For butter enthusiasts tasting new variations is always a treat. However, with so many kinds of butter available globally, it is hard to know where to start. Thankfully, there are a few butter of the month clubs that deliver right to your door, allowing you to enjoy a variety of artisanal small-batch butters without ever leaving the comfort of your home.
But first, what let's talk about butter itself. The history of butter dates back to ancient times and is found in the histories of multiple cultures. In ancient Rome, they once used butter medicinally for soothing coughs or topically for joint pain.
And in ancient India, they used ghee as an offering to honor Lord Krishna. Ghee is also called clarified butter, which is a butter with the water removed.
Butter even made an appearance in the bible and has a history with the Catholic church. Before the 1600s, Catholics were to abstain from consuming butter during Lent. However, those wealthy enough paid the church so they could consume butter during that time.
Paying the Catholic church during Lent became so common that in Northern France, they were able to build the Cathedral's Tour de Beurr, the tower of butter, all from the tithes paid to consume this delicious golden treat.
In some cultures, butter was used as a form of currency. In Norway, the king requested a bucket of butter as an annual tax. And in Ireland, there was a Butter Exchange to aid in regulating trade.
While butter does not hold the same significance it once did, it still has an essential role in the culinary world. Over the years, butter has evolved from ancient times to now include:
- Salted
- Unsalted
- Flavored
- European Style and European
- Whipped
- Clarified or Ghee
- Artisinal
- Goat
Butter of the Month Clubs
Food52
Food52 started in 2010 as a website to bring food lovers and home chefs together to share insights and recipes. The name of the company Food52 is based on the 52 weeks in a year.
Over the next three years, as the website became more popular, they decided to add an online store. The store carries a variety of hard to find artisanal foods, home goods, and crafts. You will find things like:
- Cookware
- Home Decor
- Dinnerware
- Gifts
- Appliances
Though their company has significantly expanded, they are still a place for foodies to go to exchange culinary ideas and recipes.
Food52's butter of the month club is a quarterly subscription that introduces your taste buds to Banner Butter. The Banner Butter Company is located in Georgia and offers grass-fed cultured cream butter in various flavors.
The quarterly membership costs $224 + $11 for shipping. There are 4 shipments of butter, and each delivery includes 4 butter rounds (5 ounces each) of varying flavors.
Packed in dry ice in an insulated carton, the butter ships via express, ensuring the butter arrives in premium condition. After you receive your delivery, you can store the butter in the fridge for 6 weeks or in the freezer for 12 months.
Some of the varieties included in the subscription are:
- Unsalted
- Sea salt
- Red Pepper Mash
- Cinnamon, Cardamon, and Ginger
- Roasted Garlic, Basil, and Parsley
- Balsamic Fig
- Dark Chocolate
Precious Treasures Gourmet Butter Box
The Precious Treasures Gourmet Butter Box is exciting. It focuses on artisan compound butter and sends out a new flavor each month. The subscription gives you full sized 2.2 oz butter medallions and a butter knife, making it a treat to receive each month.
The flavors can vary dramatically, including savory, sweet, and even spicy butters. For example, the February box was themed around Valentine’s Day and shipped out Strawberry Basil Butters and a related recipe. This is a fun way to try flavors that you’d never find otherwise.
Precious Treasures has been around for longer than their subscription box and offers an even wider range of butter flavors on their website. You could even find favorite flavors through the subscription box and then order more from Precious Treasures.
Ploughgate Creamery Butter Lover Subscription
Ploughgate Creamery argues that a single block of butter isn’t enough for true butter lovers. So, they ship out three 8 oz. butters each month.
Their first flavor bundle includes a block of salted butter, another of Vermont maple butter, plus a flavor of the month. Or, you can get 2 salted butter blocks and the flavor of the month.
Some of the monthly flavors can be quite unusual, like chive flower butter, while others are more familiar.
Regardless of the flavors, the subscription costs $28 per shipment. You can get a shipment every 1, 2, or 3 months – it all depends on how fast you go through your butter.
Butter Me Up
The club from Butter Me Up is a little different. Rather than just sending out butter each month, the subscription pairs butter with scones. The butter comes in many different flavors and styles, including sweet and savory options.
A key feature is how the butter and scones are paired each month. For example, March offers Honey Mustard Beer Batter with Mini Irish Soda Beer butter, while August offers Pecan Praline Butter and Apple Pecan Scones.
You can order for 1, 3, 6, or 12 months and choose between 1 and 2 jars of butter each month. The small subscription (a jar for a month) costs just $27.95, while the largest (2 jars per month for 12 months) costs $399.00. Reviewers mention that the products are delicious, with the butter and scones pairing well.
Acorn Dairy Organic Butter
Acorn Dairy is a UK-based company and they offer a simple subscription. You just receive 250 grams of farm fresh butter once, twice, three times, or four times a month.
That’s it. A single block of plain organic farm fresh butter. However, the butter will taste much better than anything from the store. Acorn Dairy also has a strong focus on sustainability. They even use compostable wrappers for the butter. It’s hard to get better than that.
Winter Tarn Dairy
Winter Tarn Dairy is in the UK as well. They follow a similar theme as Acorn Dairy, where you’re receiving plain high quality butter.
However, this time the subscription provides you with 5 packages of butter each month. Winter Tarn Dairy also includes a recipe each month to give you ideas about how to use the butter.
