Subject: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Paul Burke Date: 29 Aug 11 - 02:30 PM Spreadable butter- i.e. that doesn't go rock solid when the temperature drops- has been around for quite a few years now, and Kerrygold's big claim to distinction was that they made pure butter spreadable by some arcane process probably involving colleens, leprechauns and vigils to Saint Fionnbarr. Now, quite suddenly, the stuff- same packaging- has in small letters "with olive oil". No big announcement that I've heard, no admission of defeat, no retraction of their former advertising claims. It's therefore now no different from any other product of the type. So why have they done it? Olives don't grow in Erin, so the oil has to be imported to the now- impoverished shamrock shore. What was the technology that allowed them to make their claim? Are the milkmaids no longer sufficiently pure now the tiger has passed on? Oh what shall I do now? T'was lookin' at you now, I'm sure such a pitcher was worthy of royals, T'was the pride of my dairy, oh Barney McClary, We'll have to mix Kerrygold with olive oil! |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: gnu Date: 29 Aug 11 - 02:36 PM Better'n motor oil like the stuff in coffee creamers. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Eliza Date: 29 Aug 11 - 03:02 PM Oh crumbs! I wondered why Tesco no longer have any on their shelves. I got some last week in Roys of Wroxham, but only the small size. It still has 100% pure butter on the pack. I just hate the other makes with added oil, ghastly stuff! Wonder why they stopped doing it with 100% butter? Oh dear, life's little pleasures are slowly being withdrawn. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Jon Date: 29 Aug 11 - 03:25 PM It looks to me as if they have just changed their range of products for the UK market. I can only find the olive oil version on their UK pages but you will see that they list "Softer Butter" (apparently usable from fridge and 100% butter) and "Spreadable Butter" on their international pages. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Lizzie Cornish 1 Date: 29 Aug 11 - 03:34 PM I'm intrigued as to why so many makes of butter have gone up nearly 50% in the last few weeks.. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 29 Aug 11 - 05:16 PM We always have a butter dish on the table, so it's always room temperature and spreadable. (Canada, doesn't do in U.S. Midwest and South summers unless the air-conditioning is on high). "Spreadable" butter must be contaminated with something. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 29 Aug 11 - 06:30 PM I read somewhere that the trick is to give the cows the olive oil, and then you don't need to add it afterwards, and you can truthfully say the product is 100 per cent butter. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 29 Aug 11 - 06:35 PM McGrath, if I give a cow a litre of single malt, how many litres will I get when I milk it? |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 29 Aug 11 - 06:48 PM Lizzie G- "makes of butter"- why, designer cows, of course. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Smokey. Date: 29 Aug 11 - 07:01 PM I think 'spreadable butter' just involved a higher water content. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,mg Date: 29 Aug 11 - 09:53 PM Oh one of my goals in life is to have a little Kerry cow. mg |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 30 Aug 11 - 05:48 AM > "Spreadable" butter must be contaminated with something. I don't have time right now to do the research needed to back this up, and I'm writing from memory - so please note the I-could-be-wrong alert - but: I think the thing that makes these products stay soft and spreadable is the use of trans fats - which are indeed bad guys in the fats world. It's something to do with the temperature at which they harden, and these have a lower threshold, so are attractive to the makers of all kinds of processed foods. I think the term "hydrogenated fats" also means they are indeed trans fats. Olive oil is a good guy - but is it pure? Unprocessed? And do they have to tell you? Radio 4 did an excellent programme about this awhile back, and there may still be a page about it on their website. But this issue is worth investigating, if you google those terms for more info. It's certainly something to be aware of. The fact that things are defined differently on the UK/International web pages may not mean that the content itself is different, simply that UK laws require more detailed/accurate description; so they can legally get away with being more vague where the laws allow*. Again, I'm not sure - but that could be a reason. Anyway, consider the trans fat issue with regard to anything that trumpets some unnatural convenience - like spreadability. - - - *For instance, I know that in Britain merchants are required to include VAT in their advertised prices unless they specifically state "plus VAT" whereas elsewhere the seller doesn't have to. At an Irish VAT rate of 21+% which is set to rise to 23% in 2014, this makes quite a difference. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Jon Date: 30 Aug 11 - 05:55 AM The fact that things are defined differently on the UK/International web pages may not mean that the content itself is different, Bonnie what I found was that they offer two different types of spreadable products on the International website and only one on the UK site. "Spreadable" with olive oil has the same description on both sites. "Softer" which is 100% butter does not appear to be available in the UK for some reason. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 30 Aug 11 - 06:04 AM Fair enough, it was only a guess! A very cursory glance at the BBC Radio website has these links, one of them with a side-box saying: TRANS-FATS They are partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, turning oily foods into semi-solid foods Used to extend shelf life of products Can raise levels of "bad" cholesterol Even a small reduction in consumption can cut heart disease They have no nutritional benefit They are banned in some countries eg. Denmark http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/10374095 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10369198 |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 30 Aug 11 - 06:08 AM Butter can be made spreadable by whipping or aeration without adding any other ingredients. The process simply mixes tiny air bubbles into the butter which makes it lighter and easier to spread. I don't personally buy the stuff since they charge a premium price for it compared with regular stick butter and I object to paying extra for a few CCs of air. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 30 Aug 11 - 09:43 AM It's evidently not olive oil they add to the cows diet, it's rapeseed: "To be marketed as 'butter', the product must be made entirely from milk fat. If any vegetable oil is present, the substance is relabelled as a 'spread', which is often less attractive to consumers. "We just put the vegetable oil in at an earlier stage," says Fearon. The researchers found that the more seed they fed the cows, the more the milk's fat composition changed. Cows fed 1 kilogram of rapeseed a day, produced milk with 35% more oleic acid and 26% less palmitic acid - a type of saturated fat - than cows fed a normal diet. (from here |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 30 Aug 11 - 09:44 AM Which is very much cheaper than olive oil. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Silas Date: 30 Aug 11 - 09:56 AM Well, butter is butter is butter. It matters not wether you make it from double cream, exrta thick doube cream, jersey cream, the end result will always be exactly the same - butter. You can add salt to give flavour, but no matter what packet you pick up from the supermarket shelf, the cheapest or dearest, it is all the same. You can add vegatable oil to make it easier to spread, though olive oil is probably the worst oil to add as it has too much flavour of its own. You can easily make your own butter if you have a kenwood or similar mixer, just bung in cream and switch it on. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 30 Aug 11 - 10:00 AM "it is all the same" No way - you might as well say the same of beer or wine or bread, and you'd be talking nonsense. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Silas Date: 30 Aug 11 - 10:03 AM No, it IS all the same. You are paying for a name. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Peter Laban Date: 30 Aug 11 - 10:06 AM I don't quite understand the OP, as far as I remember it is years and years ago since kerrygold jumped on the Mediterranean food is good for you bandwagon and started adding olive oil to their spread. Well over five years anyway. And the thing is ofcourse, it isn't butter, it's made WITH butter. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 30 Aug 11 - 10:37 AM I wasn't talking about brands, but varieties. Those are not the same thing in food or music. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Callingbird Date: 30 Aug 11 - 01:34 PM Lizzie...the price of butter and food in general has risen because someone, somewhere is making a fortune and screwing us over. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,mg Date: 30 Aug 11 - 03:45 PM Or conversely, many people who could be doing small agricultural endeavors are not ...some having been driven out, some not having the skills or start-up or living in too dense areas etc....but one problem that can be solved is having more people in small agricultural projects such as small dairies, greenhouses etc...government could set some up and give jobs to a number of people. mg |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Peter Laban Date: 30 Aug 11 - 04:23 PM FWIW in that context, Kerry group is one of the largest dairy and food companies in the world. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Penny S. Date: 31 Aug 11 - 03:37 AM Drat, I've been using their 100% spreadable, too. M&S do a version, or have done, so I'll check that out. I have intended, but not got round to, use the wartime process of whipping butter up with water to make it go further, so maybe that is what I'll do now. Penny |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Penny S. Date: 31 Aug 11 - 03:39 AM Oh, and the butter, which still contains traces of buttermilk as well as the fat, varies in flavour and colour according to the time of year and the diet of the cows. My mother (farm bred) could tell summer butter (grass fed, yellower) from winter butter (hay or concentrate fed, whiter). Penny |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Wolfhound person Date: 31 Aug 11 - 08:40 AM Many years ago now, one of the industrial food producers had a project going, using what are now called MRI techniques, to see how much water they could get into their margarine before