Spreading the Word About Butter!

I have a fascination with all things petrified. Fossilized dinosaurs, mammoths, mummies in ancient Egypt, Bog Bodies in Northern Europe, Otzi frozen in the Alps, the bodies in Pompeii, I could go on forever! These petrified remains of people, animals, and plants are not only biologically cool, but they are also a snapshot in time. A paused movie with the characters suspended in their last actions. But of all these petrified remains, one of my favorites is bog butter. Between the Iron Age and medieval times, ancient Celtic people would bury butter in the local bogs. The bogs, made of peat and with a cool, low-oxygen, high acid environment, served as a source of natural refrigeration. Like a refrigerator, archeologists believe the Celtics hid their butter in bogs as either a form of preservation or as religious offerings. Butter was a valuable commodity at the time both in terms of nourishment and as a form of exchange, so it made sense to save butter for hard times and to hide it from thieves (Daley, 2016).

Bog Butter at the Cork Butter Museum a must see for butter and food enthusiasts alike, Cork, Ireland. Photo by Rachel Snyder

Today the butter we buy in stores tastes very different from these preserved lumps found in bogs (bog butter would have been very pungent like an aged cheese). However, little has changed in how butter is made and how humans consume and place cultural meaning to the yellow spread.

Butter is made from heavy cream from the milk of ruminants (i.e. cows, goats, sheep, yak, buffalo, etc.). Heavy cream is able to become butter because it is an emulsion. An emulsion is when one substance is suspended in another substance in tiny globules. These two substances never mix. The emulsion that makes up heavy cream is water with globules of fat suspended and surrounded by a membrane of phospholipids and proteins. In the butter making process, these globules are slammed against each other, causing them to stick together until they form a lump of butter. The remaining liquid is the buttermilk. The buttermilk sold in grocery stores is different from this residual liquid, as it is only milk that has been soured from the addition of an acid (Oklahoma Cooperative Extension, n.d.).

The emulsion in milk vs butter. Source: https://scienceandfooducla.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/homemade-butter/

While there is a debate as to whether cheese came before butter, anthropologists largely agree that butter production started in the Neolithic when the first Stone Age ancestors succeeded in domesticating ruminants. The theory is that a prehistoric shepherd accidently discovered butter when, upon placing butter in a sack made from animal skin and traversing over a bumpy route for hours, the rhythmic movement of his trek generated solid lumps in an opaque liquid (Khosrova, 2017, 267). The taste of these lumps must have appealed to the theoretical prehistoric shepherd, as butter making spread throughout the Middle East, Indus Valley, Africa and eventually to Europe. 

Since that fateful shepherd, butter has taken on special culinary and cultural significance. The first written evidence of butter comes from 4,500-year-old limestone tablets detailing the butter-making process. Ancient Sumerians offered butter to the fertility goddess Inanna, protector of the seasons and harvest. Indian Hindus have made offerings of ghee, clarified butter or butter oil, to Lord Krishna for over 3,000 years. Ancient Romans associated butter with barbarism, but they, along with Ancient Egyptians and Greeks, also used it medicinally and cosmetically, applying it to their hair and skin (Jankowski, 2017). In addition to bog butter, Scandinavian and other Northern European peasants used butter as a form of tender to pay their taxes to the lord. 

Butter came to the United States with European colonists, who brought their dairy cows with them. Soon after their arrival, the colonists replicated butter’s cultural importance in their new home. The first student protests in the U.S. were over butter. Harvard University’s Great Butter Rebellion of 1766 started in response to students being served rancid butter in the dining hall (Jankowski, 2017). While butter’s long standing rivalry with margarine and the recent heath fads denouncing fats in general and butter in particular have resulted in decreased consumption of butter in the U.S. and Europe, it still remains an essential part of the culture and cuisine of people around the world.

