With so many grass-fed butters on the market these days, it’s hard to decide which one is the best to purchase. I’ve got you covered with a review of 5 grass-fed butter brands!
Organic Valley
Color: 4/5 – The color is quite good, but it’s ONLY churned May-September, so I would have thought it would be a bit darker.
Taste: Since this butter is cultured, it has a bit of a tang to it, almost cheese-like. It is only lightly salted, so it can taste a little more “oily” than I like. But it is AMAZING on popcorn. It makes it taste like theater popcorn, only more real.
Ingredients: Pasteurized Organic Sweet Cream (Milk), Salt, Microbial Cultures.
Salt: From the Organic Valley website: “The salt used for Organic Valley products is pure mined salt, produced in the USA. It is high purity, food grade granulated sodium chloride. The salt is processed to remove impurities (such as heavy metals) and crystallized with no additives. Therefore, the salt used does not contain iodine or flowing agents (like aluminum).”
Claim: “Organic Valley Pasture Butter is made at the peak of pasture season, when our cows’ milk is naturally higher in omega-3s and CLA. As always, there are no synthetic additives in our Pasture Butter—its gorgeous golden color comes from summer grasses, not from man-made dyes. ALWAYS ORGANIC. Absolutely NO antibiotics, synthetic hormones, toxic pesticides or GMO anything.”
From what I can tell, this butter is not 100% grass-fed. It is only produced May-September so probably MOST of their food is grass. But they probably do receive supplemental feed:
“Supplemental organic grains can include any of the following: corn, soy, oats, barley, triticale and other small grains. Animals also receive necessary mineral supplements that sometimes include non-iodized salt.”
Availability: You will most likely be able to find this butter in a health food store. You can also purchase it from Azure Standard. It’s also available on Amazon
Price: This butter retails for around $9 a pound. However, you can find it for $7.25/pound on Azure, or as low as $6.50 if you buy 15 pounds. I have purchased it for around $5.50/pound when it went on sale at my local health food store.
Anchor:
Color: 4.5/5
Taste: Anchor butter has a distinct flavor which is hard to describe – kind of tangy like the Organic Valley Pasture Butter, but a bit different. It has a good amount of salt. It’s also very soft, presumably because it is triple churned.
Ingredients: Cream, water, and salt – I’m a bit confused as to why it contains water, but the fat content is actually higher than some of the other butters.
Salt: I couldn’t find any information on the type of salt used in Anchor butter. I contacted the company – I’ll let you know if I get a response!
Claim: From the Anchor website: “The cows that produce milk for Anchor butter are pasture-raised and grass-fed. This also means our cows are raised naturally under humane living conditions at all times. Butter made with milk from grass-fed, free-range cows has a richer taste versus butter made with milk from barn raised non grass-fed animals. Butter from grass-fed cows is also proven to be higher in Omega 3, Beta Carotene and Vitamin A. The New Zealand government prohibits the use of animal growth hormones in dairy, sheep and beef farming, so our products are always rBST-free.”
I’m not sure what percent grass-fed Anchor butter is, but the cows are on grass all year long.
Also, they have a completely organic version that comes in plastic tubs. So if you want to be sure that you are avoiding all GMOs, go for the organic one.
Availability: You may be able to find this butter in health food stores or specialty/non-big-box grocery stores. I went into a local grocery store and had them special order Anchor butter for me. I was even able to haggle about the price! You can also purchase it on Amazon
Price: This butter retails for about $7/pound for the non-organic version, or $9.30/pound for organic. I was able to convince the grocer to lower the price of the organic butter to the same price as the non-organic one. Score!
Rumiano:
Color: 4/5
Taste: This one was pretty salty. The flavor is more like regular butter. I’m not sure if it’s because it comes in a regular paper wrapper, but this one had an almost freezer-burnt flavor. But I find that most regular (non-grass-fed) butter has that flavor.
Ingredients: Organic cream, sea salt.
Salt: Rumiano uses sea salt, but it’s not clear if they use unrefined or refined sea salt.
Claim: From Azure standard: “This butter is from grass-fed cows with year-round access to pasture. European-style butter refers to the content of fat and moisture in this butter – no culture is added.”
