Raw Butter & Ghee
Our raw butter is churned from our raw cream and hand-wrapped in recyclable wax paper. It takes about 5 litres of raw milk to form one 200g stick of butter.
We offer both unsalted and lightly salted butter; we add sea salt flakes from Maldon to get our lightly salted butter.
Benefits of Raw Butter
Butter is a rich source of easily absorbed vitamin A, needed for a wide range of functions, from maintaining good vision to keeping the endocrine system in top shape. Butter also contains all the other fat-soluble vitamins (D, E and K2), which are often lacking in the modern diet. Minerals: butter is rich in important trace minerals, including manganese, chromium, zinc, copper and selenium (a powerful antioxidant). Fatty Acids: butter provides appreciable amounts of short- and medium-chain fatty acids, which support immune function, boost metabolism and have anti-microbial properties; that is, they fight against pathogenic microorganisms in the intestinal tract. Butter also provides the perfect balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fats. Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA): when butter comes from cows eating green grass, it contains high levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a compound that is said to give some protection against cancer and also helps your body build muscle rather than store fat. Wulzen Factor: a hormone-like substance that prevents arthritis and joint stiffness, ensuring that calcium in your body is put into your bones rather than your joints. The Wulzen factor is present only in raw butter and cream; it is destroyed by pasteurisation. Butter is usually wrapped to protect it from light, the absorption of odours, moisture loss, and discoloration. Raw butter may be stored in its original package in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 weeks. The butter will still ‘ripen’ and start to taste more savoury in the fridge but it will be slower than if left at room temperature. Butter can also be frozen, but it begins to lose some of its flavour after about 3 months.
How It's Made
Our cream is gently heated to 15°C then churned until it is separated into the solids (butter) and liquids (buttermilk). The buttermilk is drained off and bottled (see below); the butter, which at this point is popcorn-shaped, is washed with cold water until any remaining cream is gone. The butter is briefly churned again until smooth, then pushed through an extruder like a sausage machine! The butter is cut into rolls, weighed and wrapped by hand, before being chilled to below 5°C.​
Storage instructions: Keep refrigerated, or keep in a closed butter dish at room temperature to make butter spreadable. Our raw butter can also be frozen. If freezing, freeze on day of purchase; defrost in fridge. You can also cut the roll in half and keep one half in the fridge/counter and the other half in the freezer.
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Shelf life: We give our raw butter a Best Before date of 16 days from the day of production. Even if the butter sours after this time, it is still perfectly safe (and healthy) to consume, and can be used as a sour cream.
Raw Buttermilk
Our buttermilk is a by-product of our raw butter when it is churned from cream. It is a thin but buttery-tasting, low-fat liquid which is great for frying chicken in, as well as for making fluffy scones and American-style thick pancakes.
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Our buttermilk is available at all markets, and can be added to your local delivery order.
Storage instructions: Keep refrigerated.​
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Shelf life: We give our raw buttermilk a Best Before date of 11 days from the day of production.
Ghee
Ghee, or clarified butter, is a type of cooking oil made by melting raw butter and boiling it at a high temperature, in order to remove the milk solids and water, until only the fat remains. Popular in Indian cuisine, ghee has a high smoking point, adds plenty of flavour, and does not need to be refrigerated.
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In addition to regular, we also offer three infused ghees: garlic, piri-piri and vanilla & cinnamon
Storage instructions: Store in a cool, dry place, out of direct sunlight. Does not need to be refrigerated. Do not freeze.
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Shelf life: Ghee is pure fat, so it will last on the shelf for years
Benefits of Ghee
Ghee is a great, shelf-stable alternative to either butter or oil for cooking. It has health benefits which have been recognised by Indian cooks for years, where it is used in traditional Indian dishes and even in medicine. When cooking, it can be unhealthy to heat polyunsaturated oils such as vegetable oils to high temperatures: doing so creates peroxides and other free radicals. Ghee, however, has a very high smoke point and doesn't burn easily during cooking. Ghee has stable saturated bonds and so is far less likely to form the dangerous free radicals when cooking. Ghee is made by melting and simmering our raw butter until all the water evaporates and the milk solids settle at the bottom of the pan. After the ghee is made, it is allowed to settle and cool down naturally at room temperature. When cool, the product has a ‘grainy’ texture which disappears quickly once the product is warmed. Ghee contains both hard and runny parts at room temperature; if you like to use ghee as a spread it may be a good idea to keep some in the refrigerator for this purpose. All of our ghee is made from our own organic raw butter. Each pack of butter is handmade, churning just the cream taken from over 9 pints of organic, raw, whole milk. The milk is from our herd of Holstein Friesian cows that feed on our own organic pasture in the summer months and our own organic silage and bespoke supplement in the winter months. Ghee may be unfamiliar to many Westerners, but has been used for at least 2,000 years, and comes with a host of benefits listed in traditional Ayurvedic texts, where ghee is seen as a vital food for healthy skin, mental clarity, and good digestion, medicinal and rejuvenating qualities. (Ayurveda is the ancient natural healing system of India.) Ghee is a Sanskrit word for clarified butter. Ghee is traditionally kept, sometimes for months, without refrigeration. It is best kept in a darkened cupboard. Butter will eventually turn rancid if kept at room temperature, ghee will not. It is the moisture in the butter that promotes decay and as ghee is virtually moisture-free is has no such problem, and will retain its original freshness and flavour for months, even without refrigeration. Ghee is, therefore, a practical way to preserve butter. As a dairy product, ghee is very low on lactose and generally, people who have a lactose intolerance can consume a small amount of ghee. Storage: Ghee will keep for up to 3 months in your kitchen cupboard (away from light, not kept on the worktop) and you can refrigerate it for up to a year. Ghee will become hard in the fridge; however, it will become soft again once you take it out and leave it at room temperature. Do not let any moisture get into your jar, as this can promote bacteria and spoil the ghee so make sure that you use a clean, dry spoon. If you buy a large jar of ghee but don't plan on finishing it in 3 months you may consider transferring some ghee into a small dry sterile glass jar for your kitchen cabinet, and then place the larger jar in the refrigerator.