Harvard University's Great Butter Rebellion of 1766 occurred after the students, suffering from the abominable dining hall food, finally had enough when they were served rancid butter. Source:https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/harvards-long-ago-student-risings/.

Those cultures and butter’s manifestations within them are more diverse than you would think. In the U.S. we associate butter with European culture. We conjure images of angelic milkmaids, pastoral vistas of docile cows grazing, and the wholesome combination of bread and butter, simultaneously symbolizing abundance, purity, and humility. Thus, we tend to associate butter with Europe and her colonies. However, butter production started in the Middle East and Africa, and it never left. 

Despite our association of cows with butter, the first butter would have probably come from goats, sheep, or camel milk, and in many countries in Africa camel milk is still the main source of dairy products. Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mauritania-camels/camel-milk-put-it-on-your-face-as-well-as-drink-it-idUSL0372229420070403.

Africa’s dairy countries run from just south of the Sahara east to the Horn of Africa (i.e. Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia, and Kenya), down the eastern highlands and into the south (Abdelgadir el al, 1998, 2). Due to the warmer climate, butter in Africa is usually made from soured or fermented milk, and, to increase its shelf life, it is typically cooked and churned into a butter oil or ghee. In the Sahara, for Tuareg nomads of the Ahaggar (Algerian Sahara) milk remains a staple food and butter is made from camel milk. To increase its shelf life, the butter is made into a strained butter oil similar to ghee (Khosrova, 28). In Uganda, the cattle corridor which, stretches from the Southwest to the Northeast, is home to the cattle-herding Bantu and Nilotic who still practice traditional ghee production (Wasswa el at, 2017, 11759). Based on archaeological evidence, Sudan’s cattle culture stretches back at least 5,000 years, compared to only 4,000 years north of the country in Nubia and southern Egypt. Archaeologists have found skulls of cattle ceremonially placed in human graves, and, among the Jebel Moya in central Sudan, people had burial grounds for their cattle. Later civilizations in the area are characterized by their rock drawings and pottery featuring cattle and vessels filled with milk. The classical Greek writer Strabo (7 BC) even mentioned the people of the area, Meroites (called Ethiopians by classic writers), as eating cheese and butter (Abdelgadir, 1). Today, milk and milk products remain an essential part of the diet and lifestyle of nomadic tribes throughout the country. 

The African Continent. Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Africa-Map-Maps-of-World-2014_fig1_319459630.

My interest in butter in Africa sprung from the discovery of smen, Moroccan fermented butter. While Morocco is not apart of the main dairy cultures in Africa, smen serves a significant cultural role in Moroccan cuisine. Smen, similar to ghee in other parts of Africa and India, is fermented as a means to increase butter’s shelf life (and flavor). The acidity that forms from fermentation protects the butter from bad bacteria, but it also gives the butter a funky, cheesy aroma. The butter is used in cooking, especially couscous, spread on bread, and even put in coffee. Being energy dense and filling, it is also used extensively during Ramadan. Smen has been described as being like a fine wine that gets better with age, so the longer smen ages the more expensive and the smoother the texture. A legend attached to smen is that Berber tribesmen would bury a clay jar of smen on the day of their daughter’s birth and unearth it to use to prepare her wedding day feast (Schmidt, 2014).

Like most products that were once produced at home or sourced locally, smen is now mass produced and available in grocery stores. Source: https://www.zamourispices.com/smen-p/smen.htm.

When I asked my friend Mouna from Morocco about smen, her first response was that it “smells bad” and her grandmother likes it. Smen is obviously an acquired taste, one that the younger generation is not keen on. However, fascinated, I decided to make my own smen. First I made butter by taking heavy cream and agitating it. I tried two methods, the jar and the stand mixer. While the jar method is great for getting kids to expend some of their energy, the mixer is much faster and a lot less arm work. If you have some unsalted butter on hand, you can just use that as well. After making the butter, make oregano tea (discarding the dried oregano leaves), and once that cools, message the tea and salt into the butter. Then place in an airtight jar and store in a cool space. You can always bury you jar or clay pot in the ground if you are feeling y, but a cupboard will do fine. Now let it sit for at least a month. The longer it sits, the funkier the favor. Check back to see how my smen turns out. 

