Butter...It’s arguably the most sensual, celebrated natural food, inspiring humans and even ancient architects of Hindu scripture to sing its buttery praises. Butter is subtle and delicious, a supporting actor and a star, a symbol of wholesome, simple comfort and of luxury. Butter is sexy and persuasive! Butter is one of the most wholesome and healthful foods you can eat, provided it is good quality(pastured)butter. Eat butter from grass-fed cows regularly, and you’ll be further along on your way to a healthy life.
What exactly is so great about butter? Aside from the delicious taste, butter – especially butter from certain times of year, known as "Limited Edition" – is actually a concentrated source of some essential fat-soluble vitamins you may be missing in your diet, some of which are surprisingly rare.
In the 1930s and 40s,(over 50 years before Mike Myers put on a big wig and declared everything good to be “like buttah,”) a dentist named Weston A. Price set out to study the diet and health of primitive and traditional cultures around the world, and to determine why so many populations eating traditional diets were healthier than the patients he saw at home who had been raised and sustained on a Western diet of highly refined foods.
Among his discoveries: a mysterious compound he called Activator X that seemed to make the most significant difference between populations in preventing dental cavities and degenerative diseases, and seemed even to enhance the health-supporting effects of cod liver oil. He observed the occurrence of “Activator X” in the fat/butterfat and organ meats of animals eating rapidly-growing spring and autumn grass, and also in fish eggs. He realized that the foods in which it appeared were consistently prized by cultures around the world. This compound was especially pronounced in seasonal, deeply yellow-orange butter, so much so that Price went on to include a concentrated form of this best quality butter in a successful food regimen aimed at rejuvenating the health of children with whom he worked.
Recent research has identified this compound, replacing the superhero-esque name “Activator X” with the more straightforward: Vitamin K2 menaquinone-4 (or MK-4). Haven’t heard of it or spotted it on the vitamin-laden shelves in your local drugstore? It’s not particularly well-known, although it’s essential to our health in ways still being explored. Vitamin K2 seems to interact with and enable actions of other fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin D and vitamin A (both also found in butter) and minerals such as calcium. It is critical for healthy bone development and bone strength, plays an essential role in fetal development, seems to help with decreasing calcification of the arteries, and plays a role in neuronal structure and in preventing the loss of brain cells due to lack of oxygen in particular. It concentrates in cells essential to our physical and neurological development and health. In short: while we’re still learning about it, you don’t want to leave this vitamin out of your diet.
Nature’s cues, and losing our butter knowledge
So, where to find vitamin K2 MK-4? It’s found in some of the most nutritious foods on Earth: liver (especially goose liver), butter, fish eggs, eggs, and, in trace amounts, in cheese and meats. For this form of the vitamin to occur in these animal products, Weston Price’s observations remain true: it is found in the fats of animals consuming a lot of plant matter that’s high in phylloquinone, vitamin K1. For land mammals, that means those raised on pasture, and in particular, those eating the rapidly-growing grasses of spring and fall.
Why this grass? There’s a ~Food is Love~ blog I stumbled upon that shared an interesting story "I found in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, a great reference source for word geeks, originally published in 1894 back when butter was more respected. Brewer’s has an entry on the flower buttercups that caught my eye..."
BUTTERCUPS
So called because they were once supposed to increase the butter of milk. No doubt those cows give the best milk that pasture in fields where buttercups abound, not because these flowers produce butter, but because they grow only on sound, dry, old pastures, which afford the best food. Miller, in his Gardener's Dictionary, says they were so called “under the notion that the yellow colour of butter is owing to these plants.”
- Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
So much for “I’m called Little Buttercup... though I could never tell why...” Now we know. Buttercups flower most prolifically in springtime, when the butter is best. In the springtime too, when the grass is growing quickly, plants produce significant amounts of vitamin K1, which ruminants conveniently transform into Vitamin K2 for us (thanks, ruminants!) when we consume their delicious fat in the form of butter.
