I used to cook professionally and still enjoy cooking for friends. Last weekend I learned something very exciting. On Sunday, I tuned into a cooking show on PBS, that I haven’t seen in a while—Cook’s Country. They regularly have a segment where they do a blind taste test of commonly used products.
This week it turned out to be butter—one of my favorite “food” items.
The host of Cook’s Country, Christopher Kimball, does the final tasting in addition to a small audience who also tastes each of the unidentified items. Kimball gives a descriptive opinion for each one, he votes on his favorite and least favorite, and then the brands are revealed. Ta da
In this particular taste test, the winner was LURPAK, made in Denmark. I made a point of seeking it out when I shopped at Fairway on Monday, and they had it. It is pricey in comparison to other similar butters including organic which I usually buy; BUT, I bought it anyway, and I have to say, it is really yummy.
I’m a devoted believer in Martha Stewart's philosophy when it comes to butter—you can never have too much butter. Ha-ha. It’s always a treat when you discover something that wonderful, but on the down side, you never want to go back to what you used to buy. Oh well...
Here are a few of the other favored choices from the taste test:
But, there's more to the story of butter.
Controversies surrounding butter.
In the second half of the twentieth century, butter got a bad rap and was linked to a host of health problems. We now know that butter’s negative reputation was undeserved, and instead that butter substitutes and manmade trans fats are the real threats to our health.
Recent studies show just how important butter is to a healthy diet. It supplies our bodies with vitamins and minerals; boosts our immune system; helps hormone production; and supports our bones, organs, and most importantly, our brain. Good natural butter is satisfying and can even help with maintaining a healthy weight.
Fat doesn’t make us fat.
Good animal fats, like butter, are very satisfying and make us less likely to overeat or snack between meals.
A low fat diet is not necessarily good for us.
It turns out that diets low in fat leave us hungry, depressed, and prone to illness. Over time, as we replaced animal fats with trans fats, sugars, and other refined carbohydrates, we didn’t lose weight—we gained it. We forgot that fat and protein were satisfying, while starches and sugar led to cravings and weight gain.
Fat is an important part of a healthy diet.
Fat supports the essential building blocks for our body—our cells.
Polyunsaturated fats are not better for us.
All fats are not equal. Highly polyunsaturated fats are very unstable and oxidize easily, especially when heated, which makes them unsuitable for cooking. Oxidized fat makes us sick and damages our cells’ DNA. If these fats are hydrogenated to make them stable at higher temperatures, they are full of trans fats. In addition, polyunsaturated fats can suppress our immune system, and our increased consumption of them has adversely affected the balance of the essential fatty acids in our bodies.
Most of us are getting too much omega-6 fat because we consume large amounts polyunsaturated fats. Too much omega-6 restricts our intake of omega-3 and is linked to cancer, heart disease, liver damage, learning disorders, weight gain, and malfunction of the immune, digestive, and reproductive systems. We all need more omega-3 in our diet and that omega-3 is found in butter and the fat from grass-fed animals.
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