WWII propaganda promoting the consumption of dairy products. Source: https://www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/HistoricalSociety/ww2ads/26.htm.

During World War II, a common mantra was that the U.S. would win the war with “bombs and butter,” signifying the importance of the yellow spread in American and European culture and identity. However, the culture of butter and dairy goes beyond the confines of Europe and the dominance of the cow. Even in places with no PDO cheeses or large herds of black and white Holsteins or doe-eyed Jerseys, dairy is still a staple of the diet and a defining part of the history and culture. Today these dairy products are even more important to the nutrition of the region. According to the Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Shenggen Fan, the promotion of dairy and other livestock products in famine-prone African nations like Ethiopia is essential to tackling issues of malnutrition (2019). Furthermore, as the main producers of these products, promoting their production also serves as a means to increase the economic and social status of women in these countries. Next time you slather butter on your morning toast, remember that you are part of a larger, more extensive, and older culture of people who love butter.  

Make Your Own Smen: https://www.thespruceeats.com/smen-moroccan-preserved-butter-with-thyme-2394939

Works Cited

Abdelgadir, W. S., Ahmed, T. K., & Dirar, H. A. (1998). The traditional fermented milk products of the Sudan. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 44, 1-13

Daley, J. (2016 Jun 13). A brief history of bog butter. Smithsonian.Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-brief-history-of-bog-butter-180959384/.

Fan, S. (2019 Jan 25). Healthy diets and sustainable food systems for all: A differentiated approach for animal-sources foods (ASFs). IFPRI Blog. Retrieved from https://www.ifpri.org/blog/healthy-diets-and-sustainable-food-systems-all-differentiated-approach-animal-sourced-foods.

Jankowski, N. (2017 Feb 24). Spread the word: Butter has an epic backstory. NPR The Salt. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/02/24/515422661/spread-the-word-butter-has-an-epic-backstory.

Khosrova, E. (2017). Butter: A Rich History. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Oklahoma Cooperative Extension. (n.d.). The chemistry of butter. Ag in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://aitc.okstate.edu/lessons/dairy/butter.pdf.

Schmidt, A. (2014 Oct 9). Smen is Morocco’s funky fermented butter that lasts for years. NPR The Salt. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/10/09/353510171/smen-is-moroccos-funky-fermented-butter-that-lasts-for-years.

Wasswa, J., Sempiira, E. J., Mugisa, D. J., Muyanja, C., & Kisaalita, W. S. (2017). Quality assessment of butter produced using traditional and mechanized churning methods. African Journal of Food, Agricultire, Nutrition and Development, 17(1): 11757-11770.

A Tale of Two Cheeses: Monasticism and Its Contribution to Europe’s Great Cheeses

The monks left. So begins the tale of two cheeses, Époisses and Port Salut. Combined, these cheeses tell the true story behind European cheesemaking. While these cheeses are different in terms of taste and production, their history and evolution reveal the forces that have created some of the world’s most beloved and iconic cheeses as well as the issues and debates that characterize European cheesemaking today. Filled with religious fervor, peasant-master relationships, conspiracy and violence, alcohol, terrior, and the implications of mass production, the stories of Port Salut and Époisses provide a lens from which to view European cheeses that generate questions of production, labor, and consumption.

