Real artisan butter is enjoying something of a renaissance – why buy a processed “spread” or uniform factory butter when you can seek out something local and full of character?

Is all butter made the same way? There are two main styles: sweetcream, made with fresh, pasteurised cream, which accounts for most modern British, US and New Zealand butters, and lactic, once the norm in British smallholdings, and usually preferred in Europe. Traditionally, lactic butter was made from raw cream that was allowed to ripen and develop character-giving lactic acids before being churned.

Now there is a more sanitised way of making lactic butter on a commercial scale (such as President from France), adding lactic “starter cultures” to fresh pasteurised cream. A third, “farmhouse” butter, is often produced by cheesemakers on a small scale, using the whey cream left after cheesemaking.

Does it matter what the cows eat? Butter is only as good as the milk it is made from, and that milk reflects the way the cows are looked after and fed. In France and Italy, a local butter is expected to reflect the surrounding herbage and terrain; in Britain, the march of big centralised dairies has seen the dominance of factory butter made from milk from different farms all over the country, which results in a uniform product devoid of individual characteristics. Which is why it is worth searching out traditional butters made from the milk of a single herd or local co-operative.

At Berkeley Farm, Wiltshire, Nick and Christine Gosling’s Guernsey herd grazes in wildflower meadows eating different grasses, clover and herbs, which give the milk its characteristic sweet, creamy flavour and golden colour. “Everything reflects in the milk,” says Christine. “In a stressed cow, the milk isn’t as flavoursome; when a cow is happy, the milk flows better and the quality is better.”

On a larger scale, cheesemaking brothers Bob and Simon Clapp now make a traditionally churned, hand-rolled Northwood Farm West Country sweetcream butter, lightly salted with Maldon sea salt, from local Somerset milk, which is on sale in Waitrose; they are also making an organic butter for Marks & Spencer.

“When butter is made on a farm which we share with cows, it will always have a depth of character and seasonal nuances that you don’t get from something made in a factory,” says Simon Clapp. “There, they like to iron out variations, whereas we celebrate them.”

Where to buy: Berkeley Farm Butter, unsalted, 250g, £2.09, from Abel & Cole (0845 2626262; www.abelandcole.co.uk); also from Neal’s Yard Dairy (www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk) at either Covent Garden (020-7240 5700) or Borough Market (020-7367 0799), £2.45 a pat, both salted and unsalted. Northwood Farm Butter, 250g, salted, £1.29, from Waitrose; Organic British Salted Butter, Marks & Spencer, 250g, £1.49.

Reader query

I’ve heard about rare Chinese Puerh tea. Where can I buy it?

Specialist Jing Tea sells various ones loose (from £6.75 for 50g), or in mini-cakes for infusing (020-7183 2113; www.jingtea.com).

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