Learning to use herbs naturally in the kitchen is best begun with the simplest of dishes. Add some life to a condiment you use every day by making yours an herbal butter dish! Here are some ideas for compound herbal butters.
If you’d like some information on how to grow herbs, either in your garden or in containers, be sure to check out our e-book, Herbs in the Bathtub. Learn to grow herbs wherever you are!
The Butter Dish Stands Alone
If you’re still just learning of the remarkable properties of real butter, the Weston Price Foundation can help you out with their article Why Butter Is Better. Also try The Healthy Home Economist’s The Untold Story of Butter.
The first thing to consider when one wants to spruce up one’s butter dish is that it’s imperative to start with quality butter. There are various quality brands of butter you can purchase and your local dairy may also make and sell butter from their excess cream. You may also find it at your local farmer’s market.
The best way to ensure the quality of your butter is, as always, to make it yourself. For a detailed description of that process, please our post on how to make your own butter – click here.
The Herbal Butter Dish
Once you’ve mastered butter, it’s a simple matter to start getting creative making compound herbal butters. Your butter dish isn’t limited to savory herbs, either; sweet herbal and even floral butters are certainly worth your time.
In her course Herbal Cookery, my friend Kathie of Homespun Seasonal Living teaches you about making your own herbal butters, as well as many other herbal treats. I share her basic herbal butter recipe from her course with her permission.
A delicious whipped butter with robust fresh herbs - sure to liven up every mashed potato!
- 1/4 Cup Butter Room temperature
- 1/4 Cup Mixed herbs - for this recipe, use equal parts rosemary, lemon balm and chives Chopped finely
- 1/2 tsp Sea salt, if using unsalted butter
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Chop herbs finely and mix into room temperature butter. Besure all herbs are evenly whipped into the butter.
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Transfer to your butter dish for use on steamed potatoes, homemade crackers or sourdough toast.
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Wrap unused butter in bees wax wrap or plastic wrap and keep in fridge up to one week.
This herbal butter is great under the skin of a roasted chicken.
If you'd prefer not to refrigerate leftovers, place residual butter in the freezer for use in the winter when fresh herbs are scarce.
More Herbal Butter
For a few more herbal butter combinations from around the web, please visit:
Learn to make butter by hand – or even in a food processor.
Herbal Infused Compound Butter from Wellness Mama
Lavender Butter from Cupcake Project
Tarragon Butter from No Recipe Required
May your herbal butter dish be filled to the brim this season!
This year we made garlic infused butter as neighbor and friend gifts.
What a great idea! It’s so simple to make and simply just so good!