How Butter Became the Emotional and Culinary Star of the Holidays

Photo Courtesy of AuthenticFood.com

How Butter Became the Emotional and Culinary Star of the Holidays

There’s a reason butter smells like the holidays. I went looking for why.

For my latest feature on AuthenticFood.com, I explore how butter became the emotional and culinary star of the holidays.

Butter shows up long before our tables are set. It’s a distinct cue in a warm family kitchen. It’s a clear sound coming from a pot or sizzling pan. It’s a comforting smell radiating from the oven with cookies or stuffings or pies.

To examine butter, its history and emotional pull, I talked to author and baker Erin Jeanne McDowell known for her “all-buttah pie crust,” and Venae Watts, the fifth generation co-owner of Minerva Dairy, America’s oldest continuously operating creamery.

This piece is about more than an ingredient.

It’s about memory, history, culture, craft and the role butter plays in how we gather and care for one another this time of year.

Read the story here.

I hope you have the “aha” like I did about why butter is the star of the holidays.