Le beurre et l'argent du beurre..... Presque

[idun]

Rayons vide apparently in supermarkets, and the big supermarkets simply doing a Donald and making up reasons why there is no butter.

As a farmer said, they have struggled whilst the prices were low, now they are higher, they want the proper price for their butter. The super markets don't want to pay it.

Daresay the supermarkets will say that these prices were negociated, but farmers are farmers and not slick business people with highly paid legal minds sorting out their contracts.

We all need our farmers, get them paid properly! Knowing I will have to pay more.

[Patf]

"We all need our farmers, get them paid properly!" I completely agree Idun.

We never have butter, just soft marg. (long story). But last week I had a few days in hospital and we were given biscottes and butter for breakfast - I really enjoyed it.

[andyh4]

Have heard about the dearth of butter - especially Bretagne butter - and yet out Super U in deepest Ardeche has boxes of the stuff.

I agree that farmers have to be properly paid (and recently have not been for milk and milk products), but I am beginning to think this may have more to do with the distribution groups than the farmers themselves - which if true will mean they miss out again.

[idun]

My husband gave up butter a few years ago and went back to it. I never gave up on it. Although I do not eat much of it these days I cannot imagine not using it either in my cooking or baking or as a treat on a toasted teacake or crumpet.

[Chancer]

I have not used any butter or margerine in 7 years since I started healthy eating, the key was giving up bread which meant no more junky snacks of sandwiches, it amazes me now how much bread and butter/marge I used to eat in a week (1.5 tubs) for no better reason than convenience, something to encase unhealthy food on its rapid journey to my mouth missing out the plate completely. And also of course eaten with every meal that I did cook and sit down to eat, totally unnecesary I now realise but it used to seem as essential to me as an apéro before a meal to a French person.

 

Customers are always leaving unopened tubs in the fridges, I might keep one now and then and throw out another that has sat in my fridge "just in case" for 2 years without being opened.

 

I still have  a nearly full bag of sugar that I bought in 2005! Never did use much of that.

 

I have moved on to coconut oïl for cooking now that I can find it for a good price in Action.

[Jonzjob]

We were in one of our Bio supermarkets today and they didn't have any butter at all! We love it and usually get raw milk butter, but not at the mo!

So, we wandered across to the great hole called Carrefor for a rare visit to see what they had. Some salted, which we never touch, and just a few packs of 'Doux' which we bought. As for axle grease? No ta. The natural stuff and with raw milk is the best, but where is it?

[EuroTrash]

Where is it - in Normandy!. Here you wouldn't know there was a butter shortage, well I didn't until I read about it on t'internet. But since there are more cows here than people and we have the President butter factory and several others on our doorstep that's not surprising.

Maybe there's a business opportunity here for me, I could start posting butter all over France...

[lindal1000]

According to our French farming neighbours the shortage is due to the government and the EU, and according to France3 it's because the retailers can make more profit by selling French butter to the growing markets in China. Unfortunately for local farmers they are still not able to get enough money for their milk to enable them to stay in business so there is a shortage of French milk for French butter.

I got some yesterday for my Christmas cake. I only use it for baking as prefer margarine.

[richard51]

"According to our French farming neighbours the shortage is due to the government and the EU, and according to France3 it's because the retailers can make more profit by selling French butter to the growing markets in China. Unfortunately for local farmers they are still not able to get enough money for their milk to enable them to stay in business so there is a shortage of French milk for French butter.------------"

So......it would appear that butter is still being produced in France, but is being sold abroad.

Given the great benefits that the CAP bestows on farmers and excellent tax breaks they receive (in UK anyway) I have little sympathy for so-called "poor" farmers.

Using cows is a very inefficient way of producing food so perhaps (as per Chancer) perhaps it should become less attractive for farmers.

[Chancer]

I'm not a vegan yet you know!

 

I still consume milk and from that make fromage blanc, far too much.

 

Cooking aside the French consume a lot less butter than the Brits, around here it is only used on bread when eating cheese and then only by some.

[alittlebitfrench]

Ummmmm......Croissants are 50 % ++++ butter Chancer.

Mefinks the French use a lot more butter than the British.

The British cook with Lard which is.....disgusting. God I hate lard.

[woolybanana]

ALBF, you have, as frequently happens, got your 'Italkalorrarollocks' hat on; sales of lard and margarines have been in steady decline for a number of years, though perhaps not in the corner of the world where your heart lies.

To the extent that Unilever, one of the biggest producers of the stuff have put their 'fats' division up for sale and believe me, they dont do things like that lightly.

The butter shortage is down to farmers wanting what they believe is a fair price for their milk and everyone else in the chain of production and sale wanting their margins. Nothing whatsoever to do with the government or the EU.

Until efficiencies are made in the industry, sensible negotiating procedures put in place and we stop this soppy sentimental attitude to farming, there will be no winners.

What is most likely is that the consumer will end up paying the price, as always happens.

Perhaps though, we might all cut out dairy eating by say 30% as there is massive overproduction still - just check the Youart offerings.

[Patf]

I used to buy butter here, but couldn't find any that spread easily, all rock-hard.

Can someone recommend a soft butter?

I would like to start using it again - stopped because of medical reasons then later the "experts" changed their minds about it.

