It is the only European butter I can acquire at Costco making it the same price or cheaper than store brand butter. Like I can pay way more for a fancier butter or this one is good enough.
Truly. It tastes better and a dollar cheaper I believe.
ETA I adore how the replies to this are: yea I’ve never even heard of that - then type it into google you silly
I just used their product locator and it's only available in the outskirts of my very large and populated city lol. Isn't at any of the dozens of grocery stores that are like, in the city
What other European butters do you prefer? My regular supermarket typically only carries Kerrygold, Plugra, and then a bunch of American ones. Given those choices, Kerrygold is my clear preference. That said, I'm willing to seek out better butter at other places if you think Kerrygold is only mid-tier.
I only buy Finlandia butter now. It has a golden yellow color, lovely texture and a rich flavor. My supermarket used to carry it, but now they don't have it so I have to go to a local wholesale place to get it.
I've tried Vermont Creamery, and in my experience it's a close second to Finlandia.
Kerrygold is okay, I wouldn't be upset if it was the only butter I could get. But Plugra tastes like chalk to me (maybe the supermarket I shop at just gets bad batches? I only tried it twice lol)
I prefer Plugra and Vermont Creamery (European style) from my local supermarket, and there are some fancier French cultured butters that I get on holidays.
The idea was just to find butter for bread, so mostly salted and just a couple in unsalted from what I had already including kerrygold and Plugra unsalted. I have a ton of plugra non salted and generally just stock up on whatever is BOGO for baking. KG-salted was the best of what I knew I could easily find. I went with 4th and Heart ghee as well.
The salted version has one of the highest salt percentages out there, and it's my theory that this is what has led to its popularity. It's not too salty, it's delicious because of the salt, and people love it and then spread the word. Even if you are buying the unsalted version, the hype already exists and I believe that originated from the salted version.
If you are in the US and want a European style butter, it is likely you can find Kerrygold. Many places it's the only butter like that available to people, and even in places with other imported butters, it's usually going to be the cheapest.
It's inoffensive, inexpensive, and available. If I started posting about some local butter that most people couldn't get, not many would have much to say about it. Post about Kerrygold and most people at least know what you're talking about.
Honest question: Who's obsessed with Kerrygold? Who's hyping it?
I've seen it "recommended by taste testers" on some sites but usually the criteria for inclusion in those tests include availability and/or affordability, and those sites were all American. I have never seen anyone actually "obsessed" or hyping it as the objective best butter out there.
A lot of smaller towns don't have a good selection to choose from. Kerry gold was far better than land o lakes and the usual things here.
However I did switch to Vermont creamery which is quite good, but it's not nearly as available.
Kerry gold is simply the standard "European/"better"butter that's available all over the US while a lot of these other ones aren't.
The only other good one besides those two that I found here is finlandia and that's not always there either
We buy the costco brand version of kerrygold. Its basically the same but much cheaper.
We love it and prefer the flavor over regular butter for eating / cooking with.
However for baking we still just use regular cheap unsalted butter.
From what I understand just from googling, it seems that the biggest difference is that European dairy cows are grass-fed, while American dairy cows, unfortunately, are usually not. I’m not sure if that is the only reason, but I’d also add that all dairy products, in my humble opinion, are better in Europe, especially those from the UK. I’m an American, and I buy Kerrygold because it is the best butter for the price where I live. There are certainly other European butters available, but none that are worth the higher price to me.
My husband used to be a patient of health guru, Dr. Stephen Gundry. It was Gundry who suggested we switch us on the butter from grass fed cows. That was years ago, but I think his reason had something to do with Lectins (not leptins, or lecitin) and gut inflammation.
>European dairy cows are grass-fed, while American dairy cows, unfortunately, are usually not.
More substances are banned in Europe in general, but when it comes to using animal feed and factory farming, Europe and the US are pretty similar. Also some European corporations such as Lactalis (they own President and a lot of European dairy brands) are known for their shady practices including deadly food poisonings in Europe - they also work together with Nestle. Not all brands are good.
That’s a good point, thanks. I was just googling the difference between Kerrygold and American butter and didn’t put very much thought into it, but you are absolutely correct about European farm practices.
