The Absolute Best Unsalted Butter Comes From This State, According To Martha Stewart

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Martha Stewart has been a trusted cooking source for decades. She's published over 100 cookbooks, hosted award-winning shows, and launched countless campaigns and brand partnerships. It's safe to say that when Stewart tells us to do something in the kitchen, we usually listen — especially when it comes to buying ingredients. And according to her, we should all be getting our unsalted butter from Vermont. 

Stewart highlighted butter from Vermont in a video posted on Instagram, where she told fans to use "the best unsalted butter" when cooking potatoes. "Vermont Creamery is really good," she said. The advice isn't exactly surprising. With an annual economic impact of $2.2 billion and over 600 dairy farms, per Farm to Plate, the dairy industry is huge in Vermont. There's a strong emphasis on quality and local ingredients, which results in renowned products like the butters from Cabot Creamery, Animal Farm Creamery, and Stewart's choice, Vermont Creamery.

Established in 1984 by Allison Hooper and Bob Reese, Vermont Creamery started on a farm in Websterville with just a handful of employees. The focus was originally on creamy goat's cheese, but eventually, Hooper and Reese spotted a butter churn on the side of a road and made an offer. They soon became the first American producers of French-style cultured butter. Today, Vermont Creamery is known as one of the best fancy butter brands out there.

It takes a bit of time and effort to make cultured butter, but it essentially involves adding live bacterial cultures to the cream and letting it ferment overnight before churning. This creates a more complex flavor profile, a smoother texture, and an overall richer taste. Vermont Creamery uses fresh local cream to make its cultured butter, which takes on notes of hazelnut and tangy buttermilk. ;

It also has a higher, European-style butterfat content of 82%, which makes it better for baking. Basically, Vermont Creamery butter is high-quality and delicious, so when the team heard it was "the choice of culinary legend Martha Stewart," it said on its website that it wasn't surprised. 

The best part is you don't have to be a star to enjoy Vermont butter. Vermont Creamery cultured butter can be found on Amazon and in most grocery stores for about $5, depending on your location. Smear it on fresh-baked sourdough bread, make some creamy garlic mashed potatoes, or bake fluffy homemade cinnamon rolls and see if you can taste the difference. You might need to add caviar to really channel your inner Martha Stewart, but some good butter should do for now.