How Rumiano defines grass-fed: “At Rumiano Cheese we are proud to say that our dairies go the extra mile for grass fed milk production. The mild Northwestern coast of California has prime weather for grazing and pasture time. Year round access to pastures and naturally growing coastal grasses are imperative to our definition of grass fed feeding. Open pasture time and natural grazing allows the cows to roam freely makes for high-quality milk. Haylage and silage are used for feed when the weather is too wet and cold for pasture time which is seldom. The grassfeeding methodology benefits the animals and consumers by helping produce healthy and humane dairy products.”
Availability: I haven’t seen Rumiano butter in any local stores, but a grocer might be willing to special order it for you. You can purchase it from Azure Standard.
Price: I’m not sure what the retail price is, but you can get it on Azure for $3.75 for a half pound, or $5.21 a pound if you buy 15 pounds.
NOTE: Rumiano also makes a non-organic butter. It is always deeper yellow in color than regular butter, and it’s cheaper than their organic version. You can get it for $3.85/pound at the time of writing this post (prices fluctuate). You can find it on Azure.
Kerrygold:
Color: 5/5 (I give it five out of five since it was the darkest of the five butters I reviewed here. There may be another butter on the market that is darker than Kerrygold.)
Taste: This is just straight-up good tasting butter. SO much better than regular butter. It has a nice amount of salt and isn’t bland.
Ingredients: Cream, salt.
Salt: I haven’t been able to find any info about the salt used.
Claim: From the Kerrygold website: “The winds, rain and warming influence of the Gulf Stream all contribute to the lush grass our cows feed on year-round. They produce the sweetest, richest milk in the world, which makes our grass-fed cow’s milk Irish butter taste silky and creamy and glow a healthy, golden yellow.”
Kerrygold has lost popularity in the healthy food community in recent years because it came to light that their butter is NOT 100% grass-fed.
According to Kerrygold: “Irish dairy cows enjoy a healthy grass-based diet all year round. During peak milk production in the summer months, cows graze outdoors on our lush green pastures all day long. Even in winter months Irish cows enjoy a predominantly grass-based diet. They eat silage which is fermented high moisture fodder cut from summer grass and stored for winter feeding.
Irish dairy cows enjoy a healthy grass-based diet all year round. The vast majority of an Irish cow’s diet, almost 85 per cent, is from rich, natural grass. Supplementary feed makes up about 15 per cent of a cow’s diet. The exact percentages can vary depending on availability of the ingredients.
Like all natural ingredients, the weather can affect harvests, which in turn affects availability of ingredients to the agricultural industry.”
Taken from the Live Simply Blog, quoting Kerrygold: “Our ongoing discussions with the grain and dairy industry have established that of this approximately 10% grain/supplements, approximately 20 to 25% may be from GM sources. This means that approximately 3% of a cow’s total typical annual diet may be from GM sources…
At present, the Irish Dairy Board cannot guarantee that grain supplements used by farmers will all be GM free…”
In other words, maaaaybe 3% of the feed given to the cows that produce milk for Kerrygold is GMO.
Availability: Kerrygold is widely available. You can get it at Walmart, Target, local grocery stores, and health food stores. You can also purchase it on Amazon
Price: Kerrygold runs about $3.25/half a pound at our Walmart, but I know it’s cheaper at Trader Joe’s or Costco.
NOTE: The Kerrygold unsalted butter is cultured.
Graziers:
Color: 3/5 The color is a little darker than regular butter, but not a lot. Perhaps I got a light batch?
Taste: This butter has a lovely, light flavor. Almost a buttercream frosting flavor. But it doesn’t have enough salt for my taste.
Ingredients: Cream, sea salt, and cultures
Salt: I haven’t been able to find any details about the type of sea salt used.
Claim: (From Azure standard) “Graziers products are Certified Graziers, meaning we are allowed to get a third party audit for our Graziers certified farmers. This way we are able to keep track that at least 70% of their dietary intake is live grass from pasture, and that the rest of their diet is made up of non GMO grains. We can also make sure that the cows are on pasture for at least 300 days out of the year and that the pastures they are grazing on, are being rotated properly so the grass has a chance to regrow with all the same lovely nutrients. With this certification we are able to more diligently keep track of what the cows are consuming, and we love that!”
