Have you ever heard of cultured butter? For the uninitiated, cultured butter is made by adding live bacteria, otherwise known as cultures, to the butter before it’s churned. The addition of these live cultures causes the butter to taste slightly tangier and results in a higher-fat product, which in turns makes the butter more silky and gives it a richer taste.
Jonathan White, owner at Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse in Milford, New Jersey, was renowned for his butter back in the 1990s, when it was served at such esteemed restaurants as Le Cirque and Union Square in Manhattan as well as in the restaurant of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. It was at the CIA restaurant that Lancaster chef and restaurateur Tim Carr first remembers eating White’s cultured butter.
Now, Carr and White have joined forces with Community of Oasis at Bird-in-Hand, located in Ronks, to churn out logs of mouth-watering Bobolink cultured butter, back after a 13-year hiatus! The butter is currently popular in several upscale restaurants in Manhattan.
What makes Bobolink cultured butter so special? It’s made by the staff at Oasis at Bird-in-Hand using milk from grass-fed cows raised by Amish farmers. A mix of 12 different bacteria developed by White is left in the cream overnight for fermentation. The result is a rich, bright yellow-colored butter due to the cows’ grass-only diet.
Bobolink cultured butter is currently available for $12.75 per pound at Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse, at local farmers’ markets and at Oasis’ retail store in Ronks and its Lancaster Central Market stand located at 23 N. Market St. in Lancaster.
Find Community of Oasis at Bird-In-Hand at 60 N. Ronks Rd., Suite J, in Ronks; phone: (717) 288-2154.
- Photo: Mary Bigham
