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Comment by peer2pay | Hacker News Reader

My biggest confusion when shopping for butter in the US was trying to find one without added "butter aroma". If I’m already buying butter, why does it need flavourings of the very thing it’s made of?

I think we ended up settling for imported (Kerrigold?) butter that we knew from Germany…

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> My biggest confusion when shopping for butter in the US was trying to find one without added "butter aroma". If I’m already buying butter, why does it need flavourings of the very thing it’s made of?

The USDA regulates the appearance and flavor of butter. They employ a bunch of professional butter tasters for this purpose. Perhaps something similar is going on with the smell.

I was pretty shocked when I looked up the standards for butter grading and learned that they don't serve any safety-related purpose. How do I conceivably derive any benefit from a label that says "in the opinion of the United States government, this butter is more visually appealing than other similar butters"?

I have never in my life seen “butter aroma” in butter (from US).

They might have been looking at tubs of margarine or other spreadable products that mix butter with oils. I think tubs of real butter aren't all that popular (so wouldn't occupy a lot of shelf space).

Christ. That says it all.

Why put butter in a tub? Wasteful plastic packaging when a foil or wax wrapper is fine. Margarine is disgusting and in a tub because it won't hold its shape.

No I’m talking about your run of the mill unsalted butter. Even what I felt were "premium" choices (organic, expensive etc) had "natural flavourings" in them.

Here’s a few I could find from a quick search: https://www.albertsons.com/shop/product-details.960493010.ht...

https://www.albertsons.com/shop/product-details.960047103.ht...

https://www.albertsons.com/shop/product-details.138250183.ht...

I believe that’s because they’re unsalted (which I wouldn’t consider run of the mill, but a specialty baking product).

This Reddit post says the natural “flavoring” is lactic acid to replace salt as the preservative, but obviously you can’t be sure with that labeling:

https://old.reddit.com/r/AskCulinary/comments/26q208/natural...

But I see the Kerrygold equivalent, which is also sold in US stores doesn’t have this.

It's diacetyl, which is produced in traditional butter production, but not in modern butter production. They're adding it back in to make it taste more like butter.

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