass fed in Australia.
If you read your source you'll find that is not the case despite the headline. They make very specific assertions that with the right amount of omega 3 that omega 6 doesn't cause inflammation (which is what the ratio is about). It's OK to have high omega 6, just balance it out with omega 3 otherwise you stand not only a high chance of inflammation markers present in serum, but have a significantly higher chance of developing some really horrific diseases (which my sources below go into).
From your source:
"[the mediterranean diet] has a higher omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acid ratio, which leads to decreased inflammation"
Here's some recent peer reviewed medical journals that find the ratio between omega 6 to 3 being associated with significantly lower inflammation:
https://openheart.bmj.com/content/5/2/e000946
"‘Dietary omega-3 fatty acids are associated with plasma biomarker levels, reflecting lower levels of inflammation and endothelial activation in cardiovascular disease and other chronic and acute diseases, including chronic renal disease, sepsis and acute pancreatitis"
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/8/3/128/htm
Recent studies in humans show that in addition to absolute amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acid intake, the omega-6/omega-3 ratio plays an important role in increasing the development of obesity via both AA eicosanoid metabolites and hyperactivity of the cannabinoid system, which can be reversed with increased intake of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). A balanced omega-6/omega-3 ratio is important for health and in the prevention and management of obesity. "
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335257/
"Coinciding with this increase in the ratio of (n-6) : (n-3) PUFA are increases in chronic inflammatory diseases such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), cardiovascular disease, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease (AD)."
If you want to continue having a diet high in omega 6 to 3 ratio despite your own sources finding that's not a good idea then fine. Just don't go around saying it's 'debunked' when the science is at the best best for your argument - inconclusive. However at the very worst for your argument it would lead to some really horrific health issues.
Most beef in Australia has a blended diet both of grass and processed grain (waste product from making flour from wheat). Grass fed and finished beef will advertise as such as it sells for a higher price.
Most chicken, unless specified free range, will be grain fed only. Look for chicken/eggs that specifically state they were pastured to get a product with a higher omega 3 to 6 ratio.
@[Deactivated]: lol don't be hard on yourself. I wouldn't have written that comment if not for yours, and if it causes people to look through information on nutritional science and critically analyze the available research - then that's a good thing for everyone.
Devondale blend on bread/toast
Lurpak for cooking when on special, otherwise generic non salted butter. I don't use a margarine/blend for cooking