Sunday, October 09, 2022

"Run In Circles, Scream And Shout?"

      Or, better yet, don't.  Even though the pundits believe we're sliding into a butter shortage.  I noticed the other day that our grocer was out of the fancy imported stuff I prefer.  It was no big deal; butter keeps and at any given time, I have two or three tubs stacked at the back of the fridge.*  I have done so ever since there was bobble in supply during the pre-vaccine pandemic.

      I didn't realize there was more to the story, but it turns out butter prices have been creeping up a little more quickly than the general increasing cost of everything: the entire Northern Hemisphere had a hot summer, which affects milk production, and the return of normal life means more butter-using activities -- baking and cooking in general, mostly (I hope).  Supply is down and demand is up.

      So, panic?  Nope.  It's not nefarious, milk cows aren't extinct, and "What, no butter?" has been a solved problem for somewhere between 153 years and forever, depending on who you're asking and what you want to use the tasty fats for.  Oleomargarine is the most direct substitute and these days it really is (as the old ads imply) credibly close to the real thing.  Margarine is churned out (ahem) via industrial processes and the supply scales up pretty readily.  The observed price increase of butter means some people will already be switching to margarine -- there's "Econ 101" again -- prompting an increase in margarine supply. How well will it track demand?  I can't predict that but chances are it won't be too far off, and to make up the shortfall--

      Humans crave fats.  At one point, we never got quite enough.  That was back when our tools were made of wood, bone and stone and we dressed in leather, fur and leaves -- or nothing.  We never stopped looking for more edible grease and we've picked up a few tricks since then.  Depending on where you grew up and who your grandparents were, you're already familiar with lard, beef or mutton tallow, schmaltz, duck fat, olive oil and vegetable oils generally.  They've all been in the larder for at least thousands and possibly tens of thousands of years.  They all work well for baking and many are excellent on bread or other baked goods.  (Bread dipped in good olive oil, with or without flavorings, is a real treat.  Then there's the Spanish analog to colcannon, mashed potatoes and greens with a bit of smoked meat diced in: the Irish give it a little puddle of melted butter, but the Spaniards serve theirs with olive oil!)  None of  the replacements are butter, true enough, but even seal oil has its fans: humans crave fats.  It's built right into us and we have a plenitude of sources for them.  (I left out Crisco, which is essentially lard for vegans.)

      We may run low on butter this holiday season.  But don't be stampeded; we're not about to run out of the delicious fats we crave or the even more delicious baked treats we make with butter and a long list of useful substitutes.  If some eeeeevil "them" are after our food supply through the butter supply, "they" must have failed Home Ec -- more likely, the fear-mongering talking heads are certain you did.
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* Alternating, these days, between the regular version of Irish butter and the softer cut-with-olive-oil kind, nearly a dollar per tub cheaper and tasting the same as nearly as I can tell.  And there's Consumer Econ 101 in a nutshell.  It'll crop up again.

6 comments:

Jeff F. said...

Made a nice no-knead bread last evening for my Greek wife. Of course we dipped the chunks in olive oil infused with garlic and oregano...

Cop Car said...

Having spent my first four years living within walking distance of five generations of family, and one of those generations' having been dairy farmers, I find that there are few foods not improved with the addition of (more?) butter. Even, then, I recall after Grandpa D died (1944) and the farm was sold, fighting with Elder Brother for the privilege of kneading the button of dye into the oleomargarine to make it look edible. I haven't (knowingly) eaten margarine for many, many years. At about 0.5# butter consumed/month, the hit to our budget won't be severe. I can only feel for those who need the butter and cannot afford it. (I know nothing about Irish butter, but will be tempted to try it if I see some for sale.)

I should think that the only humanly consumed fats that may be made more dear as a result of OPEC+ might be corn oil - if we increase its use as a fuel oil component. I only use corn oil for pancakes (a rare treat for the past 50 years) or popcorn, so not a biggie. Popcorn will probably be as good when popped in olive oil - as long as I pour the molten butter over it.

Anonymous said...

Growing up with a mother who kept kosher meant always using margarine. And the stick of margarine had to be set on the table with the foil still wrapped around it so no potential guest would suspect we were mixing a dairy item with meat.
Jeffrey Smith

fillyjonk said...

But it does feel, some days, like "little misery upon little misery." I've noticed shortages of other items (green onions, recently) and I can't tell if it's genuine shortages, or the result of living in a lower-SES town that's at the end of the distribution chain, so we lose out when things are running just a little short.

Glenn Kelley said...

Fats other name is energy.

Antibubba said...

If you like Irish butter, wait until you try New Zealand butter. The brand I see here is "Anchor".