Butter is butter is butter. That said, there are probably interesting health reasons to choose uber-expensive organic butter. For someone who regularly consumes Doritos and Nutrageous bars (not together), health isn’t really a factor in butter buying.
But flavor is a factor in butter buying; a big factor.
From external appearances, there aren’t too many differences between organic and regular butter. Organic butter runs around $4.60 for a pound box; regular butter costs about $2.70 for the same amount. Other than the term “organic” on the outside label, the butter packages seem to offer the same things in terms of ingredients and nutrient composition: 11g of fat per serving, 0 g of protein . . . and whoa! A tablespoon of butter provides 8% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. Who knew?
Even with all those similarities, the flavor and texture in organic butter is curiously different from the flavor and texture of regular butter. This, in spite of the fact that both the FDA and the state of Ohio have strict standards of identity for dairy products: butter is butter.
What’s the difference? Local Columbus eaters participated in a blind taste test, tasting both chilled and melted butters with slices of french bread. The first difference noted was that the regular butter seemed saltier and more watery than its organic counterpart. In fact, the regular butter separates into puddles of clear-stuff and cloudy-stuff when melted.
The organic butter feels richer in the mouth, and its salt is milder. It’s also a darker yellow that doesn’t separate when melted. Instead, it becomes a frothy, yellow pool of goodness.
Bonus: In anecdotal, highly uncontrolled cookie-baking experiments: cookies made with the organic butter were taller and more chewy than those made with regular butter.
So, the Dish Deathmatch Victory goes to . . . Organic butter. While it costs big money, it tastes like big money too.