Shopping for butter? Wondering what makes "the best" natural butter?

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November 5, 2024

It's that time of year when I find myself buying NATURAL BUTTER BUNDLES to stock my freezer with.

Why? The large amounts of cookies and pies that fill my house with delicious flavors is impending and inevitable. And the absolute worst thing for a holiday baker is to go to make a yummy recipe and find that you're out of butter! I gotta stay stocked (and after all if I don't use it all now, it's good for a year in the freezer).

When it comes to butter and baking, quality matters. A lot. It affects the color, the texture, and the flavor of your baked goods.

And, if you're a natural food shopper like me, there are some extra things to look for in your butter. I want to make sure I'm making food with the best nutrition and least toxins possible.

What makes the best natural butter? There are a bunch of factors, and I'm happy to report that MILLER'S A2/A2 BUTTER checks all the boxes.

Here are the top 6 things to look for when shopping for natural butter:

✔️ High Butterfat. Commodity and supermarket butter typically has 80% butterfat. It helps keep the price down. But, our butter and European butters have a higher fat content, from 82-85% butterfat. It's all about getting a good churn and washing out all that buttermilk. Higher butterfat means softer, smoother, melt-in-your-mouth texture without feeling greasy.

✔️ Pasture Raised + 100% Grass Fed = Best Nutrition. Butter is a good source of lecithin and is rich in various vitamins, including A, D, E, B12, and K2. When the cows are raised in natural health, these health benefits are supercharged, which means more of all the good things! Our cows are pasture raised and 100% grass fed.

*Side Note: Spring butter is known for having max nutrition. We make it for 4 weeks of the year, when the cows are eating first growth of pasture in the spring. It's the most yellow and the most nutrient packed.

✔️ Yellow Color. A natural yellow color is a sign that the cows are fed grass, not bland and subsidized grains like corn and soy. The yellower the butter, the better the butter. The yellow color comes from the beta-carotene (which your body converts into Vitamin A) in plants, so this is a distinct trait of butter from grass fed cows. Some conventional butters have added colors like annatto extract to make the butter superficially yellow.

✔️ A2/A2. Although butter is low in protein, it does have some. If you want to avoid the potential opiate effects and longterm health damage caused by the A1 beta-casein protein, then A2/A2 is the way to go. I also like to think of A2/A2 as the most heritage dairy there is, since A2/A2 cows weren't affected by a genetic mutation.

✔️ Additive Free. Supermarket butters may have sodium chloride (AKA food grade salt), artificial colors, artificial flavors like diacetyl, or other unnecessary additives. Yuck! And this is all to keep the same consistency every time and perhaps cover up cheap, unnatural farming practices. Our butter is made simply with cream and only cream. If we add salt, it's Celtic sea salt. It's truly natural and will vary from batch to batch.

✔️ PFAS-Free. Trying to move away from plastic food packaging? Me too! Butter wrapped in paper sounds great, but it has to be coated in something so it doesn't spoil. Most butter papers are coated in plastic and can have all kinds of weird stuff on it -- including forever chemicals like PFAS -- which in turn can transfer to your precious butter. Our butter comes in 1lb blocks and is wrapped in paper that's tested to be PFAS-free, and freezer-safe!

Want to learn more? Keep scrolling for some butter-related recipes and blog posts to help you become a butter expert. After all, you deserve to have all the info you need, so you can be a smart natural food shopper.

What are you baking this holiday season? I'd love to hear if Miller's butter will elevate your recipes. Comment below or contact us!

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Is yolk color is no longer a great indicator of the egg's nutrition?

It used to be true that, if your egg yolks were darker in color, then the better the egg's nutrition. Conscious consumers of the past would look for that deep orange yolk and stray away from lighter yellow yolks. It's sad, but this simply isn't the case anymore. Here's why you can't trust cheap store-bought eggs with orange yolks and need to know your farmer instead.

How did pork get a bad rep anyway? Why is Miller's pork exceptional?