Please note....Butter is supposed to be yellow. Nature sometimes helps us realize a food is good for us by hitting us over the head with visual cues. Nature does that with K2-rich butter: it’s extremely yellow, compared to the slightly-yellow color of grass-fed you’d see other times of year. Virtually no butter we find in the supermarket these days is yellow; it’s white as paper, from cows largely fed grain (or worse, ewwww).
We’ve lost our path when it comes to butter. We eat margarine, eat tasteless butter from cows stuffed with grain, and buy boxes of microwavable “buttered popcorn” (another crime against nature) that has no trace of actual butter in it, but is instead covered in chemicals and oil.
We’re also taught to believe butter is bad for us, an indulgence, something that will give us a heart attack and make us fat. This simply isn’t true. The fat found in butter does not turn into the fat found on our bodies, and instead is essential for our absorption of nutrients and our neurological health. I’m a voracious butter-eater am considered fit and healthy (did you know that the CLA-Conjugated Linoleic Acid that is naturally occurring in grass fed butter is a leading weight loss supplement in this country...? TRUE!) However, I also encourage you to think of your health in other terms than weight; being a "skinny bitch"( sorry, had to)is not always a sign of health. Beyond the fat-phobia, butter is a great source of vitamin A, which is essential to heart health. Butter isn’t bad for your heart; there is pretty solid evidence about good quality saturated fats not causing cardiovascular disease. (Plus, you might notice that we have a lot more heart disease than we used to, and we eat a lot less butter and a lot more processed food.)
Meanwhile, in addition to the benefits of vitamins A and K2 MK-4, butter is a source of vitamin D, vitamin E, and a protective fatty acid that may help prevent cancer. There are a number of benefits to wholesome, full-fat dairy, as we’ve previously discussed here. And grass-fed butter is specifically correlated with lower rancidity, higher nutrient levels, and improved texture. Are you convinced?
My only caveat before I encourage you to dive head-first into a vat of butter or otherwise indulge in a buttery lifestyle, is to choose your butter carefully. Butter is, unfortunately, a potent source of dioxin, especially non-organic butter from cows fed grain, and butter from certain parts of the world where there are high levels of toxic compounds like mercury and dioxin in the water and soil. In fact, it’s sadly ironic that it was a Dutch proverb that touted the benefits of butter for longevity, considering that butter from the Netherlands now has some of the highest recorded levels of dioxins of any region.
How to get your butter
Now that I’ve talked up grass-fed butter, I’m going to break it to you that it’s not easy to find. Sorry. Most of the butter sold in stores is grain fed. I recommend four ways of getting the benefits of grass-fed butter into your diet:
1.Look for local butter from grass-fed (also called “pastured”) cows directly from farms and creameries in your area, or online. Stock up your freezer with butter in the spring and fall, or whenever the grass is growing rapidly in your region and the butter looks very yellow. Please look to your local chapter of www.wapf.org for locating local farms and resources.Also, check out www.eatwild.com.
2.Make your own butter. If you can get your hands on some cream, preferably unpasteurized, from a local dairy where the cows are munching grass, you might want to try making your own butter. It’s easy and fun.
3.Buy it in the store. Organic Valley is starting to sell pasture butter from the spring to fall months (Limited Edition). You can find this in most co-ops or natural-ish food stores. Some of those stores might also sell local grass-fed butter.
4.Butter oil. This is based on what Weston Price fed the children whose health he worked to improve through diet. It’s a concentrated source of K2 menaquinone-4 and tastes amazing. It’s really expensive, but one jar contains many doses and you cannot put a price tag on optimal health or disease recovery, can you?
So, now you have all this good butter... what do you do with it? Here are some ideas:
Ten ways you can eat butter this week!
1. Eat it straight
This is the simplest way to get butter into your body. I eat chunks of butter all the time. Not dabs of butter, not dots of butter, but chunks of butter. Munch on butter while you’re cooking with it anyway. Snack on butter. Feed butter to the people you care about. It tastes good, it’s healthy, and it will make your skin look and feel great.
