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  • Buttergate!

    Oh, when will I be able to spread my room temperature butter again without it tearing my bread!



    Buttergate controversy causing a stir among Alberta dairy producers

    Canadians’ inability to easily spread butter has sparked an online controversy that has led to Alberta Milk recommending dairy farms no longer using palm oil supplements.

    Over the past couple of months, foodies and bloggers have been voicing difficulty with their butter. Sylvain Charlebois, a senior director of Dalhousie University’s agri-food analytics lab, tweeted in December an observation about his butter remaining hard at room temperature. The so-called “buttergate” took off and garnered the attention of international outlets such as the BBC and the New York Times.

    Some people placed the blame for the hard butter on palm byproducts that are fed to dairy cows, although this hasn’t been definitively proven to be the cause. In response, the Dairy Farmers of Canada announced on Thursday the formation of a working group to get to the bottom of the issue and recommended dairy farmers consider alternatives to palm supplements. Following suit, Alberta Milk posted the recommendation on its website last week.

    Cherylynn Bos, owner and operator of Rock Ridge Dairy Farms near Ponoka, said she does not use palm oil supplements to feed her cows or goats, as that would cause her cow dairy products to lose their organic designation. She said it is tough to say whether they are causing Canadian butter to become harder.

    “I mean, they haven’t done a lot of scientific studies from the bit that I’ve seen on palm fat and how it may change the dairy products,” said Bos. “So, is it a subjective thing that the butter is harder now than before? I’m not certain.”

    Palm oil is used to create palmitic acid, used in cooking oil, industrial lubricant, and margarine as well as soap, biofuels and cosmetics. A paper published by the Dairy Research and Extension Consortium of Alberta shows the use of the supplement in cow feed increases milk fat yield. The paper says there is an economic value to using palm oil in feed based on that increase as well as benefits to cow health and dairy quality.

    Bos said that butter producers actually look to make their products firmer to make it higher quality for cooking. She said that regulations and restrictions on the industry may be partly to blame as higher qualities of butter will have less water in them, causing them to be denser.


    “Over the years, industry and dairy producers and processors like myself have been so much more scrutinized and regulated to make sure that all the standards are followed 100 per cent. So you’re not going to see higher moisture butters out there,” said Bos.

    Karlee Conway, the marketing and communications manager with Alberta Milk, an entity of Dairy Farmers of Canada, told Postmedia in an interview that she was a little surprised by the controversy as palm supplements have been used for years.

    “They’re (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) certified and they play a really important part regarding the health of our cows,” she said. “That being said, we’re hearing from consumers that this might be something that they’re uncomfortable with and maybe they don’t like. We need to get more information on this topic. The most important thing for us and our farms is to make sure that we meet and exceed the demands of consumers.”


    https://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...airy-producers


    I have noticed for some years now that although I keep my butter at room temperature it doesn't EVER get soft enough to spread on a piece of bread or whatever. It just sits there in a hard lump. I thought is was because my kitchen is cool, but now I see it isn't my kitchen and it isn't just me! The whole country has hard butter!



    Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

  • #2
    Wait, WHAT? Isn't that a CRIME?
    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
      Wait, WHAT? Isn't that a CRIME?
      Yes!!!!!!



      Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by mossrose View Post

        Yes!!!!!!

        Can't tell you how many times my wife will text me from work and say something like, "would you set out 2 (or 3) sticks of butter, cause I think I'm gonna bake cookies tonight".

        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

          Can't tell you how many times my wife will text me from work and say something like, "would you set out 2 (or 3) sticks of butter, cause I think I'm gonna bake cookies tonight".

          I've left butter out overnight, in the summer, to do baking the next day, and it's still hard! I end up putting it in the microwave oven to soften it, and have to be careful that I don't melt it instead.

          Our butter doesn't come in sticks, which would be handy. It comes in 454 gm blocks. Which is just a smidge over 1 lb. So you have to measure if you want half a cup or a quarter or whatever. It's a pain.

          And hard butter adds insult to injury!


          Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

          Comment


          • #6
            Someone should report this to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
            P1) If , then I win.

            P2)

            C) I win.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Diogenes View Post
              Someone should report this to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
              Yuh!


              Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by mossrose View Post

                I've left butter out overnight, in the summer, to do baking the next day, and it's still hard! I end up putting it in the microwave oven to soften it, and have to be careful that I don't melt it instead.

                Our butter doesn't come in sticks, which would be handy. It comes in 454 gm blocks. Which is just a smidge over 1 lb. So you have to measure if you want half a cup or a quarter or whatever. It's a pain.

                And hard butter adds insult to injury!
                As I've said before, when I was a kid, the only time we got butter for our meal was Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving.
                I swore that when I moved out and could afford it, I would never eat that chemical oleomargarine stuff again.

                And we buy our butter in "half sticks" - 8 half sticks to a pound.

                2021-03-02 13.36.26.jpg
                Attached Files
                The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

                  As I've said before, when I was a kid, the only time we got butter for our meal was Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving.
                  I swore that when I moved out and could afford it, I would never eat that chemical oleomargarine stuff again.

                  And we buy our butter in "half sticks" - 8 half sticks to a pound.

                  2021-03-02 13.36.26.jpg
                  We never had butter when I was growing up. Maybe before the advent of margarine my older siblings might have had it regularly.

                  And those blocks are what our 1 lb. chunks look like. None of this sissy little rectangles that you can cut into perfect pats like they show on commercials melting down your pancakes.



                  Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by mossrose View Post

                    We never had butter when I was growing up. Maybe before the advent of margarine my older siblings might have had it regularly.

                    And those blocks are what our 1 lb. chunks look like. None of this sissy little rectangles that you can cut into perfect pats like they show on commercials melting down your pancakes.

                    I used to hate it when we'd go to some formal dinner somewhere, and you get this nice big freshly baked roll and ONE of those little 'pats' of butter.
                    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Two things that can help just about any food item --- BUTTER and BACON!
                      The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        In this era, I question any regulation as anything more than a marketing scheme. I doubt there was a Canadian-wide protest that the butter was too soft or that it did not work properly when used in frying pans.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          When I was a kid we had oleo. I remember my mother sending me to the store to get some oleo. By the time I got home I had them half eaten. I would pull the chocolate wafers apart first and eat the white frosting in the midle.
                          When I Survey....

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

                            I used to hate it when we'd go to some formal dinner somewhere, and you get this nice big freshly baked roll and ONE of those little 'pats' of butter.
                            Does one of those butter packages work okay for a dinner roll now?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Faber View Post
                              When I was a kid we had oleo. I remember my mother sending me to the store to get some oleo. By the time I got home I had them half eaten. I would pull the chocolate wafers apart first and eat the white frosting in the midle.
                              When you got home, you found out what she actually wanted you to pick up from the store.

                              I used to go to the store on my bicycle. I would ride back with 3 or 4 bags of groceries. I was only a block away from home, so it was not too hard.

                              Comment

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