Cheesemaking and the Monastery

            Époisses and Port Salut are both apart a long tradition of monastic cheesemaking. In response to the incursion of Frankish tribes and Irish monastic missionaries compromising the power of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Gregory I endorsed the establishment of Benedictine monasteries. The original intent of the Benedictine Order was a dedication to education and learning, public service, social responsibility, and self-sufficiency (Kindstedt, 2012, 123). Monastic cheesemaking goes back to at least the ninth century. A compilation of monastic managerial directives called The Customs of Corbie describes how the monks made cheese from its own flock of sheep as well as received cheese in the form of tithes (tribute) through manors and villas under their administration, known as the manorial system (Ibid, 131). Additionally, a ninth century biography of Charlemagne (Charles the Great), describes Charlemagne’s affinity for a cheese from the monastery of Saint Gall. According to the biographer, Charlemagne liked the cheese so much he asked for two cart loads to be sent to him every year (Ibid., 132). 

Source: Making White Cheese During the Middle Ages (From Tacuinum Sanitatis (ÖNB Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644), c. 1370-1400)

            The cheeses made by the monks or the peasants paying them tithes were soft-ripen cheeses, either bloomy rind or washed rind cheeses. These cheeses would be made from pooled milk, resulting in a higher acid level. The resulting curds were higher in moisture and, after pressing, were soaked in a brine bath. The defining part of these cheeses was the curing process. An orange mold would be cultivated on the outside of the cheeses through periodic washings in either a weak brine or alcohol, usually also made by the monks (Ditaranto, 2014). Each monastery had its own unique recipe that reflected, among other factors, the bacterial cultures of the area, the animals raised, the moisture and acidity levels, the washing solution (alcohol or otherwise), the temperature and humidity during storage, and the length of time the cheeses aged. 

The History of Epoisses 

Époisses is one of the softer cheeses developed in monasteries. Some sources date its production back to the seventeenth century, while others place it in the sixteenth century. Regardless of its first production date, we do know production started at L’Abbaye de Citeaux where the Cistercian monks made the cheese for almost two hundred years (Roman, 2015). 

And then the monks left…

The records do not say why or exactly when the monks left, but before they went they made sure to teach the local peasants how to produce Epoisses. The cheese grew in popularity throughout France. Reportedly, it was Napoleon’s favorite, and France’s most famous gourmands, the politician, philosopher, and all-round foodie Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) crowned Epoisses “the king of cheese” (Ibid). 

Epoisses with its signature orange rind and pudding-like texture. Source: Murray's Cheese

However, this cheese almost disappeared from the French cheeseboard. The method for production was traditionally orally passed down from mother to daughter. However, during both World Wars, with men off at war women had to take care of all aspects of running the farm, leaving very little time for cheesemaking (Risoud, 2016, 254). The cheese might have been lost forever if it was not for two local farmers, Robert and Simone Berthaut, who obtained the recipe from a few local old women who still remembered how to make the cheese (Roman, 2015). In 1956 they started producing the cheese again. By 1991 the cheese received AOC status, and in 1996 it received PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) protection. Since 2015, 1,400 tons of Epoisses are produced annually (Risoud, 254).

A defining feature of Époisses’s production is the use of marc de Bourgogne, a brandy produced locally in Burgundy, to wash the rind while the cheese ages (Roman, 2015). The process reflects the close ties between the production of alcoholic beverages, like beer, wine, mead, and cider, with monasteries. The Cistercian monks who started the recipe would have most likely made their own brandy or wine and used it to wash the outside of the cheese. 

            Within the cheese world, AOC and PDO production has become a contentious subject. France claims it preserves cultural heritage and economically supports small producers. However, countries that received large numbers of European immigrants, such as the United States, claim these cheeses are part of the cultural heritage of the immigrants that settled in their country, as they brought the knowledge of the methods of production with them and then replicated them (Rowan, 2018). 

The History of Port Salut

             And the monks left…

So begins the story of another monastic cheese. Port Salut is a relatively new cheese in comparison to other monastic cheeses, but its history is still illustrative of the forces behind the production of most European cheeses. In the late eighteenth century, a monastery of Trappist monks fled France due to the French Revolution that resulted in France’s Catholic monarchy being disposed. They found refuge in the Alps where they learned how to make Gruyere cheese (Blume, 2011). 

