After years of making it available exclusively for shoppers at Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market in St. Paul, Hope Creamery is now widely distributing its phenomenal high-fat butter. That sound you hear is the collective rejoicing of the local baking community.
Sold in pound-size blocks and wrapped in distinctive red ink-printed wax paper, the latest from the pride of tiny Hope, Minn., only accentuates key words like flaky, tender and golden. In other words, a prime cookie-baking foundation. No wonder the label says, "the butter that betters the baker."
To butter novices, the difference may seem slight — something around 80 to 82 percent milk fat for standard-issue butter (the rest is water and milk solids) and roughly 85 percent for the high-fat butter — but don't let the arithmetic fool you.
"There is absolutely no comparison between the regular stuff and the high-fat stuff," said Heartland chef/co-owner Lenny Russo. "It costs more. But it's worth it."
About $5.39 per pound, available at Lunds and Byerly's, Kowalski's Markets, Wedge Co-op and Seward Co-op.
RICK NELSON
