Butter is not as bad as it has been made out to be over the last decade. It has some incredible ingredients that are essential to the body. A good grass fed butter can provide many desperately needed nutrients to the human body.

Butter is not the devil!

A good grass fed butter that is ethically made is a good ingredient to use in many of cooking recipes.

Let’s get to know this misunderstood ingredient and let’s also celebrate all the good it has to offer.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and all the information you find in this post is based on my extensive research. The opinions below are also formed after listening to esteemed members in the medical community. Please consult your health care professional for further information.

Angle view of a grass fed butter log partially cut into rectangle squares and placed on brown paper
Grass Fed butter is packed with nutrients like Vitamin K2 and Vitamin A

Tips for working with butter

  • To soften butter sticks quickly, add about 1/2 a cup of water to a glass. Microwave the glass for 20 seconds. Use oven mitts to handle the hot glass of water. Discard the water and cover the butter sticks with the heated glass. Let it stay there for about 5 minutes. It will be softened after that.
  • Never softened
  • ALWAYS use grass fed butter in all your cooking. It has nutrients that are lacking in other processed butters.
  • If you are making pastry where you are working with dough, cold butters work better than softened butters
  • If you are like me, you probably don’t have a stand-alone mixer. So, you can use a cheese grater to shred cold/frozen butter and add it to your pastries.
front view of a cylindrical roll of grass-fed butter with pieces of basil visible.
The wonderful aromas of this butter are wafting through your screen right now.

Why is butter good for you?

Grass fed butter is rich with Vitamin K2 (menaquinones). This vitamin has one main job and that is to take the calcium out of the blood/soft tissues and deposit it into the bones.

This ensures strong bones and less risk of Osteoporosis.

Sources – Cleveland Clinic, Pubmed, WebMD, Better Nutrition and Autumn Bates. Note: these are just 2 of the sources sited in this post. There are many, many other well-researched articles from other members of the nutrition and health professional. I have also had several conversations with other nutritionists who have educated me on butter.

Top view of a glass bottle filled with melted lemon balm butter and a wooden spoon placed inside the butter
Lemon balm butter is my new favorite way to make butter

“It’s high in saturated fat!!”

Yes, butter is high in saturated fat! That is a dyed-in-wool kind of fact!

But, many, MANY recent findings have shown that saturated fat is more complex that simply being “bad” for your health. It’s not as bad for your cholesterol as previously thought.

Check out these AMAZING sources on saturated fat and cholesterol.

Types of butters

  • Salted Butter
  • Unsalted Butter
  • Sweet Butter
  • Whipped Butter
  • Vegan Butter (AKA Plant-Based Butters)

Not sure how and when to use these butters? Well+Good has a breakdown of when to use them. Use any of these combinations of butter to make compound butters.

Grass fed butter brands

These butters can be found at Whole Foods, Aldi Publix and Thrive Market.

Top view of a tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! It's Vegan Spread. The roasted veggies are visible on the side
Vegan Butters are also branded as Plant Based Butters

Why I don’t endorse vegan butters anymore

Vegan butters or Plant based butters are very highly processed and artificial ingredients are brought together for a “buttery” taste.

Many of these vegan butters are made with bad vegetable oils (like canola or corn), artificial coloring, Palm oils, Soy, corn and even things like food dyes.

These ingredients are bad for the heart and are carcinogen. Additionally, foods like palm oils are bad for the environment.

Source:

Many of my old recipes have vegan butters listed in the ingredients. I am actively working on recreating those dishes with alternatives to the bad butters.

If you are vegan for the animals, you may not like hearing that these butters are bad for you. I know it hurts to hear this because it hurt me. These butter caused so many health problems in my case that I had to step away from my blog for a while.

Just avoid butters in general (vegan or dairy), if you are vegan for the animals. Things like Extra Virgin Olive Oils, coconut oil or no-oil cooking can be a good replacement.

So what do you think about vegan/plant-based butters? Sound off in the comments because I am very curious to hear about your experiences.

front and closeup view of small grass fed butter squares piled on top of flour
Butter, flour and sugar is a very unhealthy combination.

When is butter bad for you?

Most people use butter for baking (I am guilty of that too!)

Mixing flours, sugars and butters is where all the good of butter is negated. When combined with sugar and flour, good fats in butter are turned into the bad Omega 6 fats. Omega 6 is known to clog up arteries and cause other health problems. Source: Mashed, Men’s Health.

Nutrition in grass fed butter

  • Vitamin K2
  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin E
  • Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
  • Omega-3 fatty acids

Source: Very Well Fit

Ask me questions

Is butter vegan?

No, butter is not vegan because it’s made from bovine milk. Since vegan can’t eat dairy, butter and ghee is automatically not allowed on vegan diet. Confused about what is vegan and what is vegetarian? Check out my handy dandy guide on veganism

Is ghee the same as butter?

Ghee is made from butter. Butter is boiled until it separates into 2 ingredients. The process of boiling the butter causes the impurities to separate. These impurities are strained and then discarded. What remains is a golden yellow liquid which is allowed to cool to room temperature.
I learned to make ghee from my mother and she from her mother. Ghee making tradition is a time-honored tradition that are passed down over generations in our culture. I haven’t posted a recipe for it but, if you want to make your own, check out Bhavna’s Kitchen. Her recipe is a very traditional way of making it.

Can butter be frozen?

Yes, it can easily be frozen. I like to freeze my homemade compound butter like my Herb Garlic Butter and Lemon Balm Butter. It lasts a long time.

What’s the difference between grass fed butter and regular butter?

Grass fed butter is where the cows are allowed to roam free and eat grass. When the cow is milked, it’s milk contains all the nutrients from earth. However, non-grass fed butters are made from farm cows are often fed grains and corn by-products. This results in butters that are devoid of many nutrients. Additionally, these cows are reared in in-humane conditions.

What are some unhealthy “Butters”

– Margarine
– Most Vegan Butters
– Vegetable Oil Spreads
– Fake Butters
– Canola Oil Butters
– Artificially flavored butters

More sources

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