Bring in Spring

with The Dairy Princess

Americans Back in Love with Butter

by Stacy Brink,

Tioga County Dairy Princess

Butters are back in a big way. Over the past four years, butter consumption has been on the rise. The reason is simple, according to industry analysts such as Jim Miller with the USDA. "When retailers offer specials on butter, people respond and begin thinking butter again," says Miller.

Once people tried butter again they rediscovered for themselves that butter really is better. Butter makes other foods taste better, too.

Unlike other spreads, butter offers a consistent taste, mouthfeel, and behavior in the oven, on the stovetop, or on foods themselves. That is because butter is consistent by law. Federal legislation regulates butter quality and content. Which is not to say that all butters are the same. Butter comes flavored, salted, unsalted, whipped, cultured, and clarified.

New technology, being developed through dairy producer - funded research, is promising to make butter even more useful. Breaking butter down into its 400 separate components is expected to produce new food and non-food products, from flakier puff pastries to cosmetics and emollients. You can't make butter better, but you can make better things from butter.

So, if you haven't tried butter lately, treat yourself now. Spread it on or mix it in; taste the difference and thank America's dairy farmers for making life a little better with butter.