cultured butter

[memory maker]

What makes cultured butter different from regular butter and what are the benefits? I just noticed that our HFS has some so I bought it. I usually used regular butter, so do I have to treat it any differently?

[tboroson]

The cream is cultured, similar to sour cream, before churning. The results are more sour - it's an aquired taste! It's why regular butter often says "sweet cream" butter. From an historical perspective, it was cultured because it preserved better, and it was easier to churn than fresh cream butter. The advantage would be that the butter would retain some enzymes from the culturing process, though logic tells me that that advantage would be small since most proteins are ultimately washed out of the butter.

[memory maker]

thanks!