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One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

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Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#81

Post by dhosek »

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #63
dhosek wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking the same thing. It’s a bit over a ton a day, which is 250 gallons of milk (well, probably a bit more assuming that it takes more than a pound of milk to make a pound of butter). Kind of like the scene in the first Austin Powers movie where Doctor Evil demands ONE MILLION DOLLARS! and the world leaders laugh.

It takes over a pound of cream to make a pound of butter. Whole milk -> skim milk + cream Cream -> buttermilk + butter

Some quick googling said half a gallon of milk yields half a cup of butter so figure it’s 16:1 whole milk to butter, so that’s 4,000 gallons of milk not 250. A cow can produce 8 gallons of milk a day so we need 250 cows to support this butter production. The Google says 60–80 dairy cows to make a living so figure this represents three or four small dairy farms to support that production level.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#83

Post by tropdrop »

soperj wrote: post #48
jmcgough wrote: post #11

yesss I love Bordier, showed this to my partner recently to explain to her why I love nice imported French butters. Traveling there really made me fall in love with French food and the mentality behind a lot of it. Part of what Europe does right is its legal certification process for traditionally made foods, "protected designation of origin" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_designation_of_origi... ). At nic…

> At nicer import stores you can find San Marzano tomatoes with a DOP stamp I can get these at Costco

I think in some regions they're a lot more common than others – in Connecticut they're found in almost every grocery store, but states/cities without an outsize Italian-American presence one might have to run around town.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#84

Post by Altho00 »

riffraff wrote: post #14
jmcgough wrote: post #11

yesss I love Bordier, showed this to my partner recently to explain to her why I love nice imported French butters. Traveling there really made me fall in love with French food and the mentality behind a lot of it. Part of what Europe does right is its legal certification process for traditionally made foods, "protected designation of origin" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_designation_of_origi... ). At nic…

while I'm a big supporter of EU PDO labels they are not perfect, they (generally) do not guarantee quality, and they have the negative effect of "crystallizing" something, which is a bit sad and paradoxical. Still, better than nothing.

PDO has minimum requirements. Some producers will do their best to barely fullfil those in order to sel PDO as cheap as possible while others will go above and beyond those requirements. The consumers still need to do some researches in order to get the best possible but the label should at least ensure you're getting something somewhat ok.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#86

Post by superhuzza »

soperj wrote: post #48
jmcgough wrote: post #11

yesss I love Bordier, showed this to my partner recently to explain to her why I love nice imported French butters. Traveling there really made me fall in love with French food and the mentality behind a lot of it. Part of what Europe does right is its legal certification process for traditionally made foods, "protected designation of origin" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_designation_of_origi... ). At nic…

> At nicer import stores you can find San Marzano tomatoes with a DOP stamp I can get these at Costco

For many products, Costco is legitimately a nice import store!

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#87

Post by Bayart »

wnissen wrote: post #25
Qahlel wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

| crystallizing can you please explain what you mean by this?

Once you get a product, like Camembert, or a wine like Burgundy, with a big AOP apparatus around it, there is little room for experimentation. In Burgundy you can't plant anything except Chardonnay for white wine that's going to be labeled Burgundy. Someone has an idea that sauvignon blanc might do well in a famous vineyard? Too bad, instead of Grand Cru Burgundy you're going to have to sell it as generic "Vin de Fra…

If you like Isigny butter, try Isigny cream ;) It's hard to find better crème fraîche.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#88

Post by jcims »

kleinapple wrote: post #52
jcims wrote: post #50

I just want to dip a spoon in at every step and sample it. About two years ago I bought just about every butter at the local grocery and started sampling them. (COVID hobby i guess) and it completely changed my relationship with butter. I found a few that were clear favorites...to the point where one of them I can slice off a thin pat and just eat it neat. Butter in the abstract is loved, but somehow it has been rele…

Could you share the fruits of your labor with us?

I can't really because the actual fruit of my labor is the enrichment of my understanding of butter. It's 100% worth it, I spent maybe $60 on ~10 lbs of butter and it was all used up within a month or two.

One other thing I've started to do is leave some butter out all of the time. My grandma used to do this and nobody ever got sick from it. But the butter gets soooo soft and unctuous. Those French butter bell things are a pita, I just use a regular butter dish with a lid.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#89

Post by agumonkey »

jcims wrote: post #50

I just want to dip a spoon in at every step and sample it. About two years ago I bought just about every butter at the local grocery and started sampling them. (COVID hobby i guess) and it completely changed my relationship with butter. I found a few that were clear favorites...to the point where one of them I can slice off a thin pat and just eat it neat. Butter in the abstract is loved, but somehow it has been rele…

I don't know if it's the same but I rediscovered a few raw veggies taste. Lettuce is sparkling but it's o so subtle. Servings and sauces hide all that behind a lot of ecstatic sensations but you forget the original taste. Butter too.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#90

Post by jcims »

agumonkey wrote: post #89
jcims wrote: post #50

I just want to dip a spoon in at every step and sample it. About two years ago I bought just about every butter at the local grocery and started sampling them. (COVID hobby i guess) and it completely changed my relationship with butter. I found a few that were clear favorites...to the point where one of them I can slice off a thin pat and just eat it neat. Butter in the abstract is loved, but somehow it has been rele…

I don't know if it's the same but I rediscovered a few raw veggies taste. Lettuce is sparkling but it's o so subtle. Servings and sauces hide all that behind a lot of ecstatic sensations but you forget the original taste. Butter too.

Raw cabbage is amazing. It’s bright and crispy/crunchy and sweet and just a little spicy.
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