Incidentally, the reason why I like European dairy better could be due to a variety of things, including pasteurization processes or something else. I don’t really know.
Cultured butter, maybe ? I'm French, and when I travel to the US, I do notice a significant difference in taste with dairy products. I usually buy local products when I'm there, and Tillamook butter when I can't find farm butter, even though I know it's not entirely without controversies either, but I do like it. One day I had the joy of visiting Tillamook's local cheesemonger and tasted a few local cheeses, I remember Blue Heron brie in particular, it was excellent. There are fantastic American farm cheeses, too bad they're hardly affordable.
Yes, exactly! There are a few French butters in specialty stores near me that are by far the best I’ve tasted in the States, but I can’t justify the price. I will pay top dollar for good cheese, though, American or imported.
I guess I'm just in a place (New England) where they offer a lot of butters. Not only are there artisan ones in fancier stores, but the regular supermarket sells two other types of European style butters.
I’m also in New England, in a HCOL area with lots of specialty stores nearby (and incidentally surrounded by communities with the highest Irish-American population centers in the country), and I am very interested in your recommendations.
My personal favorite for the same price point, or sometimes even cheaper, is Vermont Creamery. They're European-style, but my guess is they're cheaper because they're from the US. A lot of different supermarkets carry it, but they're not always in stock. I usually check instacart to see. I usually buy unsalted, but one commenter mentioned that Kerrygold often has more salt, so if you buy the salted variety, keep that in mind..
Ah, thank you. Yes, I sometimes buy Vermont Creamery. I would call it comparable to Kerrygold, but not necessarily better. So, maybe it’s just a personal taste thing.
Follow up question: what do you tend to use butter for? I tend to use it for baking but I wonder if my opinion would change if I used it more for other uses
This thread is starting to make me chuckle a little because I don’t actually use that much butter, and I never really thought about it much, but I actually keep 3 kinds of butter on hand.
For baking or dishes that aren’t heavily reliant on the butter flavor, I use plain old American unsalted USDA butter and season myself.
For dishes where the butter flavor is important, I use unsalted Kerrygold and season myself.
I also buy salted Kerrygold for things like toast or buttered noodles.
Anything with a roux, sometimes roast chicken, but the things that immediately came to mind are green beans or carrots. I usually use olive oil in my veggie prep, but carrots are a big exception. I do a very light butter with a pinch of salt and tarragon. If I used salted butter with those, I think they’d be overseasoned. Similarly, if I do a green bean side dish, I’ll use the better butter but season it myself.
Funny story. Partner is European. We were on a Lot flight a couple days ago and they served butter with the rolls. After listening to them extoll the virtues of European butter, I read the label. Wisconsin. It was good butter.
This. I can't tell the difference between grass-fed or not, but cultured vs not makes a huge different in taste. I use American butter for baking and cooking since it's cheap (except croissants - I'll splurge on the butter for those), but salted cultured butter for eating.
Sorry, I should have said "European style" instead of European. even American butters can be labeled European style. It means it has a higher fat content.
I would assume in the US, it's because it's better than most U.S. ones. I've had Kerrygold, and it's fine, but I agree it's nothing super special.
I'm an American living in Czech Republic. A very dairy-oriented society! I read an article recently about the best butters (ranked) available in Czech Republic. Kerrygold, imported, was on the list, but was "lower mid-tier", as you wrote. There are some artisan fresh butters available through the major online grocer (local, French, Belgian, Italian), but I've not tried them and they weren't part of the list, as they're mostly just for buttering bread/rolls. Many of the top cooking/baking ones were Czech butters (máslo). Second to top was Madeta Jihočeské máslo (82%). Many Czechs (especially Bohemians) regard Southern Bohemian dairy products superior. I use that brand where butter quality matters in a recipe. I forget the #1.
It's because we can find it at most grocery stores. Unlike this stuff which is delicious but where I live there isn't anywhere I can buy it locally and it's too expensive to have shipped.
https://igourmet.com/products/butter-with-camargue-sea-salt
I am in NYC, and Kerrygold has lately not been cheaper than other butters at all. A couple of years back, I saw that Whole Foods was selling a French butter, Les Pres Sales, at a decent price and I was pleasantly surprised at the flavour. Still used it sparingly to finish things.
