Butter: A Rich History | 
pickThis was a fun book. It‘s written like The Core of an Onion, in that it‘s half history, half recipes. I love butter and love to try all kinds. This book tells you how butter has been made through the centuries, its values, and significance in religion. It‘ll have you thinking about just how special it is every time you grab a spoon of it!
The Great Butter Rebellion, which took place at Harvard University in 1766, was the first recorded student protest in the United States. Since the opening of Harvard‘s gates in 1636, food service had been an issue and the quality of the butter was exceptionally poor. Apparently one meal with particularly rancid butter led Asa Dunbar (the grandfather of Henry David Thoreau) to jump upon his chair and proclaim: “Behold, our butter stinketh!—⬇️
Friends, I think our furry family members have been holding out on us🤣I need my husky and two Bostons to start making some butter for me!
pickDamn, this was fascinating. There were a few bits where it felt a bit slow but generally, a really enjoyable micro history that made me hungry and desperate to buy higher quality butter (but I‘m delighted that one of the butters she highlights in the book is fairly local to me!)
Book 4 of 15 for #15books15weeks
As I was trucking around, collecting books for my #JulyTBR, EDP said to me “That‘s a lot, even for you.” He‘s not wrong. So many leftovers from a bad June, a couple of #HeyCarrots reads to catch up, my #GirlyBookClub and #FlaviaBuddyRead books for July, the #Potteraday, a bunch of #15Books15Weeks to get me back on track, a couple of #PemberLittens books and one that I added to the stack cause why not?!
pickButter lovers alert! This history of butter will make you want to slather it on even more. From Neolithic times in Ireland to Buddhist butter meditation in Asia, butter-making tools around the world, dietary science squabbles, and finishing off with some tantalizing recipes in which butter is boss.
(Photo: I should know better than to leave the butter dish on the stove when the oven is on. 😬)
I learned about “butter-washed” cocktails in this book, so of course I had to try it. Melted butter is combined with whatever spirit you want—I chose dark rum—and left to sit for a few hours. Then I chilled the mixture so the solidified butter could be skimmed off. It made the rum cloudy but also very tasty. (My cocktail also included honey, fresh lemon juice, a sprig of thyme and sparkling water.)
It‘s a little known fact that US dairy manufacturers are allowed by law to add a colouring agent, such as annatto, to their butter without having to declare it on the label, whereas all other foods have to reveal colouring agents on the label. This special dispensation harks back to those last century battles with margarine.
(Photo: I hosted butter tasting for my friends last weekend.)
In 2013 the FDA finally announced that partially hydrogenated oils are not “generally recognized as safe” for use in food and that eating trans fat raises blood levels of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, increasing the risk of coronary disease. All those tubs of margarine the public had consumed instead of butter to prevent cardiac disease actually had the opposite effect: Margarine increased the likelihood of a heart attack.
In the early 1980s I was a fresh college graduate with a degree in dietetics, trained by experts to join in the anti-fat battle. Our tactic seemed logical: Don‘t eat fat & you won‘t get fat; avoid cholesterol & you prevent its deposit in your arteries.
If only it were that simple. More than 30 years later heart disease is still the #1 killer & Americans are fatter than they‘ve ever been, despite eating 10% less fat in their meals.
One 19th-century version of the rocking churn, seen in Belgian artist Charles Petit‘s oil painting The Butter Churn, was also an unofficial amusement ride for toddlers.
(Internet photo)
In the 1800s, patents were issued for new butter churns every ten or twelve days. And that was only in the United States!
It‘s worth noting that the traditional Irish phrase to wish someone well, “Top o‘ the morning to you,” has its origin in the dairy world; “the top” refers to the richest, loveliest part, as cream is at the top of the milk.
The young Lord Krishna‘s predilection for stealing butter is celebrated each year at the Hindu festival of his birthday, Janmashtami.
(Internet image)
Most anthropologists agree that butter arrived on the scene with Neolithic people, the first of our Stone Age ancestors who succeeded at domesticating ruminants.
Dan Barber has churned the cream of each of his cows separately to determine which one makes the best “single udder butter.”
pickHaving read this, I will never take butter for granted ever again. Butter, as a substance and as a food is a triumph of human ingenuity: for some years during the 70s and 80s butter was demonised as being bad for us - it never was! But as with all delicious foodstuffs it must be consumed in moderation. This book gives a comprehensive history of how butter came to be, and the role it has played in many societies. Lots of recipes included.
#TBRtemptation post 1! The author traveled across 3 continents to provide us with the highly-acclaimed definitive guide to BUTTER! The pastry chef and food writer explores its history from Ireland's ancient butter bogs to Tibet's sacred butter sculptures. You'll learn of its significance in politics, economics, spirituality, and art. You learn core butter recipes, how to various kinds of it, & how to shop for the best. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎
Super Bowl reading.
Ashamed that I never thought to wonder why milk is white but butter is yellow. But thrilled to say now I know!
🐄🐑🐐🐪🧀🍼
#TheMoreYouKnow 🌈
Looking for a fun challenge? Love food? Check out Foodies Read. We have monthly prizes! Http://www.spiritblog.net/december-foodies-read
Seriously - who would have thought the history of butter could be so interesting?! Religious uses? Check. First job for women respected by men? Check. Really enjoying this! #nonfictionnovember
pickButter Yoda. You're welcome.
Eating breakfast, reading about butter. Yum!
