Melty rich and the secret to so many dishes, who doesn’t love butter? Certainly not the folks at Organic Valley, America’s largest cooperative of organic farmers and one of the nation’s leading organic brands. Organic Valley has several butter products under its umbrella of offerings, not the least of which is its award-winning and OU Kosher certified European Style Cultured Butter and Pasture Butter.
Organic Valley began in 1988 with a group of Wisconsin farmers who shared a love of the land and a belief that a new, sustainable approach to agriculture was needed in order for family farms and rural communities to survive. Frustrated by the loss of family farms each week and the staggering number threatened with extinction, these farmers set out to create a solution: organic agriculture.
With this mission in mind, the farmers formed what is today is the largest organic farming cooperative in North America with more than 1,652 farmer-owners in 33 states and one Canadian province. In addition to providing farmers a way to stay in business, organic agriculture fulfilled their vision for a sustainable agriculture: farming without antibiotics or synthetic hormones and pesticides, pasturing animals, and ensuring the land would be preserved for future generations.
When Organic Valley wanted to ensure their butters were not only organic certified but also kosher certified, they came to the OU. “OU kosher certification is an additional level of assurance of the highest possible standards for Organic Valley products,” said Beth Unger, Certification Manager, Organic Valley. “The Orthodox Union is a premier kosher certifier with a friendly and efficient staff. Our regular communication with the OU and Rabbi Andrew Gordimer is definitely one of the highlights of my working day. They are very attentive to our needs and extremely helpful with questions. We truly value the working relationship we have with the OU.”
Top chefs endorse Organic Valley’s European Style Cultured Butter and Pasture Butter as elegant, luscious and high-performing. Organic Valley butters have multiple uses and applications, from the fussiest of French sauces and classic pastries, to serving suggestions as simple as herbed butter over succulent vegetables or rich cookies and baked goods.
Organic Valley European Style Cultured Butter is a specialty butter made in the age-old tradition of fine European butters. Organic Valley starts with organic milk from cows allowed to pasture freely, then adds a live culture to ripen the cream and bring out the sweetness of the butter. Upon reaching perfection in the culture tanks, the cream is churned in small batches. European Style Butter is churned longer than other butters, lowering the moisture content and increasing the butterfat to 84 percent, compared to regular butter at 80 percent. This time-honored style of butter-making enhances the inherent sweetness of the butter and yields a superior performance in cooking and baking.
Organic Valley’s Pasture Butter is a limited edition, rich and nutritious butter made from the milk of organic cows that enjoy grazing on the nutrient-rich, dense, green pastures at the height of the grazing season from May through September. Pasture Butter provides higher levels of antioxidants, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), and Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, which, according to the Healing Foods Pyramid, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, can help reduce inflammation, and show promise in reducing our risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even cancer. While the European Style is unsalted, Pasture Butter is lightly salted.
At the 2009 American Cheese Society Annual Judging & Competition, Organic Valley European Style Cultured Butter won first place in the Unsalted Butter Made from Cow’s Milk with or without Cultures category, and Organic Valley Pasture Butter placed third in the Salted Butter Made from Cow’s Milk with or without Cultures category. At the 2009 World Dairy Expo, Organic Valley Pasture Butter placed third in the Championship Dairy Product Contest in the Salted Butter category.
“Our butters are another example of using the highest-quality ingredients that nature provides,” says Theresa Marquez, chief marketing executive for Organic Valley. “From the organic pastures our cows graze on to the slow churning process, our butters are elegant, healthful and delicious. What could be better than that?”
Organic Valley butter-centric serving suggestions and recipes can be found at http://www.organicvalley.coop/butter.