Ah Swedish butter, how I have forgotten that it is true manna of the gods.
Growing up, Swedish butter was something we dreamed about. Seriously. In my house, my mother was always on a diet despite weighing all of 100 pounds. This meant mysterious American foods like 'Butter Buds' and 'Pam' which had 'All the flavor of butter' but none of the fat - or so they claimed.
The trips we took to Sweden were filled with Bregott's Extra Salted butter - because the extra salt meant you didn't have to refrigerate the butter. At our Swedish family's house they kept a tub of butter on the counter. And the father in that family? He heaped about a a centimeter high layer of butter on every slice of bread he ate. So when in Sweden I could butter my sandwiches 'The Swedish Way.' (This was second only to when I got to get sugar cereals on my birthday - and by sugar I mean Honey nut Cheerios, not Cookie Crisp).
Since moving to Sweden, I've managed to wean myself from the Extra Salty to the Organic, but I still stick to Bregotts.
Except on this road trip. When some friends of ours, who joined us for a leg of the trip, were made responsible for refrigerated perishables. Turns out they are Swedish margarine lovers. I guess someone has to eat Swedish margarine.
The first day I thought, 'This won't be so bad, it's just a few days.' But man, after the second day of margarine open-faced smorgas for breakfast, I was jonesing for some Bregotts.
I ended up getting a small container to tide me over. I don't know if there is anything quite like it in the States, since my exposure to real butter was pretty limited.
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Margarine is great because you can take it right out of the fridge and spread it without tearing up the bread. Butter needs more planning, you have to take it out in advance so it has the right consistency for spreading.
ReplyDeleteTo me the taste is about the same.
I am now very suspicious that my in laws have been feeding me the shoddy margarine and not this deluxe butter heaven you are taking about.
ReplyDeleteSo so true! I just got back from Sweden & I miss the butter, haha! That and the cheese...oh the cheese!
ReplyDeleteDidn't really miss butter when I lived in Canada (just didn't put any on my sandwiches), but now that I'm back in Sweden I suddenly can't live without Bregott. A move across the Atlantic in the future will definitely be difficult... :)
ReplyDeleteMazui, Bregott you can take out directly and use exactly like a tabel Margarine. That because it isn't actually pure Butter, it have Canola added to give it the right consistency for spreading.
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone eat margarine? How can anyone not taste the difference? Unbelievable !
ReplyDeleteSome sort of bacteria is added to factory made butter sold in Sweden. The reason is to get that special taste all people that has grown up in Sweden expects from butter. So Swedish "butter taste" is probably hard find abroad. Like North American chocolate made with that extra oddity (spoiled milk?) for that extra oomph Americans grows up with and thinks of as just ordinary chocolate.
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