Morgan Hunt Ward; Prop Stylist: Abby Armstrong; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall
When it comes to ingredients like butter, you can taste the difference. Whether you’re spreading it on a warm piece of bread or baking it into your favorite batch of cookies, a good stick of butter is an important kitchen staple.
When you’re trying to pick which butter to grab at the store, you have a lot of options to choose from. Luckily, our editors conducted a taste test where we sampled 12 different store-bought butters to help you have an easier decision next time you head to the grocery store.
How We Tested
We cut each stick of salted butter into small pieces, placed them on plates, and hid the packaging, so each tester could sample the butters without seeing which brand they were tasting.
Editors sampled the butters side by side, scoring them on taste, texture, and overall experience using a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. After everyone ranked their picks, we tallied the results to find the winner.
The Contenders
Kirkland Butter Salted (Costco)
Member’s Mark Butter (Sam’s Club)
Simply Nature Butter (Aldi)
Good & Gather Butter (Target)
Publix Sweet Cream Butter
How Each Brand ScoredGreat Value Butter
“This one tastes nostalgic, like the butter you’d have on sandwiches as a kid,” said one of our editors. It has a mild flavor with a hint of salt, making it a suitable accompaniment for a variety of dishes, from biscuits to pancakes.
Vital Farms
Vital Farms is yellower in color compared to other butters, and a couple of our editors said it reminded them of movie theater butter popcorn. Smooth, creamy, and nicely salted, some thought it would spread great on bread, but may be too soft to bake with.
365 By Whole Foods
“A good, plain, and balanced butter,” wrote one of our editors about Whole Foods’ 365 Salted Butter. A traditional butter flavor with slightly more salt, it would spread well on a biscuit. Another editor said, “creamy, balanced, and may be good for baking.”
Land O’Lakes
Land O’Lakes was well liked by our editors and was noted for its very spreadable consistency. The flavor was also a standout component of this butter, with one of our editors saying it has a “rich dairy flavor, lovely salinity, and creaminess.”
Kirkland Butter Salted
Kirkland butter was noted for having a light, salty flavor and creamy texture that would make it a good candidate for baking. A couple of editors said this butter tasted nutty and would be great for browned butter.
Tillamook
“Sweet and creamy dairy flavor with a good balance between salt and sweetness,” said one of our editors. Others felt like Tillamook would be a good basic butter for bread and toast, because it is “more balanced than others and not very salty. It’s not overpowering at all and feels delicate but still firm.”
Member’s Mark Butter
Our editors enjoyed Member’s Mark Butter. One said, “This one felt more complex than others. It’s creamy, a little nutty, a little salty, and melts on the tongue.” Overall, this one has a nice texture and taste and would be good for baking.
Simply Nature Butter
“I like this. A nice balance of salt throughout,” wrote one editor. Simply Nature Butter fared well in our taste test, with several editors commenting on the smooth and creamy texture and nice balance of salty and nutty flavors.
Trader Joe’s Butter
“Very soft and smooth, salty, and creamy. I like the balance here,” wrote an editor about Trader Joe’s Salted Butter. This was one our editors thought would be good for everything from buttered toast to brown sugar recipes because of its balanced texture and taste.
Kerrygold
Kerrygold butter is known for its higher fat content and richer, deeper flavor from grass-fed cows, giving it its bright yellow color. Our editors definitely picked up that this one had the brightest yellow color of all the butters. Other standout features are its creamy texture that almost “melts on your tongue” when you eat it.
Good & Gather Butter
“More delicate and milky on the front with a little salt flavor on the backend,” wrote one of our editors. “It tastes like it would pair well with a wide range of food, but also be a solid baking butter.” Good & Gather was noted for having a firmer texture and balanced saltiness.
Publix Sweet Cream Butter
Publix has a nice balance of salt without being overpowering and is creamy without being too soft. Our editors liked that Publix butter was firm with a mild flavor, which would make it a great option for spreading on toast or bread or mixing into a recipe.
The Runners-Up
Morgan Hunt Ward; Prop Stylist: Abby Armstrong; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall
Publix Sweet Cream Salted Butter was one of two runner-ups in our taste test. Out of all the butters, our editors thought this one had the most balanced salt levels. Without a super strong flavor or texture, this butter is mild and balanced and would be great for a variety of purposes.
Morgan Hunt Ward; Prop Stylist: Abby Armstrong; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall
Great Value Sweet Cream Salted Butter was the other runner-up of our taste test. One editor wrote, “This one is the most similar to the German butter I grew up eating. It has a fresh dairy taste, it’s not too salty, and it just has a good quality flavor.” A lot of editors thought this one was balanced and “pleasant” to eat.
The Winner
Morgan Hunt Ward; Prop Stylist: Abby Armstrong; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall
The winner of our butter taste test is Trader Joe’s Salted Butter. “I think this would be good for anything from buttered toast to baking to brown butter recipes,” said an editor. Many noted the soft texture of Trader Joe’s butter, saying it practically melted on their tongues. Soft, creamy, and slightly salty, it’s the butter our editors will most likely reach for at the store next time.
Read the original article on Southern Living
Dining and Cooking