Upon returning to France in 1815, the monks set up a new monastery in Entrammes, called Notre Dame du Port du Salut (Ibid). The monks started raising cows and making a washed rind cheese that was a softer version of Gruyere. In 1873 they began distributing “Port du Salut” in Paris (Hillerbrand, 2013). The cheese’s popularity spread out of France. The recipe traveled across Europe to Eastern Europe as well as across the Atlantic to North America (Ditaranto, 2014). The abbey continued to produce the cheese until 1959 when the monks of Notre Dame du Port du Salut sold all rights to making the cheese to a large dairy corporation, the Société Anonyme des Fermiers Réunis (SAFR) (or the limited corporate partnership of united farmers) (Blume, 2011). 

Port Salut's signature orange washed rind has been replaced in recent years with a cloth rind. Source: Cooks Info

Due to the cheese’s popularity, the monks trademarked the name “Port Salut” at the end of the 19^thcentury. Imitators started going by the name St. Paulin (Blume, 2011). Despite the trademark, some small farmhouse producers still make cheeses labeled with the name Port du Salut or Port Salut. There are also British and Canadian Port Saluts and a Danish Port Salut. Mass production has taken its toll on Port Salut; the cheese has lost its washed rind, punchy aroma, and tangy flavor (Blume, 2011). Thus, unlike Epoisses where popularity generated protection of heritage and quality, popularity has led Port Salut to fall in quality and shirk aspects of its original production.

Two cheeses, both started in the monastery, yet they end on either side of the spectrum of cheese production today. One has retained its heritage and quality though at the expense of placing its production under regulatory control and distribution. The other has managed to expand its production, but along the way it lost touch with its origins. The monks may have left the cheese room for both of these cheeses, but, despite the changes these cheeses have weathered, they continue the legacy of these early cheesemakers.

Epilogue

            The story of monastic cheese does not end here. Monasteries around the world still produce cheese as a means of supporting themselves. Examples include Our Lady of the Holy Angels in Crozet, VA., Abbey of St. Benoit du Luc in Quebec, and in Bangalore, India at the monastery of Benedictine monks of the Vallombrosian Order. Inspired by the monastic history of cheese, I decided to make my own cheese in the same style of a monastic cheese. When I started my graduate degree at Chatham University, I lived in Orchard Hall, the residence hall on their Eden Hall campus dedicated to the Falk School of Sustainability. The campus felt so isolated from Pittsburgh, it became a joke among residents that we lived in a monastery. My goal: to create a monastic style cheese reflecting the terriorof Eden Hall. Check back later to see what I come up with.   

Blume, a. (2011 Oct. 4). Popular French cheese isn’t what it once was. Evansville Courier & Press.Accessed from http://archive.courierpress.com/features/popular-french-cheese-isnt-what-it-once-was-ep-445063131-324685711.html/.

Ditaranto, J. (2014 Sept 20). Cheese devotees: All about monastic cheeses. Culture: The World of Cheese. Accessed from https://culturecheesemag.com/cheese-bites/cheese-devotees-monastic-cheeses.

Hillerbrand, M. (2013 Mar 1). Homemade Port Salut cheese. Culture: The World of Cheese. Accessed from https://culturecheesemag.com/diy/homemade-port-salut-cheese.

Kindstedt, P. (2012). Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese ad Its Place in Western Civilization. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Risoud, G. (2016). Époisses. By Donnelly, C., The Oxford Companion to Cheese. New York City: Oxford University Press.

Roman, G. (2015 Mar 13). Bon Fromage: Epoisses, the creamy king. Culture: The World of Cheese. Accessed from https://culturecheesemag.com/blog/bon-fromage-epoisses-the-creamy-king.

Rowan, J. The EU doesn’t want your Parmesan cheese. The Food Institute. Accessed from https://foodinstitute.com/blog/eu-doesnt-want-your-parmesan-cheese.