# Margarine, oleo, butter, whatever you call it



## Junkman (Dec 17, 2005)

We were making a dinner at Church and I asked my niece to stop on her way home and get us a couple pounds of Oleo. Later she called and said the store clerk said they didn't have any and didn't know what it was anyway! Anyone out there remember when your Mother bought a plastic bag of a white stuff with a little orange capsule you busted and worked until your white stuff became beautiful yellow margarine? It seems, or I was told, the housewife would not buy margarine that was white as it looked too much like lard. Jklady:facepalm:


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## anahatalotus (Oct 25, 2012)

In my opinion the lard would be tastier and healthier than the oleo or margarine... But nothing beats butter! 
I'm not quite sure Oleo is though....


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Oleo is margarine.

I don't remember the yellow packets because at that time Grandma was still getting butter from the milkman. Dh remembers those little packs. His mom would never let the kids mix it in because if they spilled it, it would make a stain. He says it came in a bowl.

Bacon grease, the cooking oil of kings! I like my eggs and toasted cheese cooked in bacon grease.


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## mvick (Feb 8, 2014)

Yes, remember very well. Sometimes it was called oleo-margarine.


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## mvick (Feb 8, 2014)

Have a pic of container. Do not know how to send???


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## edcopp (Oct 9, 2004)

Junkman said:


> We were making a dinner at Church and I asked my niece to stop on her way home and get us a couple pounds of Oleo. Later she called and said the store clerk said they didn't have any and didn't know what it was anyway! Anyone out there remember when your Mother bought a plastic bag of a white stuff with a little orange capsule you busted and worked until your white stuff became beautiful yellow margarine? It seems, or I was told, the housewife would not buy margarine that was white as it looked too much like lard. Jklady:facepalm:


Last time I remember that was in 1947:thumb:


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

We have no time for margarine of any kind in this house. It's real butter or nothing of the sort. Margarine is not good for you. All of those years of ad campaigns certainly seem to have been effective, though, as so many people have this idea that it's much healthier to eat margarine than butter. Granted, maybe butter isn't the best thing to consume in large quantities but at least your body knows what to do with it. Margarine and some of the other butter substitutes can be quite foreign to your body and it can go through quite the process trying to deal with the substances being thrown at it. Think butter is bad for your heart? Think Smart Balance is any better for your liver? Think again.


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

Only time I've ever come across the word oleo is when doing a crossword puzzle.

I grew up eating margarine. And even when I first got married, that's what we used. Then, B4 they ever realized that margarine was bad for you, I switched to butter. I liked the taste much better. I have not had margarine for years that I know of.


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## Sawmill Jim (Dec 5, 2008)

mvick said:


> Have a pic of container. Do not know how to send???


You ate the wrong part . Much healthier to of ate the container . Margarine if it had one more step in processing would of been plastic  And the say smoking is bad for you :icecream:


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## raybait1 (Sep 30, 2006)

Bellyman said:


> We have no time for margarine of any kind in this house. It's real butter or nothing of the sort. Margarine is not good for you. All of those years of ad campaigns certainly seem to have been effective, though, as so many people have this idea that it's much healthier to eat margarine than butter. Granted, maybe butter isn't the best thing to consume in large quantities but at least your body knows what to do with it. Margarine and some of the other butter substitutes can be quite foreign to your body and it can go through quite the process trying to deal with the substances being thrown at it. Think butter is bad for your heart? Think Smart Balance is any better for your liver? Think again.


Exactly right. Dont stop there. Have a good hard look at the food pyramid. Its exactly opposite of what it should be.

I had never heard of oleo until I was grown and came across the word in a crossword puzzle.


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## DEKE01 (Jul 17, 2013)

Margarine used to be pink in order to protect big dairy. 

The only time I remember it being called oleo was by my grandmother who grew up during the great depression.


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## Ceilismom (Jul 16, 2011)

I have some recipes handwritten by my great-grandmother that call for oleo. I had to ask my mom what that was. haven't eaten margarine in several years, but I must say that with the price of butter these days, I can hardly blame a person for buying it.


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## sugarspinner (May 12, 2002)

Yes, I remember. We didn't use oleomargarine at our house; only ate real butter. I was always told that the little coloring packet was because it couldn't be sold as already yellow and looking like real butter.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Funny, caught mother in law in another lie. Should have never believed her. She told me she bought oleo with the color pack when her kids were little. Could not possibly be so. In 1955 the color law was repealed. MIL wasn't even married when they stopped selling it with the color pack.


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## Twp.Tom (Dec 29, 2010)

***** I remember my Mom calling it oleo


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## Alice Kramden (Mar 26, 2008)

Kerry Gold Irish Butter has been on sale at Publix. I bought a good bit of it to stack up in the fridge. It tastes like butter tasted when I was a kid. 