Availability: I haven’t seen this in any stores. You can purchase it from Azure.
Price: On Azure it’s $4.40/half pound, or $7.12/pound if you buy 6 pounds.
Which Grass-Fed Butter is the Best?
If we’re talking pure health-factor, I would say that the Organic Valley Pasture Butter is the best. It’s certified organic so you know that any supplemental feed is non-GMO and organic. Also, the butter is cultured so it has the added benefit of being a cultured food.
If we’re talking taste, it really depends on what you’re looking for. If you like a very normal butter flavor, I think Kerrygold is best – it’s WAY better than most store-bought flavors, but it isn’t funky at all. And if you like a bit of tang, Anchor butter is definitely distinct. The Organic Valley is also very nice, but it isn’t quite salty enough for my taste.
If we’re talking availability, Kerrygold wins hands-down. I mean, it’s available at Walmart!
If we’re talking value for money, I’d say the Rumiano wins. It’s USDA organic so you know that the cows aren’t fed any GMOs. It’s also Project GMO certified, and it’s a nice deep yellow color. AND it’s only $5.21/pound on Azure if you buy 15 pounds.
If you’re really strapped for funds, you could also buy the non-organic Rumiano butter. The cows might be fed GMO-grain, but it’s always a deep yellow color when I buy it, so you know the cows are on pasture.
WHEW! That was a lot of info.
There are several other grass-fed butters on the market, but these were the ones that seemed most readily available to me.
Let me know if there’s a brand of grass-fed butter that you’d like me to test out!
xoxo
Erica
READ MORE:
- Updated Grass-Fed Butter Review
- Blind Butter Taste Test
- Butter Mayonnaise
- How to Brown Butter
- How to Make Butter
NOTE: Some links are affiliate. All opinions are my own. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I will make a small commission. This has zero impact on the price you pay, and it helps to keep Buttered Side Up running. Thank you so much!
This isn't about grass-fed specifically, but since you know so much about butter, I thought I'd ask 🙂
Why are most US butters salted? Where I am (in Europe), unsalted is more common.
I purchase Unsalted Organic Valley Cultured Butter. I also purchase Unsalted Finlandia if it is on sale. US dairies produce butter that is not as soft as most European brands.
How can you say its 5 when there may be some GMO
Which butter were you talking about? If you’re talking about my 5/5 rating for the Kerrygold butter, that’s specifically about the color. Kerrygold had the darkest color, which is why I gave it that rating. If you read my final thoughts, you’ll see that I gave Organic Valley Pasture Butter the win as far as nutrition goes, and Kerrygold won for availability.
Sometimes we need to look past organic/non-GMO when it comes to nutrition. Organic butter could still come from cows that are raised in confinement. I would personally prefer to eat butter from cows that are primarily on pasture, but *might* be fed some supplemental GMO feed than butter from cows that eat all-organic corn and soy and don’t get much time out on grass. But it’s a personal decision! You can make your own choice. 🙂
I think it's a combination of reasons: I've heard that the butter manufacturers salt their butter to mask the off flavors that old butter can develop. I personally think that's why they but flavorings in unsalted butter. Also, the butter here isn't cultured as often, so you need the salt so the butter isn't tasteless. And I think it also has to do with how you're raised: if (like me) you've eaten salted butter your whole life, unsalted butter tastes like solid oil on your toast. That's why I prefer salted butter. 🙂
That's definitely a lot of info and I am so glad you tested and shared it all. I personally love Kerrygold and a European butter Plugra.
I'll have to check out Plugra – thanks for the recommendation!
I’ve been learning about the benefits of RAW grassfed butter. Would any of these be considered raw? Where would I find raw butter?
No, none of these are considered raw. The cultured ones would have some good bacteria added back in, so those would be the closest to raw. You would have to live in a state where raw milk is legal to sell in the supermarket to get it. I’m not aware of any national brands since you can’t transport raw milk into a state where it’s illegal. Organic Pastures sells a raw butter, but it’s only available to California residents. BUT raw cheese is legal all over the US!
