Add this new arrival from Western Wisconsin to the already long list of delicious butters we’ve got at the Zingerman’s Deli. This one comes from the Alcam Creamery in the town of Richland Center about an hour northwest of Madison. The creamery was started in 1946 by Cameron Peckham and is run by his son Gary.  The butter is still all hand rolled and paper wrapped in the old style which means that, even before you taste it, it definitely looks appealingly old-school!

More importantly it tastes great.  It’s got a very big flavor, one of the biggest I’ve had in a butter.  The whey cream makes a big difference—because the whey is taken off after the cheese curd has been set, all of the cultures and flavor development from the cheese will be carried out in the whey as well.  when the whey solids are formed (through slow cooking of the whey) they have a whole lot of flavor.   Ultimately, this is butter so tasty you could probably eat it by the piece sans bread.  In fact, I find myself putting it on bread in much bigger quantities than I normally would.  Less of a spread, more of a slice—in a good way, this may be the cheesiest butter you’ve tried.

No need, I don’t think to tell you what you can do with it.  Anything you do with butter .  .. will be better with better butter.   So whether  it’s this wonderful offering from western Wisconsin or the Kerrygold butter from Ireland or the cultured butter from our friends at Vermont butter and cheese, the main this is to eat it! cook with it!  Bake with it!  Roast with it!  Whatever you do, better butter will be sure to taste better!