We moved from NJ to the Manchester, VT area as newlyweds in 1989. For the 6 months, we had no friends. We worked with people, but our co-workers weren’t people could go out with for food and drinks.
Basically, all the “friends” we had were bartenders. Yes, we made friends by tipping them 20%. We always sat at the bar and ate our dinner. Sometimes we talked with other bar patrons, but they were all from Jersey, we wanted VT friends. It made us feel welcome that the bartenders remembered what we drank, what our names were, or what kind of food we always ordered. Nachos…basically the only thing we could afford. Sounds like Cheers. š
We met one bartender named Heidi. I loved when Heidi worked because she was a pastry chef on the side and we would talk about her desserts and pastries. She mentioned one night something about that she could tell the difference between yellow and white butter. Huh????
I couldn’t imagine how you could tell the difference except one was white and the other was yellow. I didn’t ask because she was a new ” friend ” and I didn’t want to appear like a dummy.
It took me about 20 years to finally understand what she meant! I had a big ah-ha moment! There was a difference in taste! The yellow one was so much better. A French or Irish butter was even better than American ones.
When I was a kid growing up in the 1970’s I watched a lot of tv. I knew every commercial by heart. As I watched some of them I didn’t know if my mother bought butter or margarine, but I loved the margarine commercials. Hell, it had to be better stuff since there weren’t any butter commercials. Little did I know.
The two most popular commercials were for Parkay and Chiffon. I liked the Parkay one because the tub of margarine talked to anyone who lifted the lid. I remember wishing ours did that and I tried a million times to get it to talk.
Chiffon was the famous commercial “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature”, another fun one to watch and wait for the thunder and lightning to start. I didn’t want my mother to buy that one though so that advertising had an adverse effect on my young mind.
The other thing I remember about margarine was going to both my grandmother’s houses. On any given day there would be about 10 little margarine tubs in the refrigerator. It took forever to actually figure out what one had the margarine in it. I would open the lids and take peaks until I found the right one. Sometimes I would close my eyes and try to figure out what was in those containers. Beets were a hard one to get and clean too I would imagine. For big leftovers, Cool Whip containers were saved for that purpose.
So what the heck is the difference between butter and margarine?
Margarine is an artificial butter. It can be made from vegetable oil or animal fat. It may contain skimmed milk, salt, and emulsifiers. – Wikipedia
Margarine was invented by a French chemist in the late 1860’s as a challenge from Napoleon III. Farmers were outraged that the price of margarine was so low, at some point The Margarine Tax Act was passed for a short time making the cost the same.
So what’s the difference between yellow and white butter?
Butter is made from cow’s milk. It is made by churning milk or cream to separate the fat from the buttermilk. White butter comes from cows that are fed corn, while yellow comes from cows that are grass-fed. It seemed to me at first that the corn fed should be yellow, but that’s not the case. The grass and flowers that cows eat contain beta-carotene which stays in the fat making the butter yellow. The flavor difference is that the yellow butter is high in omega 3. Some companies have tried tricking their customers by adding beta-carotene & Omega 3 to their butter. That’s artificial folks, but not as artificial as margarine.
In some recipes, you see calling for clarified butter. It is that delicious little cup of drawn butter you get with your lobsters. Wear the bib, butter does not come out of clothing. LOL
Clarified butter is made by melting butter and allowing the components to separate by density. The water evaporates, some solids float to the surface and are skimmed off, and the remainder of the milk solids sink to the bottom and are left behind. The butter is poured into a separatory funnel or gravy fat separator. – Wikipedia
While I am at it I may as well mention Ghee since I love cooking and eating Indian food. Ghee is difficult to make. I myself would buy ghee and never even attempt to try to make it. I know, never say never.
So today has been a butter-filled day for me. It reminded me of Heidi the bartender that originally sparked my interest in butter. I wonder what happened to her and if she is still baking.