Not many choices around here but Greenfields Irish butter in the black foil package is my favorite. Not as soft as the kerrygold, similar saltiness, fuller richer flavor in my opinion. Costs roughly the same at 6-$7lb but harder to find. Discovered on clearance for $1 per 1/2lb at meijers.
I’ve never heard of Greenfields butter! I’ll have to look into getting my hands on it. 🙂
Hi! Thanks for this…. The Organic Valley above says “84% butter fat – prized for baking”….. I’ve seen others brands note as high as 92%….. are you able to help me undertand the various beneifts of high and low % and what is ideal? Thanks!!
I did a little research on this, and it seems like the different butterfat percentages are good for different things. Things like puff pastry and pie crust do well with the higher butterfat since the butter contains less water, but things like scones, chocolate chip cookies, eclairs, etc. are just fine with the lower butterfat, or some say even better.
Here are the articles I read:
https://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2016/08/18/butter-baking/
https://www.thekitchn.com/is-european-but-163688
https://www.tastecooking.com/all-about-butter/
Hope that helped! 🙂
Love this article! Thank you!
What about President butter? Just got it in my country and would like feedback.
I just review the President butter in my latest post: https://www.butteredsideupblog.com/grass-fed-butter-review/
Absolutely amazing research 👍I use Organic valley mostly and want to try kerrygold, that’s how I found this.
Thank you! Kerrygold is my favorite. Love the flavor! 🙂
Thanks for all the helpful info. The only thing I don’t like about the OV butter is that they don’t use sea salt; otherwise, it’s very good.
Yes, it’d be great if they used unrefined salt!
Can you comment on Challenge Butter from California. The package states grass fed, but I called them and they said the cows diet did include grain. I don’t see the word Organic on the package, so not sure about that.
The representative did say Kerrygold was pasteurized like that was not really that good, but I’m not sure about that either. Thanks and thanks for all the research. It was a great read.
I wasn’t aware that Challenge Butter was grass-fed! Are there different products? The one I saw at our local Walmart didn’t state anything about being grass-fed.
Of course non-pasteurized, cultured butter is ideal, but that’s not an option for most people since raw milk is illegal to commercially sell in a lot of states.
So glad you enjoyed the post!
I was looking at the Graziers butter in the store today. I read your description above from Azure Standard, which says the cows eat only non-GMO grains. I called Graziers up too, and they said the same thing. However, they told me that the package mentions this fact as well, but it does not.
Just curious—how reliable do you think their claim of feeding only “non-GMO” grains is?
Incidentally, at my local store, half a pound costs about $4.70, which is more than the Organic Valley butter.
Interesting! I guess there’s no way of knowing for sure that they’re telling the absolute truth unless it’s third-party non-GMO certified. They claim that at least 70% of the diet is grass, so that wouldn’t be GMO. Graziers is under the brand Sierra Nevada Cheese Company, and they do sell an organic butter. But it says nothing about being grass-fed, so it could come from cows raised in confinement that are fed organic grains. But you would know that it’s GMO-free if it has the organic labeling. The Organic Valley and the organic Rumiano butter are sure to be GMO-free as well, and they’re both grass-fed.
I personally tend to believe what they say, but I am just taking their word for it!
Thanks for your helpful reply, Erica.
You’re very welcome!
Hi Ericia suggest you check out the Anchor butter . The name was sold about 6 years ago to a British company Arla. Here in the Uk butter is produced under that name which is no match for NZ butter. As Arla bought the name they claim that they have been making butter for over 130 years. No only the last 6 years here in UK. Very deceiving. So as a NZ’er I’ve changed to Kerry Gold as I can no longer get ‘real butter’ here.!
Interesting! I don’t think I had heard of Arla butter before. Do they claim to be grass-fed?
Why is the pasture butter less yellow than the not pasture butter? IMG_2930.JPG
IMG_2931.JPG
Technically all of these butters are “pasture” because they’re all grass-fed. But things like the color of the grass, what time of year the butter was made, etc. affect the color of the butter.
just to verify – kerrygold salted butter is not cultured and their unsalted butter IS cultured? Is there a large difference in taste and moisture content between the two? – as I use both for baking. Thanks!
