Calling on Chiang Mai Dairy Experts

[Stubby]

THE CHANGING TASTES AND COSTS OF "REAL" BUTTER…

 

This is just a shot in the dark folks, but there may be someone out there who knows something about dairy products. See, there's a shop in Chiang Mai that sells cheap, no-thrills butter at about 75B for a 500g block. Because it tastes different (a bit like ice cream) to a premium brand, I'm assuming that not all butter is equal. Am I right?  I mean, I understand that dairies produce butter by churning fresh cream or milk, but what else goes on? There has to be a reason for the difference in taste and price, other than the plain packaging and no brand name. A premium brand costs about 170B for 470g give or take a few grams. That's a huger difference. But is the cheap butter safe to consume - I wonder?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Stubby

Edited January 2, 2017 by Stubby

[junglechef]

Most of them are butter compound or some such name and are made from oil.

 

Read the label very carefully.

[worgeordie]

Most if not all Thai produced butter,is made from milk powder,and butter oil,

Is it safe, I have been eating Orchid "butter" for last 30 years,as I consider it's

the best of the Thai butters,and I am not dead yet !, I also purchase it at Yoke"s

bakery supplies,75 Thb for 400/500 ? grms as against the same product in

200 grm packs at 80 +Thb.

 

If you are concerned about safety ,taste, you can always buy,real butter from

France,Denmark,or Australia at about 200 thb 200 grms.RimPing has a selection.

they have/had an Australian real butter,cannot remember the brand at 80 thb 200 grm 

regards worgeordie

[Stubby]

23 minutes ago, junglechef said:

Most of them are butter compound or some such name and are made from oil.

 

Read the label very carefully.

 

I did wonder JungleChef. However, the writing on the labeling is too small for my tired eyes, and it's in Thai, hence my post.

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, worgeordie said:

Most if not all Thai produced butter,is made from milk powder,and butter oil,

Is it safe, I have been eating Orchid "butter" for last 30 years,as I consider it's

the best of the Thai butters,and I am not dead yet !, I also purchase it at Yoke"s

bakery supplies,75 Thb for 400/500 ? grms as against the same product in

200 grm packs at 80 +Thb.

 

If you are concerned about safety ,taste, you can always buy,real butter from

France,Denmark,or Australia at about 200 thb 200 grms.RimPing has a selection.

they have/had an Australian real butter,cannot remember the brand at 80 thb 200 grm 

regards worgeordie

 

Worgeordie, I used to buy the unsalted Yok butter. But because I couldn't work out why it had a distinct taste (not unpleasant though) I switched Allowrie unsalted butter (170B 454g). I just wondered if I was wasting money unnecessarily, that's all. It's no big deal, but  little savings here and there make a big difference over the course of a year

 

Stubby

[ezzra]

As a rule, good quality dairy and meat products are not cheap in Thailand

as most are imported, so when you see something that is too good to be

true, well, you know the rest...

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, ezzra said:

As a rule, good quality dairy and meat products are not cheap in Thailand

as most are imported, so when you see something that is too good to be

true, well, you know the rest...

 

Not quite Ezzra. At just 750B for 2kg of New Zealand  cheddar, I think that has to be cheap anywhere in the world. Almost too good to be true, but I've been eating that for a few years now. 

[junglechef]

I use Anchor butter which is imported, it's real and priced accordingly.

 

The Allowrie in not 100% butter and made here, don't let the Kangaroo fool you, it's not from Oz.

 

As we bake I think it's makes a big difference but not an important one . 

 

 

[trainman34014]

I've been buying the big blocks of Unsalted from Yok for years and never had a problem with it.    Dairy products here are rather like beer; at first they taste pretty bad but after a while you get used to it and it seems normal....until you visit a Western country and eat the real thing again !

[Stubby]

29 minutes ago, junglechef said:

I use Anchor butter which is imported, it's real and priced accordingly.

 

The Allowrie in not 100% butter and made here, don't let the Kangaroo fool you, it's not from Oz.

 

As we bake I think it's makes a big difference but not an important one . 

 

 

 

Cripes, simple shopping can be a complicated business these days. I may as well go back to Yok 75B butter then, either that or go down the pricier route. I wonder why Thais don't make 100% real butter then. If folks are buying the imported stuff, that means there's a market for them to undercut with 100% real butter. It must be a more complicated process adding lots of additional ingredients to the "butter-like" products.

