nan

Anyone know if you can get this great butter in the U.S.? I've seen Presidente brie around, but never the butter. I live in the S.F. Bay Area. Plugra "European Style" just doesn't do it for me. Thanks!

Rex

I can take you right to it here in Columbus, Ohio (they make a batch of creme fraiche at the same shop at least once a week too).

Available on my grocery tour! (LOL - - this is a joke, people - - about the tour, not the shop Curds'n'whey in the North Market here in Columbus).

betsy

Nan

Have you tried Draeger's and Andronico's? Will ask my next door neighbor who is a chef and get back to you here if she knows of a local source. Maybe a distributor of Presidente brie could also get the butter for you.

Seamus

Nan- Presidente butter is readily available at several grocery stores here in San Antonio - the high end as well as a few more plebian stores. If that's the case in our sleepy little burg, surely it must be available the Bay Area. Maybe not at the corner liquor store or all Safeway stores, but you might ask the store manager.

Daisy

Out of curiosity, can anyone enlighten me as to the actual difference among these butters? It can't just be percent of butterfat. If there's a difference in taste, what is that difference and what causes the difference?

Rex

Here's a quasi-scientific answer: the diets of the cows.

Different grasses or grains, even different regions of seemingly the same grasses, can alter the fatty acids and their relative concentration in the blood of the cows, and thus affect the composition of butterfat in any given milk.

To a lesser extent (this may be more important in cheese), there are minute quantities of esters and other fat-soluble organic compounds that may survive digestion and contribute to (aromas, perhaps more than) tastes of the butterfat component of the milk and any products made from it.

Caitlin

Actually, I believe the major factor in the taste diffeence is that a lot of European butters are cultured. But the higher butterfat content makes a difference in the taste, too.

xxx

Nan

Neighbor-chef thinks she may have seen Presidente butter at Cosentino's here in the South Bay.

Another thought (I enjoy playing detective)--if this is a French butter (assuming it's French because you mentioned their brie), you might phone one of the SF French restaurants, such as Fleur de Lys and ask their chef if he knows of a local source.

Good luck

nan

Thanks Betsy et. al. for your suggestions -- I haven't seen it at Andronico's, but I'll keep trying. I thought Whole Foods might have it, but no luck (even in Marin!).

I did send an email to the folks at President, but haven't heard back.

Nan