Butter is one of the glories of French cuisine. It’s a key ingredient in those flaky pastries and lighter-than-air croissants we love so much. And is there anything better than a smear of French butter on a slice of crusty baguette?
Why Is French Butter So Good?
What makes French butter so good, and how is it different from American butter?
First, French butters have more butterfat—at least 82% and sometimes 84% or more, compared to 80% for American butters. What seems like a small difference is actually very big, because what’s left after the butterfat is mostly water.
Less water in French butter means more flavor, and lower moisture helps bakers make crispier cookies and flakier pastries. The higher concentration of butterfat also gives French butter a creamier texture and richer flavor. And it makes it easier to spread on toast, since it is softer than American butter even when it’s straight out of the fridge.
French butters are cultured, which means that live cultures are added to cream and allowed to lightly ferment. This gives the butter a slightly tangy, complex flavor that is distinct from sweet cream butter. Cultured French butter is slow churned using artisanal methods, which enhances the flavor and texture further.
A cow’s diet affects both a butter’s flavor and color. French cows used to make high quality butter are often grass-fed, grazing in open pastures throughout the summer on plants rich in beta-carotene. This gives butter from these cows a distinctive yellow color. If you put a French butter next to an American one, you can usually tell which is which by the color alone, as the American butter will look comparatively pale.
Types of French Butter
There are four kinds of French butter, each with a different amount of salt and butterfat.
Beurre Doux: Though it translates as “sweet butter,” beurre doux refers to unsalted butter. It contains 82% fat, and is preferred for cooking and baking because it gives the chef better control over how much salt is added. You’d be well advised to use it in your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, or in a cornbread stuffing with French butter for Thanksgiving.
Beurre Demi-Sel: “Half-salt butter,” or beurre demi-sel, contains 0.5% to 3% salt, offering a balanced flavor. It’s ideal for a tartine—a slice of bread or baguette covered with butter, jam, or Nutella.
Beurre Salé, also called Beurre aux Gros Sel: This is the salt lover’s choice from Brittany, with over 3% salt content and visible salt crystals. You can spread it on sliced radishes, a popular snack commonly found at a French apéro.
Beurre Sec: Literally translated as “dry butter” to refer to its low water content, this butter has more fat than typical French butter (a minimum of 84%) and is commonly used in professional kitchens, especially for pâte feuilletée (puff pastry).
More Things to Know About French Butter
When shopping for French butter, there are a few other things you may wish to keep an eye out for.
Some butters are marked AOC (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) or AOP (Appellation d’Origine Controlée). This means that they come from a defined geographical area, and follow strict production rules and traditional methods. There are three types of French butter that are allowed to carry these labels: Beurre d’Isigny from Normandy, Beurre de Bresse, and Beurre Charentes-Poitou.
You will also sometimes see butters marked as Beurre de Baratte. This means they were hand-churned using two small wooden paddles. As you might imagine, quantities of these butters are typically limited.
And while most French butter is made from pasteurized milk, a few producers like Beillevaire use raw milk. You can also occasionally find raw-milk butter in French open-air markets.
Is French Butter Really Better Than American Butter?
To answer this tantalizing question, I decided to hold my own butter tasting.
I selected a variety of salted and unsalted butters, and invited a mixed group of French and Americans. No one knew which butter was which until after they had tasted it. To go with the butter, we had white and whole wheat bread, plain crackers, and crackers with bits of fig in them.
The French brands in the tasting were Elle & Vire, Échiré, Isigny Ste Mère, and Président. However, many other brands are available in the U.S., including Bordier, La Conviette, Le Gall, Paysan Breton, Pamplie, and Rodolphe le Meunier.
As a control, I also included salted and unsalted butters from the American supermarket brand Challenge.
It didn’t take long for the tasters to notice the differences between the French and American butters. One pointed to a butter so pale it was practically white and said, “This is American, right?” Yes, it was. The French butters were all a much deeper yellow than their American counterparts.
We started with the unsalted butters and worked our way up to the saltiest. In order: Échiré (doux), Elle & Vire (doux), Beurre d’Isigny AOP (doux), Challenge (unsalted), Elle & Vire (demi-sel), Président (demi-sel), Échiré (demi-sel), Challenge (salted), Isigny Ste Mère Beurre de Barette (gros sel), Président (gros sel), Beurre d’Isigny AOP (gros sel). In both salted and unsalted categories, we tasted each sample and then discussed them. (As there is no American equivalent of “gros sel,” those were included in the general “salted” category.) In both cases, the differences were clear. French butters were described with words like “creamy,” “rich,” “tangy,” and “delicious.” The American butters were “thin,” “bland,” and “highly processed.”
The results were unanimous—the French were the champs.
Even the Best French Butter Can Be Purchased in the U.S.
French butter is widely available in the U.S., in stores like Kroger, Safeway, Walmart, Wegmans, and Whole Foods. It can also be found in specialty stores and purchased online via a number of outlets.
French butters are easy to spot in a grocery store because they aren’t sold in thin sticks like American butter is. French butter is more often sold in rectangular blocks or round discs, and wrapped in foil or paper. (Sometimes, especially at hotel breakfasts, you can even find single-serving butter in little batons like Tootsie Rolls.)
As you might expect, imported French butters are more expensive than their local counterparts. For example, let’s compare Président and Land ‘O Lakes. They are the top-volume butter producers in France and the U.S., and each is widely available in the States.
A pound of Land ‘O Lakes unsalted butter at Wegmans costs $6.49, while 7 ounces of Président is $3.99, or $9.12 per pound—40% more. At Walmart, the Land ‘O Lakes is $5.54 a pound, while the 7-ounce Président is $3.97, or $9.07 per pound—a 60% premium.
If we consider one of the more artisanal French producers, the price difference is larger. For example, on Amazon a pound of unsalted Land ‘O Lakes is $7.49, while 8.8 ounces of Échiré is $14.99, or $27.25 per pound—more than three times the price.
However, while French butter may cost more than American butter, it is so full of flavor that a little goes a long way, and it is absolutely worth the splurge.
Store Your Butter in a French Butter Keeper
If you do buy some delicious French butter, you’ll want to keep it fresh. Putting it in the fridge will do, but a cold butter might not be as spreadable as you’d like. Never fear—the French have a solution for that.
Their secret for keeping butter soft is the beurrier à l’eau, or French butter crock, an ingenious gadget that will keep it fresh for up to three weeks.
To use a French butter crock, you first put your butter in the bell-shaped lid, filling it completely. Then you invert the lid and insert it into the base, which is partly filled with water. This creates an airtight seal. When you want some butter, you remove the lid and turn it upright, where it acts as a serving dish. Voilà!
Keith Van Sickle splits his time between Provence and California. He is the author of the best-selling An Insider’s Guide to Provence. Read more at Life in Provence.
