Plugra - yea or nay

[Terrie]

Someone on another message board was kind enough to mention that the price of Plugra butter was incredibly inexpensive at Trader Joe's. Another kind poster added his input warning people that hadn't tasted Plugra before to buy just a little at first - he had found that he didn't really like the taste.

I hadn't invested in Plugra before, but was happy to try it at this price ($2.99/lb). And now I'm VERY happy to have tried it - I love it. I have cooked with it and appreciate the lack of water in it, and spread it plain on bread and toast and find it terrific and better than any butter I've had before.

But, my boyfriend, without having been told that there was anything new and different about the butter I served with his bread tonight, asked straight out "what's with this butter?" He didn't like it at all. His comment was that it had an "oily" aftertaste. I can see where his perception comes from - he's used to salted supermarked brands of butter. But, I still thought he would find this butter "better." He didn't. Nor did the poster on the other message board, even though this guy appears to be rather "elite" in his tastes (and took a bit of flack for not thinking that this butter was "IT" from the other foodies).

I'm wondering if any of you have opinions on the subject.

[Mad Russian]

I like Plugra better that any supermarket brand -- it tastes like real butter (hence the oily taste). It is not quite as nice as some of the French brands, but then again, it is less than half the price...

-Daivd

[ruth arcone]

I like the richness of Plugra, but it doesn't have the slightly tangy taste of European cultured butters that I like. Vermont Butter and Cheese makes a really good butter of this type, but it is hard to find and expensive.

For baking, I find Plugra fabulous in buttercreams and pastries, especially laminated doughs like puff paste and croissant. But I wouldn't use it in cakes and cookies, you wouldn't notice the difference in texture, so it isn't worth the extra money.

Whatever butter you use, the most important thing is getting fresh butter that has been stored properly, so it hasn't absorbed any off flavors. Unfortunately, you can't know this until you have bought and tasted the butter.

[zora]

I bought the Vermont Butter and Cream cultured butter a couple of times after the Washington Post raved about it in a comparative tasting. It was TOO good. Hub and I both need to get our cholesterol levels down, and the stuff was irresistable. I can eat bread without butter, but my husband can't and he was slathering the cultured butter on his bread at a very unhealthy and expensive rate. I buy Plugra at TJ's (it's called Keller's now in other stores) and also Cabot Unsalted, which I use for baking because it's easier to measure in sticks and I'm lazy about that. We use Plugra at the table (I put out a small amount in a dish). Hubby's happy with the "European" style butter flavor but he's able to contain his impulse to gorge.

[CliffA]

I'm confused myself. Pulgra used to come in a gold wrapper, and it was pretty good. Then, i think it appeared for awhile in a waxpaper wrapper, and it tasted, well, bad-- to me anyway. Then it re-appeared in the gold wrapper-- but with a different name-- and it's again pretty good. Or, i could be completely wrong about the whole thing and the two kinds of Pulgra (tasty/goldwrap and lower-level/waxwrap) co-existed until they got bought out.

Additionally, the fancy Whole-Foody type stores carry several different kinds of imported (usually pretty spendy) butter from Ireland, France, Belgium, USA, etc.

In any event, i've been using Land o' Lakes "Premium Extra-Creamy", and it's a very good product.

[rjka]

I use butter mainly in baking and like Plugra a lot, especially at the Trader Joe's price. However, I've found that the Trader Joe's version that I buy in the red wax paper wrapper seems to absorb refrigerator odors quickly and goes off faster than regular supermarket butters so you have to use it fast.

[gordon wing]

As far as picking up flavors - we keep our butter in a zip loc bag - the freezer type that are thicker and less permeable. Harold McGee (food scientist) mentions that most plastic wrap is permeable - Saran Wrap being the one brand that is anywhere from 6-500 times less permeable than the competition.

[jen kalb]

You hit one of my consumer product hot buttons here - I love Saran wrap, for refrigerator and microwave use, but these days, not all Saran is created equal - the Saran Brand was acquired by SC Johnson from Dow. After some confusion -they tried labelling it Zip Loc brand - there now seem to be red boxes of Saran of two types. Classic is the one you want - it has the non-permeable and not particularly clingy qualities of the old saran wrap , however the stuff labelled "Saran Cling-free" or whatever, is the standard plastic cling wrap (like Handi-wrap, reynolds plastic wrap etc. and should be avoided if Saran is what you are looking for.

[gordon wing]

jen,
thanks for the heads up on the different versions of Saran Wrap.

[Joe Fallon]

I am the Director of Marketing for Plugra. The discussion was enlightening. Thank you. Some clarifications are in order (and perhaps an apology). Plugra is available in Trader Joe's and some other stores in the red wax paper. The red wax paper is our food service packaging that TJ's prefers. Because of volume that restaurants use, butter does not stay in the cooler long enough to absorb significant odors so the wax paper does not pose a problem. However,odors in a consumer's refrigerator can get into any butter. The wax paper in particular may not provide the best odor barrier. We recommend wrapping any open butter with plastic wrap. You may also consider storing some butter in the freezer in plastic. It tends to absorb less odors and stays longer.
Keller's European Style is the exact same product as Plugra. We changed the name to be more "consumer friendly" after we heard a fair amount of negative acceptance about the name. But in the meantime, we confused those that were familiar with the brand. I apologize for the confusion. I should have trusted our loyal consumers.
We learned our lesson. We reintroduced the 8oz Plugra in foil. Heavier foil for even better protection. Available in unsalted and salted.
I promise that before we do anything else, I will first check with the "chowhounds". For instance, I am thinking about introducing an 8oz glass jar of clarified Plugra butter for consumers. Would you use it? Does anybody even know what clarified butter is anymore? thanks again for the input.

[Cris Henry]

I would be interested to see the clarified butter in stores. Providing, however; it is at an attractive price.
Clarifing butter is a fairly simple process. However; it does take time. If you can come up with a product that is competitive, I would surely buy it.

[Fidelixi]

I know this is an old thread, and I don't know if the poster is still listening but I vote yea for clarified butter. The only reason I can imagine that I would prefer making it is that sometimes I like to cook it a little longer and carmelize the clarified butter a bit and often packaged products lack that dimension.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Plugra did start making the jars of clarified butter - I've just seen them advertised by Williams'Sonoma, which of course wants some horrendous amount for them like $10/8 oz.