[Jonzjob]

The scientifique way of insuring that you have soft spreadable butter.

Stand it in the sun for 5 mins. Hey presto, you can pour it  [:-))][6]

SWMBO like the butter hard as nails and I like it soft. Guess who wins [:(]

The best thing about butter, especially raw milk stuff, is that it's natural and the body can handle it. With all these 'wonderful' (?) spreads they are so bug-gered about with who knows what the hell you are chucking down your throat?

Stork marg [8-)] Good for lubricating heavywieght kit like axles, nowt else me-thinks.

[idun]

Lard has many many redeeming qualities.

I have always used some in my short crust pastry, my short crust pastry well, is very good. And my french butcher always used some in his pastry too, although he NEVER told his other customers.

When frying with it, it is one of the healthiest as it does not produce nasties that lead to heart disease or cancer, whereas sunflower oil does.

No idea what to say about such as coconut oil. We criticise  the likes of animal fats as being bad for the planet, but sadly, rain forests are being cut down to grow coconut trees.

I do use 'margarine' (I know it doesn't exist any more, spread, non butter fat, whatever) in some of my baking, ie cakes and use it in my xmas cake, the reason being that by the time I have added the huge dose of brandy to the fruit, and then there are all the spices too, I cannot taste the fat that went in in the first place. Where as a butter cake, like a madeira is different, with that one gets the taste.

[Chancer]

I listen to all the pseudo science, you could not possibly believe them all and what is considered healthy one moment is considered a killer the next, I follow very simple food rules and when it comes to fats any fat that is solid at room températures is a good fat, so lard, graisse de canard, graisse de rognon and huil de coco are good in my book, I really like the latter but it is probitively expensive even in the UK with the exception of Action, not fat related but healthy food for a very sensible price, they also sell Goji berries.

 

PatF, you need to look for beurre doux à tartiner.

[Jonzjob]

Now yer talkin [geek] Goji berries are fantastic and I get through quite a lot of them!!

Very very good ofr the body an soul too!

[Chancer]

Unusual for a trendy "superfood" to taste great and have a great texture.

 

Where do you get them from and how much do you pay?

 

Any recommendations for where to buy them in the UK as I will be there soon?

[richard51]

Looking at NHS Choices website it appears from the dietitian's perspective that these goji berries have very little, if any, benefit at the concentrations found in them.

https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/superfoods/Pages/are-goji-berries-a-superfood.aspx

Would suspect making beautiful things out of wood is far more beneficial.

[Harnser]

You eat what you want to eat Chancer but you should know that coconut oil isn't regarded as healthy:-

Wiki:-

"Due to its high levels of saturated fat, the World Health Organization, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, United States Food and Drug Administration, American Heart Association, American Dietetic Association, British National Health Service, British Nutrition Foundation, and Dietitians of Canada advise that coconut oil consumption should be limited or avoided"

[BritinBretagne]

This explains it very clearly.

Is there a butter crisis in France?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41766352

I see that alittlebitfreunch is showing his inability to read again.

[richard51]

Here we go again. Coconut oil is a saturated fat which can increase your cholesterol as can lots of other regular foods. The advice is usually to moderate consumption of saturated fats or swap to unsaturated fats- not necessarily eliminate them entirely!!

Wiki is useful but should not be quoted directly and further reading is usually required.

https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/Eat-less-saturated-fat.aspx

Must say - coconut oil reminds me of hot holidays when liberally spread onto skin!!!

[Chancer]

Thanks for the corrections re the coconut oïl. Looks like it is back to sunflower oïl.

 

 

 

Summing it up, Lichtenstein, who served on the AHA's panel, said that coconut oil does not have any unique heart-health benefits, and its "halo effect" — meaning its perception by the public as a healthful food — is probably not justified from a scientific perspective. There is not any reason to use coconut oil rather than unsaturated oils, and there are potentially disadvantages from its high content of saturated fat, she said. 

[Jonzjob]

Richard, in that article sugar is the 'new' bandit, but 'Pure White and Deadly' came out 30 years back and it's a book abpout just how much of a poison sugar really is.

The NHS daily recommendation for Vit C is 40mg/day?

"How much vitamin C do I need?

Adults (19-64 years) need 40mg of vitamin C a day."

"What happens if I take too much vitamin C?

Taking large amounts (more than 1,000mg per day) of vitamin C can cause:

• stomach pain
• diarrhoea 
• flatulence 

These symptoms should disappear once you stop taking vitamin C supplements."

Errr? I take 25 grammes a day and have done so for the past couple of years and I do so without spending all day doubled up and sat on the loo. Why do I take that much? Because I have prostate cancer and that keeps it under a hammer!

The above quotes are for the NHS Choices web site, so if I were you I would take a pinch of salt with anything I read from that lot?

Goji have been proved to be very effective for all sorts of ailments for centuries, but they aren't top of the pops with big pharma sponsered bunches like the NHS Choices me-thinks? They can't patent then can they?

[richard51]

Wow - conspiracy theories in the NHS now. I do accept that it is being quietly privatised though.

If it works for you then fine, but most people get their Vit C and sugar from a standard normal diet. What are the specific dietary issues with prostate cancer?