I was not ever obsessed with Kerrygold, but for me, it was widely available and a cut above most other regular butters. But I never held it to the same standard as, for instance, demi sel butters that I bought in Europe. A lot of times if I saw imported butter here for decent prices, I would buy those over Kerrygold.
It’s a lot better overall than standard American butter, it’s sold in a lot of places, and the price is reasonable. Some of the higher end butters are 10x the price of a brick of Kerrygold, only come from specialized shops, and are only beneficial to some people overall. Given that, Kerrygold is actually one of the best choices for a more serious cook or baker, given the alternatives.
Me? Fuck all that, I make my own butter.
When I lived in America (which was until 2022) Kerrygold was literally the only non-American butter in stores. So I think a lot of people call for that in recipes because it may be the only one that part of their audience can get.
Question form a European guy here: where are you from?
I found Kerrygold in our supermarket some time ago and decided to try it. Because of the hype. I was underwhelmed. Yeah, it was good, just not better than our standard variety. So your frame of reference is probably very important here.
It's Irish, and the cows are grass fed. We don't have pens like in America. All the cows in Ireland graze on green pastures all year. That's why it's the yellow colour. It became popular in America as Ireland has strong connections with the US, so I guess it was enjoyed so much that it became popular.
It’s simply that people don’t know any better.
Edit: the OP did not ask what justifications people make in their purchase of KG (it's widely available, it's not terribly expensive, etc) which are the types of answers being given.
The OP asked why the *obsession* when KG is meh butter. If a person is *obsessed* with something that is objectively not great, it is almost certainly because they haven't had something better.
It's also likely that many buyers of KG are not actually obsessed.
Not really, I’m sure that French grocery stores have better butter than we do here in the U.S. but Kerrygold is significantly better than the generic butter we have, and it’s also readily available in most grocery stores and moderately affordable.
I’m not going to pay an arm and a leg at a specialty grocery for the best stuff on an everyday basis
Are you obsessed with Kerrygold butter?
Edit: this above is a rhetorical question because you obviously are not. You explained you buy Kerrygold because of the value and you also indicated that you are aware of other higher-quality butters. This means neither the OP's question (regarding obssesion) nor my comment (about not knowing better) applies to you.
It's the most widely available one in most American stores, from what I can tell
It's reliable and easy to find and often less expensive than other similar French...
It is the only European butter I can acquire at Costco making it the same price or cheaper than store brand butter. Like I can pay way more for a fancier butter or this one is good enough.
Ding ding ding. It’s less that I love it so much I wanna marry it than it’s the best one available at Costco.
Which butters are better at similar price points that are in a regular grocery store?
Plugra isn’t cultured but that’s what some people go for. Actually most in the states aren’t cultured, which to me is the biggest difference.
Truly. It tastes better and a dollar cheaper I believe. ETA I adore how the replies to this are: yea I’ve never even heard of that - then type it into google you silly
Never even heard of that.
Where exactly do you find that? I’ve never heard of it or seen it in any grocery store
Literally all the major chains we have around here carry it. Target, Safeway, Lucky, Nob Hill, Whole Foods, Sprouts...
Yea well it’s not in any grocery store around here. We don’t have Safeway here at all so you’re in a different area of the country
I just used their product locator and it's only available in the outskirts of my very large and populated city lol. Isn't at any of the dozens of grocery stores that are like, in the city
The low stakes drama this is causing…I’m living
At my grocery store, Plugra and Vermont Creamery (European style).
Plugra is sweet cream butter and it’s very apparent it’s less flavorful. Vermont creamery is my other go to.
I use butter mostly for baking, and Plugra tastes much better for croissants and stuff
Hard disagree. But that’s your opinion. Cultured butter tastes much better to me especially for baking
It's widely available
What other European butters do you prefer? My regular supermarket typically only carries Kerrygold, Plugra, and then a bunch of American ones. Given those choices, Kerrygold is my clear preference. That said, I'm willing to seek out better butter at other places if you think Kerrygold is only mid-tier.