the customers noticed. Answer was not enough to make it cheaper to produce. Which was the object of the exercise. Butter tastes like butter. Other stuff - doesn't. However "good" for us it is. Paws |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Eliza Date: 31 Aug 11 - 01:47 PM I know 'butter is butter', but the whole point about Kerrygold was that is was nice and spreadable straight from the fridge. Ordinary slab butter is as hard as the hobs. And the other brands of 'spreadable butter' (with oil mixed in) taste ghastly. If you keep your slab butter in a dish out of the fridge, it's soft for spreading but then goes off pretty soon. I've been told to lose two stones in weight and get my cholesterol down so maybe I should be eating dry toast! |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Penny S. Date: 06 Sep 11 - 02:46 PM M&S is still available. I emailed Kerrygold, and have had a nice letter back, including the following sentences about the situation of their farmers and their co-op. "However, on order to maintain this ownership tradition, we need to focus on products which are commersially viable and support the farmers' livelihood. Sadly in this harsh economic climate it is no longer viable for us and our farmers to supply Kerrygold Softer Butter at the volume we used to, which unfortunately means it is no longer available to purchase in the major retailers." They've sent me a voucher to try the olive oil version, which they say tastes great. I would assume that the feed costs have risen higher than the cost of adding oil to the butter afterwards. I did like the flavour of the olive oil spreads, until I worked out that the stuff must have been hydrogenated, and so have lost the advantage of the native oil. So maybe this will be OK, and have the advantage of not being hydrogenated. Bet it isn't cold pressed extra virgin! Penny |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Jon Date: 06 Sep 11 - 03:19 PM Thanks Penny. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Penny S. Date: 07 Sep 11 - 04:06 AM I shall keep looking in minor retailers. Penny |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Eliza Date: 07 Sep 11 - 04:30 AM Bought some of the Kerrygold with olive oil yesterday (will try anything once!) but haven't opened it yet. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: John MacKenzie Date: 07 Sep 11 - 04:38 AM My mother used to mix together margarine and butter, don't remember the proportions. This produces a buttery tasting spread, that stays "spreadable" in colder conditions. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Eliza Date: 07 Sep 11 - 04:42 AM Before fridges were owned (early fifties) my mum had a walk-in larder. No glass in the small, north-facing window, just screening to stop the flies. Even in summer it was chilly in there, and butter was soft but not rancid - perfect! |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Penny S. Date: 21 Jan 12 - 04:57 AM Kerrygold softer butter is back! I've had a letter from them about the re-introduction of the old version, without olive oil, soon to be in new packaging. It will be available in some Sainsburys stores from mid January. They sent me a list of about 155 stores across the country, and from looking at the ones I know, it seems to be the huge rather than the large branches. There seems to be an odd logic about the distribution - three in the Gloucester/Cheltenham area, for instance, while I have to go quite a way. If anyone wants to know if they have it nearby, please supply name of town and first 2 postcode letters. (It's not easy to search the list, it's alphabetical of store name, not town, as Barnwood Gloucester, Gloucester Quays, Tewkesbury Road Cheltenham.) Penny |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,Eliza Date: 21 Jan 12 - 06:09 AM They've got it in Roys of Wroxham (Norfolk), no oil just butter! Whoopee! I shan't be losing any weight just yet. |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: GUEST,mg Date: 21 Jan 12 - 05:15 PM I have never heard of olive oil being hydrogenated..can we double check this... I never touch hydrogenated fats or trans-fats..but my body loves butter and bacon etc...the only way I can keep from gaining weight is to eat an essentially zero carb diet and plenty of fats and vegetables..also lowers blood sugars. The only time I actually can lose a bit is when I eat bacon. I am scared of the salt and nitrates and parasites and hormones etc. but I am not ascared of the fat. I would rethink the dry toast and eat the butter instead on vegetables. High cholesteral is part of metabolic syndrome and that is caused by a genetic tendency plus too many carbs for a particular body..well, that is one reason for it..some people just are genetically disposed. mg |
Subject: RE: BS: Kerrygold spreadable; Now With Olive Oil From: Joe Offer Date: 22 Jan 12 - 02:03 AM I get Kerrygold butter at Trader Joe's here in Northern California, and I really like it. Ingredients are pasteurized cream and salt. It's easier to spread and has more flavor than the local butter, but it's not as spreadable as I'd like. I like olive oil and believe all the health claims about it, so I wouldn't mind having a bit of olive oil in my butter if it made it more spreadable. I love Swiss cheese, and Trader Joe's used to carry Kerrygold Swiss cheese that was like a trip to heaven. They don't have it any more, so I get Trader Joe's Baby Swiss. It's good, but not like the Kerrygold. -Joe- |