Butters and Spreads

[Dominic]

We like Lurpak spreadable butter, but it is pretty expensive in Cyprus. I have tried the local alternatives, including the "spreadable fat" from Lidl, but they all taste like petrol.

Is there a cheap alternative to Lurpack that we are missing?

[Lincoln]

There is no other BUTTER like Lurpak. It is the best. We only get the normal Lurpak and not the spreadable.

[Anarita John]

We prefer the Kerrygold butter and buy it in bulk when they have it on offer in AlphaMega. Lurpak in Cyprus is also good but is greasy in the UK.
The Lidl Danpak spreadable is excellent and has twice the butter content of some spreads. However, it is not always obtainable. When it is we stock up.

001Danpak.gif (90.55 KiB) Viewed 8196 times

Or, you could try making your own. Lots of recipes and you only need two ingredients, butter and oil.

[cyprusmax47]

Try the German butter from Lidl. It is the only butter in Cyprus which was not frozen before it comes to the shops. If you look at the shelf-life of all different brands available in Cyprus there are most of the time "years" on. Not so from the German brand which has an expiry date of 3-4 weeks. Most of the butter imported comes from the European Butter stock and was frozen before. Paps tried to import German butter some 20 years ago and stopped as they could not sell enough before it became rancid. The best butter in my opinion is produced in Switzerland, Berner Oberland, which is called "Anke" but of course not exported...

Max

[PaphosAL]

Lurpak spreadable is a total and absolute rip-off!!!

It is 75% butter and 25% vegetable oil (ie margarine). Yet all the big supermarkets in the UK sell it for exactly the SAME price per kg as 'real' 100% Lurpak butter! Nothing but a con...

AL

[PaphosAL]

@ AJ: Please have a close look at the small print on a pack of your Danpack spreadable 'Butter' and report back on the relative % ratios of real butter, compared to churned vegatable oil, thanks.

I've tried for half an hour on the Aldi site, but they don't seem to want to tell their customers such vital facts...

Cheers- AL

[Anarita John]

The Danpac I think is around 50% butter but would need to look at a pack to check. The Kerrygold spreadable, which we have bought today on offer in Asda for £2.45 is 65% butter. Both are made in Ireland, and maybe come out of the same factory.
All butter in the UK has a short sell by date, nothing like the long ones seen in Cyprus. I would think this is due to individual countries regulations rather than the butter previously being frozen. If it had been frozen, surely it would deteriorate as soon as it was defrosted and chilled. I am sure that when we buy Kerrygold in AlphaMega it has not come from a frozen butter mountain.
We have had French butter from Carrefourre, before it rebranded itself again, that was rancid.
A lot of hotels and restaurants use the small plastic packs of German butter. It is good quality, but so is Kerrygold.

[PaphosAL]

Now there's another thought... Why don't Aldi and Lidl in UK sell that delicious German butter? They are both German companies, after all.

My wife and I used to love the German butter on our brekky autobahn stops, én route from UK to Hungary and back. Along with their bread, cheese, ham, jam and coffee...

All I got in the Veronica in February at breakfast were small packs of spreadable margarine, yuk. Hope the Almyra has proper butter for me next year!

AL

[JimX]

We, should I say the wife always buys "Lurpak" made from Danish milk, it is good but not spreadable, we have tried several makes of spreadable all to us tastes strange, probably the oil that is added, so normal unsalted Lurpak from Lidle is excellent, you do have to leave it out in winter months, we leave it in a butter dish with a cover on, five seconds in the micro makes it workable, great on Crumpets!! with Marmite of course.

The crumpets come from "Paps" packs of six.

[trevnhil]

We use Lurpak spreadable on toast and crumpets and find it OK..
I have given up getting Crumpets from Paps though as they allow them to partially thaw out whilst moving them from the storage Freezers to the Shop freezers.

[cyprusmax47]

I use butter only for cooking! (but then a lot) I was spoiled from delicious butter in Switzerland and North Italy, which I enjoyed just plain with some salt on a bread roll or French bread. In my opinion the butter we get in Cyprus interferes with the taste of a good ham, Parma ham, Salami, nice cheeses or liver pate'. If I fancy something sweet like honey or jam on a bread roll I use mascarpone which is of course easy to spread.

Max

[daveg]

Wellgoods for frozen crumpets..... lovely

[JimX]

Trev, have to say we buy from M&S, not Paps, trying to keep it a secret as Paps are twice the price as M&S, as posted we dislike that spreadable imitation butter, a matter of taste I know.

Butter we find good English is best, but not that easy to find here.

So, Max, it is you who is a gourmet then!

[Lofos-Jan]

I have the same butter dilemma but have to simply wait until Lurpak is on offer and then stock up. Kerrygold is nice but is so difficult to spread from the fridge compared to Lurpak. I have bought the Lidl Danepak before but haven't seen it in store for more than a year now.

Jeanne

[trevnhil]

Don't forget the Cholesterol !!!

[cyprusmax47]

So, Max, it is you who is a gourmet then!

I don't agree many times with your posts Jim, but in this case: Yes, I regard myself as a gourmet and I am not ashamed of it. I got to know the difference when I was a youngster living in St.Moritz for a couple of years. Outside Cyprus I was visiting hundreds of fine Restaurants mainly in Italy and Switzerland, as well as I am watching most days television cookery shows to be updated with my own cookery daily. One of my hobbies back in Germany was to collect prime wines from France and Italy and had p.e. : Chateau Margaux, Chateau d'Yquem both premier cru in my wine cellar, to have a wine tasting session every few month with good friends and experts. Not so in Cyprus were it is hard for me to find a bottle of red I like...

Max

[Kili01]

I also like Lurpak spreadible when it is on special offer.. but also like Kerry Gold and other English butters when I see them. I dislike the taste and texture of most margerines regardless of brand. Am glad now it seems that Medical opinion has now swung around saying that butter in moderation being a natural product, is actually more healthy than margerine!

Dee

[PaphosAL]

Crikey! WHERE did you find that Lurpak deal in UK, may I ask?

AL

[WHL]

When we visit the USA, we always get a white butter, in hotels etc, never tasted anything as good.

[Firefly]

Now we always use butter to eat, and only olive oil to cook with. I often wonder what harm all the chemicals in margarine have done over the years. I buy Aldi butter now it is make in the UK from British milk. My cholesterol level is around six, but as it's 50% good and 50% bad cholesterol, it evens itself out, no worries.