by Malcolm Jolley
Stirling Creamery of Stirling Ontario, north of Belleville, will shortly unveil an 84% fat butter, to be sold to a fledgling group of artisan butchers. Sam Gundy of Olliffe’s, a high-end butcher shop in Toronto’s tony Summerhill neighbourhood has spearheaded the effort, along with his brother and fellow proprietor Ben. He offered GFR a sneak-peak and tantalizing sample of the butter, which is 4% richer than all other Ontario butters for sale. Commercial butters are held at the regulatory 80%, as it’s cheaper to produce lower fat products, and producers are concerned that ‘health conscious’ consumers might be wary of a richer product. Gundy is confident that his foodie customers will enjoy the treat, as will bakers and pastry chefs.
Gundy is a driving force behind the ‘Craft Butchers Association of Ontario’ a start-up group he is putting together made-up of independent butchers, who actually cut their meat, know the provenance of everything they sell and eschew commodity product. Both the butter and association should be available for public consumption in the coming weeks… watch GFR for ongoing reports.
Malcolm Jolley is the Founding Editor of Good Food Revolution and Executive Director of Good Food Media, the non-profit organization that publishes GFR. Follow him at twitter.com/malcolmjolley.
Butchers? How come butchers are promoting butter? Where are the cheesemongers? Where are the delis?
omg… about time for something like this, the butter sculpture competition at the RWF will never be the same, nor will my baking. thank goodness.