Did you know that, globally, pork is the #1 meat? According to the UN, 10% more pork is eaten compared to poultry worldwide. And, 50% more pork is eaten compared to beef worldwide. Wow! But, for some reason, this isn't the case in the US. According to the USDA, pork ranks #3 when it comes to meat. Americans eat 30% less pork compared to poultry and 15% less compared to beef. Why is this? Well, pork has gotten a pretty bad rep in the US. Of course there are some religions that prohibit pork, but that's not the leading factor. Some reasons why pork has a bad rep. 1- Too much saturated fat. The low fat craze started in the 1970s and fizzled out in the 1990s. It came from the belief that (1) fat makes us fat; and (2) that too much saturated fat = high cholesterol = bad things like heart disease and cholesterol. These myths have been debunked. Read more in fats and health blog post. The bottom line is that not all fats are created equal. Natural animal fats from happy, healthy animals are good. It's those highly processed hydrogenated saturated fats that are bad. In other words, eat all the pork fat! 2- Worry about disease. People still seem to think they can get sick from pork. There's fear of parasites (like the roundworm Trichinella spiralis that can cause trichinosis) or bacteria or other things. The reality is that getting sick from pork is really rare nowadays. If you cook pork properly, you don't need to worry about disease. Muscle meat (like chops or tenderloin) should be cooked to 145F. Ground meat and organs should be cooked to 160F. 3- Worry of bad ingredients. This only relates to processed pork like hot dogs and bacon and ham. There's truth to this one. Nitrates and nitrites, commonly used in curing conventional pork, have been shown to cause cancer and other health issues. And stabilizers, artificial colors, preservatives, and other additives have been linked to negative health outcomes, too. But, this isn't the case for all pork. How meat it's processed matters a lot. At Miller's, we don't put any of that yucky junk in our meat, even the salami and bacon and sausages (more on that below). 4- Worry that eating pork will have a negative affect on your blood. The Weston A. Price Foundation did a bunch of research on this. It's true that plain pork can cause blood clotting and inflammation. However, properly preparing pork (by marinating it in vinegar or naturally curing it) or by eating pork with fermented veggies like sauerkraut removes these negative effects. Read more about pork and your blood in this blog post. 5- The belief that pigs are "dirty". I think this one mainly comes from the fact that pigs roll around in mud. They do this to protect their nearly hairless bodies. It's like natural sunscreen. It doesn't mean the meat is dirty at all. It may also come from the fact that pigs are often treated as garbage disposals. They will literally eat anything. And that includes kitchen scraps, meat processing scraps, curdled milk, and more. But again, not all pork is created equal. When you source from trusted farms, you can actually know that the pigs are eating clean food and are rolling around in chemical-free mud. 6- Strange rumors that pigs are deformed. This one came from Nailea on the farm. At some point, she watched a video about how some pigs are born without buttholes or have odd deformities or become cancerous. Yet, despite their weirdness, they're still raised for meat. I don't know how true this is for conventional pigs. But, it's certainly not true for our pigs. They are intact and happy and healthy. And our processor would never give us meat that's weird or cancerous. Why you should eat pork. I'm here to inform you that, when produced naturally and properly, pork is pretty awesome. It's high in protein, zinc, iron, and B vitamins (particularly the "anti-stress" vitamin B1 - read more about thiamine and pork in this blog post). It's packed with quality, healthy saturated fats. And it's the most affordable meat and can be produced year round. This is why people around the world love pork. I think you should love pork, too! Miller's pork is not just any old pork. Here are 6 quick reasons it stands above the rest: 1- Woodland raised. Our pigs get plenty of exercise and forage for countless nuts and grubs and roots. This diverse diet gives our pork some extra flavor. And you can be assured that the environment is free of chemicals and is a happy place for our pigs to live. 2- Corn & soy free. This means low PUFA and no chance of GMOs. We haven't tested our pork like we did for our chicken and eggs. But, if we did, I assume we'd get similar results with our pork having balanced omegas and packed with vitamins and minerals. 3- Heritage breeds. Our pigs are Berkshire, Duroc, Red Waddle, and Black crosses. These heritage breeds are known for their intensity of flavor, juiciness, marbling, and tenderness. It's nothing like the bland, dry pork you often get at the grocery store. 4- No junk like nitrates or additives. We reduce toxins and anything unnatural as much as possible. Our bacon is cured simply with Celtic sea salt (in a store it would have "uncured" on the label). Our sausages have clean ingredients, no weird thickeners or preservatives. Our salami is cured naturally with celery juice powder. 5- Washed in organic apple cider vinegar. No harsh chemicals like bleach or citric and lactic acids touch our pork. We are so fortunate to have a naturally minded processor! 6- No drugs. We don't vaccinate. We don't give antibiotics or hormones or anything like that. Through a natural diet and lifestyle, our pigs stay naturally healthy. Do you eat pork? Why or why not? What do you look for when shopping for pork? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below - no account required (start typing for the guest option to appear). 😊 ----- SOURCES: UN Report: Livestock commoditiesUSDA: Chicken leads U.S. per person availability of meat over last decade False Facts About Pork Everyone Actually BelievesIs Pork Bad for You? Here's What a Dietitian Has to Say

What Is Pastured Chicken? (Customer Review of Miller's Bio Farm)

