'European style'? The butter aisle is getting confusing and we're here to help (2024)

FAQs

What makes European style butter different from butter made in the US? ›

How is European Style Butter different from the Butter I usually buy? The difference between European Style Butter, such as our Extra Creamy Butter, and traditional Butter is that it is churned to produce a higher milk fat content of 82%, resulting in a creamier texture and richer flavor.

Typically churned longer than American butter, European butter has between 82 and 85 percent butterfat (European Union regulations call for between 80 and 90 percent in salted and between 82 and 90 in unsalted). It also has a richer taste, softer texture, and is brighter yellow in color than its American counterpart.

Challenge European Style Butter helps you prepare better tasting foods. It's churned slower and longer, in the tradition of fine European butters, to produce a more flavorful butter with less moisture and higher butterfat— 82% versus 80% for standard butters.

A mix of clarified and ordinary unsalted butter works well.

Bordier. France's Bordier is often considered by many in the culinary world to be among the best butter brands on the market. This is because of Bordier's determination to return to traditional methods, where the butter is kneaded by hand on a wooden table instead of being processed with factory equipment.

European butter is typically unsalted and cultured, whereas Irish butter is often salted and uncultured. The bright yellow hue is a hallmark of pure Irish butter.

The main differences between European-style cultured butter and the U.S. standard sweet cream butter are the higher fat content and slow churn of the Euro-version. European butter boasts 83% butterfat while non-cultured butters have an 80% butterfat.

European butter is ideal for laminating doughs, like croissants, where the higher fat and lower water content makes the butter more pliable and easier to sheet into thin layers. The 2% butterfat difference may not seem like much, but with something as precise as lamination, it can help define the layers.

Differences in fat content, churning time, and the quality and culture of the milk produce different end results. Sweet cream butter is lighter in color, whereas European-style butter is far more yellow. European-style butter uses cultured cream.

Challenge European Style Butter is Grade AA and is 83% butterfat versus 80% for regular butters. It is made by churning cream slower and longer in the age-old tradition of fine European butters. It has a creamier taste and a silkier texture.

Is European style butter good for baking? ›

The higher butterfat content of European-style butter doesn't always lend itself well to recipes developed and written in North America. The higher fat content can weigh down cakes and cookies, making them too rich. It is, however, an obvious choice in French pastries like gâteau breton, pâte sucrée, and kouign-amann.

Irish butter, or European-style butter, is one of your grocery store's best-kept secrets, but if it's creamy, decadent, and extra spreadable butter that you're after, it's the only one that should be in your fridge. Here's everything you need to know about this gem that is gaining popularity in American kitchens.

Overall, European-style butters are favored for their rich taste — a direct result of the higher butterfat content. More butterfat also means a softer texture, faster melt, and often, a saturated yellow hue.

At King Arthur Flour, we use grade AA unsalted butter for baking. That means it's 18% water, at least 80% butterfat, and 1% to 2% milk solids. Why grade AA? It's the most buttery in flavor of all three grades: AA, A, and B.

The USDA defines butter as having at least 80% fat, while the EU defines butter as having between 82 and 90% butterfat and a maximum of 16% water. The higher butterfat percentage in European butter is one of the main reasons why many consider butters from across the pond to be superior to those produced in the US.

If used in a recipe not calling for it specifically, European-style butter can create a greasy, sometimes drier result than grade AA butter.

More butterfat also means a softer texture, faster melt, and often, a saturated yellow hue. With less water, European-style butters are often the preferred butter for baking — especially when the flavor of butter is just as important as its function.

French- or European-style butter is considered the highest quality; it contains a bit more fat, thus less water than what we Americans call “regular” butter and often made from cultured cream, which may make it taste divine.