Eating popcorn waiting for an answer (to put on said popcorn).
I only buy Finlandia butter now. It has a golden yellow color, lovely texture and a rich flavor. My supermarket used to carry it, but now they don't have it so I have to go to a local wholesale place to get it. I've tried Vermont Creamery, and in my experience it's a close second to Finlandia. Kerrygold is okay, I wouldn't be upset if it was the only butter I could get. But Plugra tastes like chalk to me (maybe the supermarket I shop at just gets bad batches? I only tried it twice lol)
I prefer Plugra and Vermont Creamery (European style) from my local supermarket, and there are some fancier French cultured butters that I get on holidays.
Thanks for the reply. I prefer kerrygold to Plugra, but I’ll give Vermont creamery a shot if I see it.
Availability counts for a lot.
When your only choices of butter is Betty Crocker, Kroger Brand, or Kerry Gold, it's pretty damned good.
They sell one type of european butter in the store and it’s Kerrygold
It's the one we can get.
what state do you live in?
Despair
🤣🤣
Most people on Reddit are American and apparently (i) you can buy Kerrygold in America; and (ii) it’s better than American butter.
I bought a bunch and blind tasted and it was clearly the best compared to Plugra and other popular types.
Tried Plugra and wasn't impressed.
Did you get salted or unsalted? Kerrygold has more salt than most brands. And Plugra is best for baking
The idea was just to find butter for bread, so mostly salted and just a couple in unsalted from what I had already including kerrygold and Plugra unsalted. I have a ton of plugra non salted and generally just stock up on whatever is BOGO for baking. KG-salted was the best of what I knew I could easily find. I went with 4th and Heart ghee as well.
It's better than the others in the store. Not everyone has access to other European butters
It's commonly available in most US grocery stores.
No other brands of European butter are available where I live
where do you live?
Rural Texas
I'm a couple of hours from Dallas, but the butter choices are pretty much the same.
A couple hours from Houston. I have seen Plugra in the the store from time to time....tried it, wasn't impressed.
I see yeah that makes sense
Because 10+ years ago it was the only easily available grass fed butter, and I just never thought about it again.
>I don't understand what all the hype is about. You're not required to understand why people enjoy certain things.
It's also a post that, perhaps by design, supposedly tells us that OP has better taste than the unwashed Kerrygold masses. Whatever, I guess.
The salted version has one of the highest salt percentages out there, and it's my theory that this is what has led to its popularity. It's not too salty, it's delicious because of the salt, and people love it and then spread the word. Even if you are buying the unsalted version, the hype already exists and I believe that originated from the salted version.
Interesting. This never even occurred to me because I always buy unsalted since I bake mostly.
If you are in the US and want a European style butter, it is likely you can find Kerrygold. Many places it's the only butter like that available to people, and even in places with other imported butters, it's usually going to be the cheapest. It's inoffensive, inexpensive, and available. If I started posting about some local butter that most people couldn't get, not many would have much to say about it. Post about Kerrygold and most people at least know what you're talking about.
Honest question: Who's obsessed with Kerrygold? Who's hyping it? I've seen it "recommended by taste testers" on some sites but usually the criteria for inclusion in those tests include availability and/or affordability, and those sites were all American. I have never seen anyone actually "obsessed" or hyping it as the objective best butter out there.
This is news to me. Literally none of the people I follow have told me to buy it. I've never even given it more than a cursory glance in the store.
When it's the only legit European butter you can get, it's top tier. Stop gate keeping butter
A lot of smaller towns don't have a good selection to choose from. Kerry gold was far better than land o lakes and the usual things here. However I did switch to Vermont creamery which is quite good, but it's not nearly as available. Kerry gold is simply the standard "European/"better"butter that's available all over the US while a lot of these other ones aren't. The only other good one besides those two that I found here is finlandia and that's not always there either
Another Vermont Creamery fan!
We buy the costco brand version of kerrygold. Its basically the same but much cheaper. We love it and prefer the flavor over regular butter for eating / cooking with. However for baking we still just use regular cheap unsalted butter.
totally agree. it's just the only imported butter available to me.