[Stubby]

33 minutes ago, trainman34014 said:

I've been buying the big blocks of Unsalted from Yok for years and never had a problem with it.    Dairy products here are rather like beer; at first they taste pretty bad but after a while you get used to it and it seems normal....until you visit a Western country and eat the real thing again !

 

Going by the replies here, it seems like the Yok butter is more "butter-like" than actual butter TrainMan. It's perhaps an upgraded margarine,  of sorts, which is the closest humans have ever got to eating plastic.

[junglechef]

1 minute ago, Stubby said:

 

Cripes, simple shopping can be a complicated business these days. I may as well go back to Yok 75B butter then, either that or go down the pricier route. I wonder why Thais don't make 100% real butter then. If folks are buying the imported stuff, that means there's a market for them to undercut with 100% real butter. It must be a more complicated process adding lots of additional ingredients to the "butter-like" products.

 

For a start they don't come from a dairy culture (pun intended) and don't necessarily need the taste we grew up with.

 

Also it's quite expensive for many of them even if made here. 

[CMKiwi]

NZ Anchor butter 227g is currently 105 baht in Makro. Either the salted or unsalted version.  Danish Emborg butter 200g is 95 baht in Makro.

 

2 weeks ago Makro had Emborg for 74 baht then the put the price up to 103.  Very similar butter to Anchor but not quite the same taste. That's when I reverted to the Anchor butter.

 

In NZ and I believe a lot of western countries the product cannot be called butter unless it contains not less than 80 percent milk fat solids. Otherwise it must be sold as a table spread (Like margarine)

 

I've tried the Allowrie butter with the kangaroo on the wrapping and must say it's the worst flavour I've come across in a butter type product.  I believe they have also put out a maple flavour as well!  Might be ok on pancakes but it's not for me.

 

Lurpak also produce a good butter but it's probably one of the most expensive butters in Thailand. Kerrygold is an Irish butter very similar to Anchor but I've not seen it here in CM for ages.

 

Can't say I've tried Yoks butter yet but at that price it may be about time that I did.

 

Anchor cheddar cheese is pretty good too. I prefer the NZ Mainland brand but it's a bit expensive at around 180 baht for either a 200 or 240g block. At 750 baht per 2kg of Anchor cheddar it's great.

 

I see they also sell Anchor cheese at Gecko Garden..... amongst other cheeses hams etc.

 

Damn I'm getting hungry now....

[Stubby]

9 minutes ago, CMKiwi said:

NZ Anchor butter 227g is currently 105 baht in Makro. Either the salted or unsalted version.  Danish Emborg butter 200g is 95 baht in Makro.

 

2 weeks ago Makro had Emborg for 74 baht then the put the price up to 103.  Very similar butter to Anchor but not quite the same taste. That's when I reverted to the Anchor butter.

 

In NZ and I believe a lot of western countries the product cannot be called butter unless it contains not less than 80 percent milk fat solids. Otherwise it must be sold as a table spread (Like margarine)

 

I've tried the Allowrie butter with the kangaroo on the wrapping and must say it's the worst flavour I've come across in a butter type product.  I believe they have also put out a maple flavour as well!  Might be ok on pancakes but it's not for me.

 

Lurpak also produce a good butter but it's probably one of the most expensive butters in Thailand. Kerrygold is an Irish butter very similar to Anchor but I've not seen it here in CM for ages.

 

Can't say I've tried Yoks butter yet but at that price it may be about time that I did.

 

Anchor cheddar cheese is pretty good too. I prefer the NZ Mainland brand but it's a bit expensive at around 180 baht for either a 200 or 240g block. At 750 baht per 2kg of Anchor cheddar it's great.

 

I see they also sell Anchor cheese at Gecko Garden..... amongst other cheeses hams etc.

 

Damn I'm getting hungry now....

 

Great post CMKiwi. I'm only up the road from Makro Hang Dong, so I'll be popping in there once the Allowrie is used up

[wump]

For me I always go with Emborg as it seems best value. Occasionally also buying others if they are on special.

 

I try to stay away from Thai butter as it always has this kind of rancid taste, not sure where that comes from. Anyone else noticed that? Is that intended? 

[CMKiwi]

I have come across that rancid taste and it is part if the reason why I stick with imported butters.

 

 Either that or they (Thai butters) taste sweet.   A bit like the mayo here...altho Kewpie have a great no added sugar mayo available.