Ever heard about pastured chicken? It’s gaining popularity right now among the more health-conscious people out there. Pastured chicken offers a superior alternative to conventionally raised poultry. The nutritional values are higher and in my opinion, it tastes better. In this article, we’ll explore what pastured chicken is and why I’ve switched to using Miller’s Bio Farm as my go to for all of the poultry products that I consume. Ready? Let’s dive in! How I Became A Customer Of Miller’s Bio Farm Hey, my name’s Angela. But most people online know me as The Carnivore Gal. And that’s because after getting Lyme disease just over a year ago, I had to transition to eating a carnivore based diet in order to regain my health. I started sharing my journey on Facebook with other people and so far over 150,000 individuals have been inspired enough by my story to follow me. You can read more about my carnivore diet journey here. Anyways… A few months ago, I saw several people online talking about Miller’s Bio Farm and their raw dairy products. Which sent me down a rabbit hole of researching the benefits of raw dairy. And after completing my research, it wasn’t long before I placed my first order. After receiving my order from Miller’s Bio Farm, I was so impressed with the quality of their products that I decided to call them up to tell them how happy I was. It was at this point that I had a conversation with Marie Reedell, who is the Director Of Marketing And Innovation for Miller’s Bio Farm. It was a great chat. And it has led to me sharing Miller’s Bio Farm products with my audience. But it also opened my eyes to the other products that they have to offer. One of them being pastured chicken. What Is Pastured Chicken? Miller’s pastured chicken comes from birds that are allowed to forage for countless seeds and bugs in the pasture. Their birds are frequently moved in mobile coops. In addition to the food that they naturally forage, they feed their birds with a: Soy-freeCorn-free GMO-free feed The additional feed is packed with healthy vitamins and minerals. Miller’s pastured chicken is also chemical-free, antibiotic-free and hormone-free. As someone who cares about how my food is raised and is extremely sensitive to anything that is added to my food, knowing the above is extremely beneficial to me. It allows me to order from Miller’s, with the confidence that my food is as healthy and clean as it can possibly be. Why You Should Choose Miller’s Pastured Chicken Nutritional Superiority Miller’s pastured chicken has a perfect 1:1 omega 6/3 ratio. I do not claim to be an expert on omega ratios in food. And for the sake of the length of this article, I won’t go into the importance of that too much here. However, you can read this article by Miller’s to learn more about the significance of the omega ratios in the food you eat. And just so you know… Miller’s Bio Farm isn’t making these claims to make their chicken products sound healthier than they really are. Their chicken was tested by Dr. Stephan Van Vliet. Dr. Stephan van Vliet is a researcher specializing in nutrition and metabolism. He earned his PhD in Kinesiology and Community Health from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also completed post-doctoral training at the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute. His research focuses on the effects of diet on human health. So, it’s safe to say that he knows his stuff! Better Taste And Quality In my opinion, the flavor of pastured chicken is unmatched. The meat is tender, juicy, and richer in taste compared to conventionally raised chicken. Once you try it, you’ll never want to go back to store-bought poultry. Ethical And Sustainable Farming Choosing pastured chicken supports farms that prioritize animal welfare and sustainable practices. Miller’s Bio Farm is a shining example of this commitment, offering products that are good for you and the planet. Why I’ll Be A Customer Of Miller’s Bio Farm Pastured Chicken For Life I do not like the negative impacts of factory-farmed chicken. I prefer healthier and more ethical options. Miller’s Bio Farm will have me as a customer for life because of their commitment to providing clean, high-quality pastured chicken raised on small family farms. One taste of their chicken was enough to convince me. The flavor was incredible, and knowing that the chickens were ethically raised gave me peace of mind. Now, I buy all my poultry from them and I couldn’t be happier. Cooking With Pastured Chicken Cooking pastured chicken can be done in the exact same way as regular chicken. I use a simple method that brings out the natural flavors of the chicken and ensures it’s tender and juicy every time. Here’s my chicken leg quarters in the oven recipe. It’s a no mess, one pan meal! FAQ’s About Pastured Chicken Q1: What Is The Difference Between Pastured Chicken And Factory Farmed Chicken? There are many differences including living conditions, diet, and meat and egg quality, to name a few. But let’s focus on living conditions as an example. Pastured chickens are allowed to roam freely outdoors on pasture, where they can forage for insects, seeds, and plants. They are often kept in mobile coops that are moved regularly to fresh pasture. Factory-Farmed chickens are confined in large, crowded barns (or battery cages for egg production) with little to no access to the outdoors. The focus is on high-density production. Q2: Is Pastured Chicken More Expensive? Yes, pastured chicken tends to cost more due to the higher standards of farming, but the health and ethical benefits make it worth it. Q3: Is Pastured Chicken Safe To Eat? Absolutely! When sourced from trusted providers like Miller’s Bio Farm, pastured chicken is safe and nutritious. Q4: How Can I Buy Pastured Chicken? You can order directly from this page on the website you’re on right now. Miller’s Bio Farm will deliver fresh, high quality chicken right to your doorstep. Pastured chicken is a game-changer if you’re looking to improve your diet with healthier, more ethically raised poultry. Miller’s Bio Farm delivers exceptional quality. They make it easy to enjoy the benefits of pastured chicken. Give it a try—your taste buds and your body will thank you! Order some today from Miller’s Bio Farm and experience the difference for yourself. Thanks for taking the time to read this article,The Carnivore Gal P.S. If you’d like a detailed breakdown of other products by Miller’s, you can read my full Miller’s Bio Farm Review here.

Shopping for butter? Wondering what makes "the best" natural butter?

Here are the top 6 things to look for when shopping for natural butter:

More from the blog

Is yolk color is no longer a great indicator of the egg's nutrition?

How did pork get a bad rep anyway? Why is Miller's pork exceptional?

What Is Pastured Chicken? (Customer Review of Miller's Bio Farm)

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