Assorted Sweet & Savory Butters
Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills
- mash :
to reduce food, like potatoes or bananas, to a soft, pulpy state by beating or pressure.
- measure :
to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).
- mix :
to thoroughly combine two or more ingredients until uniform in texture.
- zest :
to scrape off the outer colored part of a citrus fruit's rind (skin or peel) using a metal tool with small sharp blades, such as a zester, microplane, or the small holes of a grater (avoid the "pith," the white, spongy lining of the rind that can be bitter).
Equipment Checklist
Ingredients
Assorted Sweet & Savory Butters
- Sweet Butter!
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1 tsp or more sugar/maple syrup/honey
- suggested sweet add-ins!
- try one or more combos or make up your own:
- brown sugar + cinnamon or pumpkin spice
- orange zest + dried cranberries
- cocoa powder + more sugar + peppermint extract or minced fresh mint
- honey + vanilla extract
- strawberries + orange zest
- Savory Butter!
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1/4 tsp salt + more to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- suggested savory add-ins!
- try one or more combos or make up your own:
- fresh chives + parsley + lemon zest
- Parmesan cheese + fresh basil + fresh sweet corn
- lemon + capers
- chopped tomato + basil
Instructions
Assorted Sweet & Savory Butters
divide + zest + chop
Divide 1 stick of soft butter in half. Choose your ingredients and divide them into "sweet" and "savory" categories. Then zest any citrus fruit and chop any veggies, fruit, or herbs you've chosen.
measure + mix + mash
To your sweet butter, add 1 teaspoon of sugar and any other sweet additions you've chosen. To your savory butter, add 1/4 teaspoon of salt or more to taste, 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper, and any savory additions you've chosen. Mix 'n mash the butters separately until all ingredients are combined, then serve with warm High-Tea English "Crumpets" (see recipe) and Quickest Fruit Jam (see recipe)!
History of Butter!
- First churned at least 4,000 years ago, butter became an essential food. As the story goes, it all began one hot day when a Nomad tied a pouch of milk to his horse's neck and later found the heat and jostling had churned the milk into a tasty yellow product.
- Before butter became exclusively used as food, people used it as money.
- For years, butter was only made at home by mixing cream in a container to form butter lumps. Then, as the butter became thicker, the liquid buttermilk was drawn off, and the butter was washed and removed.
- Butter churns evolved from skin pouches to earthenware pots that would be rocked, shaken, or swung with whole milk or cream inside to separate the fat.
- Eating butter increases the absorption of other nutrients in foods. Because butter is made from milk or cream, it has more nutritional benefits than margarine, a butter-like spread made from vegetable oils. In addition, butter has been around for centuries, where margarine has been around for less than 200 years.