2. Sauté mushrooms, onions and/or garlic
The day someone first sautéed alliums (onions, garlic, leeks, shallots) or mushrooms in butter was a fine day in the advancement of human life. The creamy earthiness of butter brings out the flavors of alliums and mushrooms like nothing else. One word of caution: you have to be a little careful sautéing with butter, because it has a low smoke point, meaning it can turn brown and start smoking pretty quickly, at which point the fats are breaking down. Keep the heat on medium, and add the onions and/or garlic when the butter is just beyond melting, lightly bubbling, and not yet browning. Cook the onions until they are translucent and slightly golden-brown. Add more butter, a little salt, and the mushrooms. Cook mushrooms until they have released all their juices. You can add in a little more melted butter, cream, white wine, salt, or fresh herbs. White wine and butter go especially well together.
3. Perfect scrambled eggs
Butter is perfect for scrambled eggs, although I love to use coconut oil too. The trick is to keep the heat low. Eat them plain or try something simple. Variation 1: melt some goat cheese over them when you take them out of the pan, and then add freshly-chopped tomatoes, your favorite fresh herb, and black pepper. Variation 2: (above) add chunks of a mild, firm cheese like goat gouda or manchego, some fresh herbs, and black pepper.
4. I’m melting, I’m melting
Where can’t you use melted butter? Dip artichoke leaves into it, pour it over asparagus, pour it on your baked sweet potatoes, use it on fish... you can come up with ideas faster than it takes for butter to melt. I can get my kids to eat about ANYthing if I pour some healthy butter on it!
5. Baking
I’m sorry, but why would you bake with rancid, processed vegetable oil or hideous, poisonous margarine when you could use butter? I personally don't eat a lot of baked goods, but when you do, eat ones made with real ingredients like butter and eggs. Butter gives an unparalleled flavor to baked goods, not to mention a perfect crumb and texture. Butter and vanilla were meant for one another, and butter enhances nuts, fruits, and chocolate in baked goods. Butter makes the perfect crust for pies or quiche, and don’t forget to add chunks of butter to your pie or quiche filling either.
6. Butter with fresh herbs
Do not try this with dried herbs. Mix together butter with fresh, aromatic herbs like parsley, rosemary, basil, chives, oregano, or thyme. Use on poultry, beef, bison and fish, eat straight, or eat on fresh sourdough bread.
7. Ghee
Ghee, or clarified butter, is traditional in Indian and other South Asian cuisines. It’s a concentrated form of butter fat, and has a much higher smoke point than butter. Cook traditional South Asian dishes in ghee, although ghee is not just for Indian food, and is also great for scrambling eggs or sautéing anything. A tip: fry whole spices such as cumin seed or fenugreek in ghee as the first step of preparing a strongly-spiced dish, or to add into yogurt and cucumber to make raita.
8. Simple sauce of shallots, butter and wine
This simple sauce is great over fish, vegetables, chicken, or most savory foods. Heat a little butter in a pan. Add chopped shallots and cook over medium heat until the shallots are translucent. Pour in a little less than a cup of white wine, add a dash of salt, and turn the flame to medium-low. Let it cook a minute or two. Add some large pieces of butter. Turn off the heat and let the butter melt. Stir. Taste, adjust flavors, and serve when it tastes right to you.
9. Lemon butter
My families favorite is a lemon butter garlic sauce. Lemon butter is simple and delicious. The ingredients are (get those pens ready): lemon and butter. Melt butter. Add lemon juice. You’re done. You can vary it up for sure: add some lemon zest or fresh herbs or sautéed garlic. Lemon butter is great on any meats and/or vegetables.
10. Finishing touch
Butter makes a perfect finishing touch to virtually any thick, liquidy or creamy meal. Making a curry, a soup, a stew, or a sauce? Stir in some butter at the very end and let it melt. Your body and your mouth will thank you!
Fore more information from my heroes at Weston A. Price Foundation (Sally Fallon and Mary Enig) Visit this Butter is Better article at
http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/why-butter-is-better
What are your favorite uses for butter? Share in the comments!