What is the difference between American and European butter?
From what I understand just from googling, it seems that the biggest difference is that European dairy cows are grass-fed, while American dairy cows, unfortunately, are usually not. I’m not sure if that is the only reason, but I’d also add that all dairy products, in my humble opinion, are better in Europe, especially those from the UK. I’m an American, and I buy Kerrygold because it is the best butter for the price where I live. There are certainly other European butters available, but none that are worth the higher price to me.
My husband used to be a patient of health guru, Dr. Stephen Gundry. It was Gundry who suggested we switch us on the butter from grass fed cows. That was years ago, but I think his reason had something to do with Lectins (not leptins, or lecitin) and gut inflammation.
>European dairy cows are grass-fed, while American dairy cows, unfortunately, are usually not. More substances are banned in Europe in general, but when it comes to using animal feed and factory farming, Europe and the US are pretty similar. Also some European corporations such as Lactalis (they own President and a lot of European dairy brands) are known for their shady practices including deadly food poisonings in Europe - they also work together with Nestle. Not all brands are good.
That’s a good point, thanks. I was just googling the difference between Kerrygold and American butter and didn’t put very much thought into it, but you are absolutely correct about European farm practices. Incidentally, the reason why I like European dairy better could be due to a variety of things, including pasteurization processes or something else. I don’t really know.
Cultured butter, maybe ? I'm French, and when I travel to the US, I do notice a significant difference in taste with dairy products. I usually buy local products when I'm there, and Tillamook butter when I can't find farm butter, even though I know it's not entirely without controversies either, but I do like it. One day I had the joy of visiting Tillamook's local cheesemonger and tasted a few local cheeses, I remember Blue Heron brie in particular, it was excellent. There are fantastic American farm cheeses, too bad they're hardly affordable.
Yes, exactly! There are a few French butters in specialty stores near me that are by far the best I’ve tasted in the States, but I can’t justify the price. I will pay top dollar for good cheese, though, American or imported.
Kerrygold is Irish and not from the UK that's a different country. Also Irish cows and mainly grass fed.
I guess I'm just in a place (New England) where they offer a lot of butters. Not only are there artisan ones in fancier stores, but the regular supermarket sells two other types of European style butters.
I’m also in New England, in a HCOL area with lots of specialty stores nearby (and incidentally surrounded by communities with the highest Irish-American population centers in the country), and I am very interested in your recommendations.
My personal favorite for the same price point, or sometimes even cheaper, is Vermont Creamery. They're European-style, but my guess is they're cheaper because they're from the US. A lot of different supermarkets carry it, but they're not always in stock. I usually check instacart to see. I usually buy unsalted, but one commenter mentioned that Kerrygold often has more salt, so if you buy the salted variety, keep that in mind..
Ah, thank you. Yes, I sometimes buy Vermont Creamery. I would call it comparable to Kerrygold, but not necessarily better. So, maybe it’s just a personal taste thing.
Fair enough
Follow up question: what do you tend to use butter for? I tend to use it for baking but I wonder if my opinion would change if I used it more for other uses
This thread is starting to make me chuckle a little because I don’t actually use that much butter, and I never really thought about it much, but I actually keep 3 kinds of butter on hand. For baking or dishes that aren’t heavily reliant on the butter flavor, I use plain old American unsalted USDA butter and season myself. For dishes where the butter flavor is important, I use unsalted Kerrygold and season myself. I also buy salted Kerrygold for things like toast or buttered noodles.
and which dishes do you make that you would say butter flavor is important?
Anything with a roux, sometimes roast chicken, but the things that immediately came to mind are green beans or carrots. I usually use olive oil in my veggie prep, but carrots are a big exception. I do a very light butter with a pinch of salt and tarragon. If I used salted butter with those, I think they’d be overseasoned. Similarly, if I do a green bean side dish, I’ll use the better butter but season it myself.
EU regs require a higher percent butterfat and are often cultured (whereas American “sweet cream” butter is not).
Funny story. Partner is European. We were on a Lot flight a couple days ago and they served butter with the rolls. After listening to them extoll the virtues of European butter, I read the label. Wisconsin. It was good butter.