[Sparkles]

I ditched butter and sugar, for health reasons, quite some time ago, but I do remember the unsalted butter we bought at Yok,because of price,had a very rancid taste.

Having made butter on my farm in a past life it was like spreading and eating a poor quality margerine in comparison and giving it up was easy

I seem to remember that a lot of the so called butters either had palm or soy bean oil added but will stand corrected on that.

Very little chance of a Thai company making local butter just not enough dairy cows.

NZ for example has 4.9 million dairy cows, its a major export along with milk and cheese.

[lungnorm]

Its most likely a product similar to You would not believe this is not butter. Most likely some form of margarine. Stick to Danish Australian or New Zealand butter.

[canthai55]

NZ butter from Macro.

[ilostmypassword]

7 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

NZ butter from Macro.

That's Anchor Butter. I'm not sure if Makro carries the 5 kilo blocks. If you have a big freezer at home, you can cut it up into usable chunks and freeze the whole thing. It's about half the price of buying it in 200 gram units. Yok and Bakesmart carry it.

[Stubby]

Thanks for all your feedback folks.

 

A boring topic has turned into quite an interesting post, for me at least. Aside from brand name butters, is there anything on the labeling that gives it away? I just looked at the front of my Allowrie pack and it says "PURE CREAMERY UNSALTED BUTTER". That's its selling headline. But from what I've read here, it's not 100% butter. Should real butter have something like "Made with 100%  Pure Cow's milk" on the label, or something similar?

Stubby
 

[MrBrad]

I gave up on Thai butter quite some time ago.  The "melt test" did it.  When a pat of butter is put on hot vegetables it really should melt away.  Thai "butter" just couldn't pass the test quickly enough. 

 

Oh, and the yellow food coloring in local "butter" was a bit disconcerting as well.

 

I now use Emborg from Denmark.

[happyas]

19 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Thanks for all your feedback folks.

 

A boring topic has turned into quite an interesting post, for me at least. Aside from brand name butters, is there anything on the labeling that gives it away? I just looked at the front of my Allowrie pack and it says "PURE CREAMERY UNSALTED BUTTER". That's its selling headline. But from what I've read here, it's not 100% butter. Should real butter have something like "Made with 100%  Pure Cow's milk" on the label, or something similar?

Stubby
 

 

 Here is all it should say if real butter.;

                                          

 

[Stubby]

9 minutes ago, happyas said:

 

 Here is all it should say if real butter.;

                                          

 

 

Thanks Happyas, but I can see the image

[happyas]

2 minutes ago, Stubby said:

 

Thanks Happyas, but I can see the image

 

Strange..i can see it...

[Stubby]

4 minutes ago, happyas said:

 

Strange..i can see it...

 

I just opened up in Firefox (writing this in Google Chrome) and can't see images in either browser. Strange!

[happyas]

1 minute ago, Stubby said:

 

I just opened up in Firefox (writing this in Google Chrome) and can't see images in either browser. Strange!

 

 

Try this one...

[elektrified]

6 hours ago, wump said:

For me I always go with Emborg as it seems best value. Occasionally also buying others if they are on special.

 

I try to stay away from Thai butter as it always has this kind of rancid taste, not sure where that comes from. Anyone else noticed that? Is that intended? 

That's all we buy. A couple of times we bought that terrible stuff they sell at YOK for 75 Baht - Orchid or whatever (they even have one cheaper - 65 I think) and both times it sat in the refrigerator until it was time to throw it out. Basically everyone used it once or twice and then didn't use it again. It had that rancid taste. Emborg is always on sale at all the markets - usually once a month.

[Stubby]

24 minutes ago, happyas said:

 

 

Try this one...

 

Thanks got it, thanks buddy

 

[Stubby]

59 minutes ago, elektrified said:

That's all we buy. A couple of times we bought that terrible stuff they sell at YOK for 75 Baht - Orchid or whatever (they even have one cheaper - 65 I think) and both times it sat in the refrigerator until it was time to throw it out. Basically everyone used it once or twice and then didn't use it again. It had that rancid taste. Emborg is always on sale at all the markets - usually once a month.

 

It seems like that Emborg butter is the mutts nuts going by some of the replies here. I've never heard of it, but shall look out for it soon. JungleChef seems to think Anchor is also a top product. Anyway, I'm staying away from the 75B blocks and the costlier  Allowrie from now on. Glad I posted here because I thought the Allowrie was a quality product made down-under. That'll teach me for now reading the labels