Is there no more normal butter?

[WilliamDeLaPole]

Is kerrygold the only butter without this nebulous "natural flavorings" garbage? Wtf is natural flavorings in the context of butter anyway?
The butter section everywhere is 95% vegan shit and vegetable oil. I need my titty fat!

 

[Rozzy]

I'm no expert on butter so it would be best to ask the Buttamutt for advice.

 

[Hellwalker]

I don't fucking know

 

[Aunt Carol]

Damn, I haven't even been reading the ingredients on my butter. Thanks.

Lucerne and Winco brand both just say cream and salt on the label.

eta: ohhh. I'm a salted butter pleb so of course it's no comparison. Land o'Lakes says the "natural flavor" is lactic acid, and they only use it in their unsalted butter. Several dudes on Reddit 12 years ago say the same.

Still thanks, because you made me learn something.

 

[WilliamDeLaPole]

I'm a salted butter pleb so of course it's no comparison.

Me too, but I've been eating way too much salt lately and most of it from salted butter. I only noticed recently that every single brand of unsalted butter has "natural flavorings" in the ingredients list except kerrygold. Even the so called "European style" unsalted butter has it.

Land o'Lakes says the "natural flavor" is lactic acid, and they only use it in their unsalted butter. Several dudes on Reddit 12 years ago say the same.

Upon doing a quick search it seems like a label issue. Kerrygold does have "natural flavorings" but they use the term "cultured" instead. That means all of these brands actually are the same ingredients. That's good to know. This is a dairy product, I don't understand why they'd call it natural flavoring over cultured.

Still thanks, because you made me learn something.

Thanks for doing the research for my lazy ass. I tend to see "ingredient I don't like" and just find a different brand, but it didn't work so well this time. Turns out it's not really a problem for once.

 

[User names must be unique]

Even the so called "European style" unsalted butter has it.

just took a quick check of uk butter, it's only in the more expensive mainstream brand here
Lurpak £9.30/kg

Asda (walmart) store brand £7.96/kg


Though it could labelling requirements if they allow the lactic bacteria to develop naturally rather than adding cultured milk. afaik these "natural flavourings" are just what would naturally occur in butter making outside of the sanitised conditions of industrial food making

 

[GaryGray]

It is a nightmare now. The process of buying groceries requires research and constant upkeep before going to the store to avoid getting duped by ingredients or by companies trying to screw you by slowly going from 8 oz per container to 6.8 oz over two years. To be an informed consumer makes one an adversarial customer. Even when you find a good company eventually they will get popular, hire top business school graduates, then change their product to be identical to their competitors shitty product because small line go up 0.5% and that means millions in c-suite bonuses.

 

[rel=alternate]

It is a nightmare now. The process of buying groceries requires research and constant upkeep before going to the store to avoid getting duped by ingredients or by companies trying to screw you by slowly going from 8 oz per container to 6.8 oz over two years. To be an informed consumer makes one an adversarial customer. Even when you find a good company eventually they will get popular, hire top business school graduates, then change their product to be identical to their competitors shitty product because small line go up 0.5% and that means millions in c-suite bonuses.

At least it's not on the level of China.

I watched a couple of videos on Youtube and it's really insane. They will literally use harmful chemicals in vegetables to make them look brighter, or inject sea food and meat with some shady stuff.

And none of this is on the label. Talking about labels, there was a scandal recently about mooncakes where stores would reprint the expiration date 2 years past.

I like Chinese food, but if it's coming from China, I won't fucking eat it.

 

[Sparkletor 2.0]

How come we can make chocolate milk but we can't make chocolate butter? Or is that what cocoa butter is?

 

[OrionBalls]

No. I forgot to lock the fridge and my dog ate it all.

 

[Rozzy]

Warding off a Slobbermutt with da butta.
(From the Art for Null thread)

 

[WilliamDeLaPole]

It is a nightmare now. The process of buying groceries requires research and constant upkeep before going to the store to avoid getting duped by ingredients or by companies trying to screw you by slowly going from 8 oz per container to 6.8 oz over two years. To be an informed consumer makes one an adversarial customer. Even when you find a good company eventually they will get popular, hire top business school graduates, then change their product to be identical to their competitors shitty product because small line go up 0.5% and that means millions in c-suite bonuses.

There's also the specific words they're allowed to use on the front of the package. Grass fed apparently isn't grass fed 100%, you have to find ones that say "grass finished, " otherwise they feed grain near the end before slaughter. Used to be able to get 16oz of frozen veggies for $1, now everything is 12oz for $1.20+. Even pet food isn't safe. $50 for 42lbs is now almost $100 for 40lbs. Saw this recently too, what a shame.

Everything being full of added salt or sugar with skim milk instead of whole is annoying too. A lot of Greek yogurt has this problem. Could go on and on but probably should make a thread in the food forum for that.

 

[Iron Jaguar]

Lol, Americans.

 

[GaryGray]

The more I try to decipher food marketing the more I feel my inner Ted Kaczynski wanting to fed post. It really does make one mad at the Internet.

 

[Althalus]

The more I try to decipher food marketing the more I feel my inner Ted Kaczynski wanting to fed post. It really does make one mad at the Internet.

>Be me last year
>Go to buy egg nog from liquor store
>check labels before buying
>Majority of selections have no actual egg, milk, or cream, just artificial substitutes
???????????????

>Also be me
>Love beef jerky, hamburgers, etc
>start reading labels
>realize that "made with 100% beef" is bullshit weasel words because something can still have 100% beef as an ingredient, but with a bunch of other things added
>fml

>Also be me
>go down "seed oils are bad for you" rabbit hole
>start reading labels
>why does everything have seed oils as an ingredient
>Like 95% of processed grocery store food uses it
>wtf

 

[Spiny Rumples]

Everything being full of added salt or sugar with skim milk instead of whole is annoying too. A lot of Greek yogurt has this problem. Could go on and on but probably should make a thread in the food forum for that.

Every now and then I get back into making yogurt. It's pretty easy and I can choose the milk that goes in as a base (and a dollop of whatever yogurt as a seed culture). Not sure if it's cheaper than just buying the yogurt but I can know almost everything in there. If I sweeten it with honey? I did that, no sneaky bullshit, and I can trust that it has real honey and not some adulterated stuff.

Lately I have been growing wary of emulsifiers too. They seem to harm the gut microbiome (except maybe for gum arabic) but are not trendy to watch out for yet.

Another tangent is this blog/activism website https://tamararubin.com/ Lead Safe Mama.
From what I can tell they take user requests, buy the product, send it to a lab to test for heavy metals, report the results, and if it's passing, they add an amazon affiliate link.
It doesn't seem rigorous but it really scratches that itch for me. The writer notes, however, that it would be best to test one's blood levels of stuff before trying to alter one's diet dramatically.

Edit 2 minutes after posting:
Brooooooooooooooooooooooooo what about homemade butter? Like buy some cream and churn it like you're a historical re-enacter,

 

[AnneRipper1010]

I personally like the weed butter on my toast

 

[WilliamDeLaPole]

Every now and then I get back into making yogurt. It's pretty easy and I can choose the milk

I looked into yogurt and cheese making years ago but it wasn't worth the time and expenses unfortunately. More expensive for less plus the time investment and I don't have access to raw milk so it felt extra poor pointless.

Brooooooooooooooooooooooooo what about homemade butter? Like buy some cream and churn it like you're a historical re-enacter,

I'll channel my inner Townsend and build a brick oven and grow a cow.

 

[2mm and 99 others]

No, there is no more normal
Butter!
and this product is not an exception.