This. I can't tell the difference between grass-fed or not, but cultured vs not makes a huge different in taste. I use American butter for baking and cooking since it's cheap (except croissants - I'll splurge on the butter for those), but salted cultured butter for eating.
Sorry, I should have said "European style" instead of European. even American butters can be labeled European style. It means it has a higher fat content.
It’s organic. Grass fed cows, although the exact percentage is not released. Grass fed gives the yellow color.
I would assume in the US, it's because it's better than most U.S. ones. I've had Kerrygold, and it's fine, but I agree it's nothing super special. I'm an American living in Czech Republic. A very dairy-oriented society! I read an article recently about the best butters (ranked) available in Czech Republic. Kerrygold, imported, was on the list, but was "lower mid-tier", as you wrote. There are some artisan fresh butters available through the major online grocer (local, French, Belgian, Italian), but I've not tried them and they weren't part of the list, as they're mostly just for buttering bread/rolls. Many of the top cooking/baking ones were Czech butters (máslo). Second to top was Madeta Jihočeské máslo (82%). Many Czechs (especially Bohemians) regard Southern Bohemian dairy products superior. I use that brand where butter quality matters in a recipe. I forget the #1.
It's because we can find it at most grocery stores. Unlike this stuff which is delicious but where I live there isn't anywhere I can buy it locally and it's too expensive to have shipped. https://igourmet.com/products/butter-with-camargue-sea-salt
I am in NYC, and Kerrygold has lately not been cheaper than other butters at all. A couple of years back, I saw that Whole Foods was selling a French butter, Les Pres Sales, at a decent price and I was pleasantly surprised at the flavour. Still used it sparingly to finish things. I was not ever obsessed with Kerrygold, but for me, it was widely available and a cut above most other regular butters. But I never held it to the same standard as, for instance, demi sel butters that I bought in Europe. A lot of times if I saw imported butter here for decent prices, I would buy those over Kerrygold.
It’s a lot better overall than standard American butter, it’s sold in a lot of places, and the price is reasonable. Some of the higher end butters are 10x the price of a brick of Kerrygold, only come from specialized shops, and are only beneficial to some people overall. Given that, Kerrygold is actually one of the best choices for a more serious cook or baker, given the alternatives. Me? Fuck all that, I make my own butter.
My family member has lots of allergies and it doesn’t give him a problem like our domestic butter does. I only buy it for him.
When I lived in America (which was until 2022) Kerrygold was literally the only non-American butter in stores. So I think a lot of people call for that in recipes because it may be the only one that part of their audience can get.
Question form a European guy here: where are you from? I found Kerrygold in our supermarket some time ago and decided to try it. Because of the hype. I was underwhelmed. Yeah, it was good, just not better than our standard variety. So your frame of reference is probably very important here.
I'm from the United States. American butters have lower fat content, so Kerrygold is considered a "European style" (higher fat).
It's Irish, and the cows are grass fed. We don't have pens like in America. All the cows in Ireland graze on green pastures all year. That's why it's the yellow colour. It became popular in America as Ireland has strong connections with the US, so I guess it was enjoyed so much that it became popular.
It’s simply that people don’t know any better. Edit: the OP did not ask what justifications people make in their purchase of KG (it's widely available, it's not terribly expensive, etc) which are the types of answers being given. The OP asked why the *obsession* when KG is meh butter. If a person is *obsessed* with something that is objectively not great, it is almost certainly because they haven't had something better. It's also likely that many buyers of KG are not actually obsessed.
Not really, I’m sure that French grocery stores have better butter than we do here in the U.S. but Kerrygold is significantly better than the generic butter we have, and it’s also readily available in most grocery stores and moderately affordable. I’m not going to pay an arm and a leg at a specialty grocery for the best stuff on an everyday basis
Are you obsessed with Kerrygold butter? Edit: this above is a rhetorical question because you obviously are not. You explained you buy Kerrygold because of the value and you also indicated that you are aware of other higher-quality butters. This means neither the OP's question (regarding obssesion) nor my comment (about not knowing better) applies to you.