Yes, as far as I know the unsalted Kerrygold is the only one that’s cultured. I haven’t tasted the unsalted Kerrygold plain since I dislike unsalted butter. I’ll have to grab a block and give it a try!
Have you tried Kalona Supper Natural Organic grass fed ? Is made salted, and unsalted, The celtic sea salt harvested by hand comes form the Brittany coast france,
I tried it several years ago, but then our health food store stopped carrying it. I LOVE that they use unrefined salt! I saw that it was in at our HFS again, so I’ll have to get a pound and try it.
Erica, your review(s) are great and very timely for me. Just switched to grass fed butter this year for the health benefits and have been buying Kerrygold because they sell it at Trader Joe’s. Had been wondering how it compared to the more expensive brands at Whole Foods. Happy to learn Kerrygold can compete.
Just an FYI..we keep chickens that have access to green grass in addition to their organic laying mash. Their yolks are bigger, darker and more viscous than the any of the pastured eggs from Whole Foods. So I wonder how important it is that the cows be 100% grass fed to reap the health benefits.
I wish I could buy your eggs! I have never been able to find eggs with yolks as dark as home-grown anywhere. Yes, 100% grass fed would definitely be ideal. 🙂
Hello,
Thank you for your effort , i really enjoyed reading your article. And i have a question about the healthiest ( nutrients , GMO ect ) between Kerry gold and Anchor ( Salted and unsalted )
So glad you enjoyed reading my post!
As for the comparison between Kerrygold and Anchor, I’m not sure what percentage the cows that provide the milk for anchor are grass-fed and if they get supplemented with grain. So it’s hard for me to make a call there. My gut (ha!) would say that Anchor is slightly more healthy since it’s cultured, but I don’t have the numbers to back that up. And if you buy the organic version of Anchor I’d definitely say that it’s more healthy than Kerrygold because you’d be certain that the cows were fed zero GMO grains.
Thank you for posting this blog! Very helpful!
I’m considering switching from Kerrygold to Organic Valley based on just finding out they use 3% GMO feed to supplement.
You say above about Organic Valley, “From what I can tell, this butter is not 100% grass-fed. It is only produced May-September so probably MOST of their food is grass. But they probably do receive supplemental feed:”
But this an assumption on your part. I think you should find out and verify whether or not they truly do use GMO supplemental feed or not. I am only interested in facts, not assumptions. Thank You.
Hey Kenyon,
Is that new info that 3% is definitely GMO? When I did my research, it sounded like that 3% was “Maybe GMO, maybe not.” But did you find some updated info?
Organic Valley says:
“Supplemental organic grains can include any of the following: corn, soy, oats, barley, triticale and other small grains. Animals also receive necessary mineral supplements that sometimes include non-iodized salt.”
Since Organic Valley is certified organic, the cows can’t be fed GMOs because organic = non GMO. So the cows’ feed is organic and non-GMO.
None of these butters claim to be 100% grass-fed, but I tried to give information that I have found on how much grass the cows are getting. For example, Graziers says that their cows are on pasture at least 300 days out of the year. You could contact the brand if you want further info, or let me know your specific question and I could contact the brand.
In Denver, I haven’t seen stores selling any of these other brands (aside from Kerry Gold), I have seen Vital Farms that makes grassfed butter as well as cage free pastured eggs.
I love Vital Farms! In fact I included their butter in my updated grass-fed butter review: https://www.butteredsideupblog.com/grass-fed-butter-review/
*** This review is worthless because the Author is uninformed. The author doesn’t actually know what is in these butters. For example, Kerry Gold is being sued in CA for NOT being grass fed. They feed GMO grains, soy and corn.
I wonder how many of these butters are actually solely grass fed… I doubt any of them are.
Did you read the post? I clearly stated that it’s a well-known fact that Kerrygold is not 100% grass-fed. And Kerrygold freely admits this. The lawsuit isn’t claiming that the cows are eating grains exclusively, just that it’s misleading to say that the milk is from grass-fed cows when they are fed some grains.
Also, I didn’t claim that ANY of these butters are solely grass-fed.