Barn & Butter
Barn & Butter, founded by Lisa Stalvey-Coady, is a California based company that specializes in transforming the relationship people have with food. Barn and Butter started at the local farmers market offering organic artisan crafted dairy products.
However, as time went on, and Lisa began to realize there was a significant lack of knowledge regarding the importance and impact that farm-fresh foods have on one's health. Today, in a world full of convenience foods, there is a critical loss of nutrition in our food, which is what Lisa is trying to change.
Lisa's goal is to bring people together with healthy, sustainable foods and educate them on the positive impact farm-fresh foods have on our health.
Although Barn & Butter has grown since its humble beginnings, it can still be found at local California farmer's markets. But if you don't live in California and still want to enjoy Barn & Butter's delicious organic dairy products, you can always order from their online store.
Barn & Butter also offers cheese and whey protein powder. However, the star of their company is butter. The butter box subscription comes in a variety of options:
- 1 pound salted or unsalted
- 2 pounds salted or unsalted
- 1 pound of each salted and unsalted
- 12 pounds salted and unsalted
The butter box starts at $18 a month which includes shipping. There's no contract associated with this subscription, so you can cancel anytime. Each box includes fun facts on butter, recipes, and updates about the farm.
Barn & Butter also offers a few varieties of ghee:
- Plain Ghee
- Vanilla Infused Ghee
- Ethiopian Spiced Ghee
- Italian Herb Ghee
Big Spoon Roasters
This is not your traditional dairy butter of the month club – it is a nut butter club. Nut butter is considered a butter due to its fat content.
Big Spoon Roasters, located in Durham, North Carolina, makes handcrafted nut butter using only premium ingredients. Founders, Mark and Megan started making nut butter at home as a hobby but soon realized its marketing potential.
The nut butters are available in 3-ounce or 13-ounce jars and come in a wide variety of flavors:
- Fiji Ginger Almond Butter with Sea Salt
- Maple Cinnamon Peanut & Pecan Butter with Sea Salt
- Chai Spice Almond & Peanut Butter with Sea Salt
- Toasted Coconut Almond Butter with Sea Salt
- Hot Mamba Peanut Butter with Chiles & Sea Salt
- Wag Butter – For Dogs
The various nut butters are available for purchase individually, in variety packs, or as a subscription. There are four monthly choices:
- Roasters Choice – 1 jar of Roaster's Choice nut butter for $15.95/month
- PB&J of the Month – 1 jar of jam and 1 jar of peanut butter explicitly selected to pair with the jam for $29/month
- AB&J of the Month – Same as above but includes almond butter instead of peanut butter for $29/month
- Your Choice Nut Butter Subscription – You choose the flavor, and 1 jar of your choice is sent every month, starting at $14.95/month
Each of the subscriptions is available for different durations, depending on which club you choose.
Butter Gift Box
Nordic Creamery
Nordic Creamery, located in Westby, Wisconsin, started as a family farm back in 1917. The Bekkum family still runs the farm and now owns and operates the Nordic Creamery.
Over the last 13 years, Nordic Creamery has won several awards for the cheese and butter, some of the awards include:
- World Championship Gold Award, Best in Class for their Garlic and Basil Butter
- US Championship Gold Award, Best in Class for their Cultured Butter
- US Championship Gold Award, Best in Class for their Cinnamon Sugar Butter
Nordic Creamery has 2 retail stores in Wisconsin. However, if you aren't close to one of their shops, their online store carries a variety of cheese, butter, and gift boxes.
Their Butter Lovers Box is a delicious gift option to send to the butter enthusiast in your life. The box includes:
- 12-ounce Harvest Butter
- 8-ounce Garlic and Basil Butter
- 8-ounce Cinnamon and Sugar Butter
- 8-ounce Maple Syrup Butter
- 8-ounce Pepper Butter
- 8-ounce Cultured Butter
Depending on your location, free shipping is available for orders over $25.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is There An International Butter Club?
The International Butter Club is a real thing (inspired by the movie Bride Wars). It didn’t feature on this list because the club isn’t what you might expect.
In particular, this isn’t a subscription club and it doesn’t send out any butter. Instead, it’s a butter appreciation club that includes posts about butters from throughout the world. There are even detailed tasting notes and ratings for each type of butter.
Do Any Clubs Offer Grass Fed Butter?
Banner Butter is one of the best options here, offering 4 blocks of grass fed butter every month. The only catch is that 3 of these are flavored butters, which aren’t as versatile as plain salted butter. If you’re looking for plain butter instead, you could order unsalted butter through the Banner Butter site itself.
For those in the UK, Acorn Dairy is another option. While they never use the term grass fed on their site, they talk about how the cows are fed organic forage, including clover and herbs.
How Many Months Does Butter Last?
If you keep it in the fridge, butter can theoretically last up to 6 months. However, it doesn’t retain its quality for this long. Instead, the flavor starts decrease after a few months.
The products on this list are all high quality artisan butters, so you want to use them at the peak of flavor – perhaps within a month or two of buying them.
Does Amazon Have A Butter Club?
Amazon doesn’t have any specific butter clubs. They do sell plenty of butter products though, including salted and unsalted butter, pasture-raised butter, ghee, and even butter powder.
You can get close to a butter club by ordering butter through Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program. This provides up to a 15% discount on your shopping and will send it out monthly. You’ll need to buy more than just butter to meet the required order size, but there’s no shortage of products to choose from.
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