Quit eating margarine (oleo) years ago when I figured out the soy in it was what was making me sick. 

Talking about the store people not knowing what oleo was, I have a similar tale; years ago I went to the meat counter and asked for ham hocks. The guy in the meat department had no idea what I was talking about. I said "you cook 'em in with beans or greens", and he still didn't have a clue. 

I found something to use, neckbones or some such, and just shook my head.


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## raybait1 (Sep 30, 2006)

That kerrygold is the best butter money can buy. Priced like it too. Close to $6 a pound. 

I need a milk cow.


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## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

Oleo margarine was used/invented in the late 1800's, as oil extracted from beef fat, plus water, coloring, milk.
There was a war between oleo margarine and butter.
The dairy lobby wanted to have it outlawed.
You can read the story on the link below.

http://www.examiner.com/article/oleo-wars

So, I guess my conclusion is that oleo margarine, is basically tallow (?) plus flavor, color, moisture. I could be wrong but it sounds like tallow, similar to lard, to me. Tallow is from beef fat, lard from pig fat.


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## BlackFeather (Jun 17, 2014)

Margarine was first made from tallow and milk, then came whale oil then vegetable oil.


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## PrettyPaisley (May 18, 2007)

Danaus29 said:


> Bacon grease, the cooking oil of kings! I like my eggs and toasted cheese cooked in bacon grease.


Ain't that right ? We processed our first homegrown hogs and recently got our bacon. I've been cooking up a ton of it (so much so I decided not to wait til spring to get more pigs) and decided to use my cast iron cornbread skillet for bacon since the slices were so big. I cooked up breakfast this weekend and we sat down to our eggs fried in the skillet in the bacon grease and holy cannoli I got chills it tasted so good. I couldn't even join in on whatever conversation was going on....every bite I took about brought tears to my eyes. I'm 100% certain I have never had a better meal - ever.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Alice Kramden said:


> Kerry Gold Irish Butter has been on sale at Publix. I bought a good bit of it to stack up in the fridge. *It tastes like butter tasted when I was a kid.*


Thanks! We don't have Publix here, but I'll try some stores other than my usuals and look for this brand. I use butter, but don't really enjoy it because it just doesn't taste like butter should, to me anyway. I've tried every brand I can find, and none even come close. Some of it is practically tasteless. I can drive 60 miles to the one Amish store that I know of in Oklahoma and get some, lol, but other than that I've been out of luck. I don't know though...if I actually find some GOOD butter, I'll probably eat way too much, ROFL! 

Oleomargarine was the complete name, but then it got shortened to oleo, and people called it that until the mid to late 70s, then the companies started advertising it more as margarine. I work crosswords all the time and have never seen oleo in one, lol. I get "olio" all the time, which is a miscellaneous collection of things. 

I don't know about the yellow dye being outlawed. They may have changed the law requiring it, but I think it was still around for quite a while. I remember a friend's mother buying it and having to stir it in, and I was probably 6-7. I was born in 1955, so that had to be in the early 60s. :shrug:

PP, I don't eat fried eggs very often, but when I do they HAVE to be fried in bacon grease! After having them that way anything else just tastes totally bland and boring, lol! ig:


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

Danaus29 said:


> Funny, caught mother in law in another lie. Should have never believed her. She told me she bought oleo with the color pack when her kids were little. Could not possibly be so. In 1955 the color law was repealed. MIL wasn't even married when they stopped selling it with the color pack.


In Wisconsin it was illegal to sell yellow margarine into the sixties or even the seventies. All you could buy was the white stuff with the colored dye. I used to take my M-I-L and several of her friends to IL to smuggle yellow margarine by the case into WI.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

The yellow coloring already added to the product was outlawed at one point in time:

While butter that cows produced had a slightly yellow color, margarine had a white color, making the margarine look more like lard. Many people found it to look unappetizing. Around the late 1880s the manufacturers decided to dye the margarine yellow, so it would sell more. Dairy firms, especially in Wisconsin, became alarmed and succeeded in getting legislation passed to prohibit the coloring of the stark white product. In response, the margarine companies distributed the margarine together with a packet of yellow dye. The product was placed in a bowl and the dye mixed in with a spoon. This took some time and effort and it was not unusual for the final product to be served as a light and dark yellow, or even white, striped product. During World War II, there was a shortage of butter in the United States and "oleomargarine" became popular. In 1951 the W. E. Dennison Company received patent number 2,553,513 for a method to place a capsule of yellow dye inside a plastic package of margarine. After purchase, the capsule was broken inside the package and then the package was kneaded to distribute the dye. Around 1955, the artificial coloring laws were repealed and margarine could for the first time be sold colored like butter.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine , provided their info is correct. I know my mil wouldn't have bought anything but margarine. She says she can't stand the taste of butter.

ETA, good to know my mil maybe isn't a liar on this aspect. Like I said, I wouldn't know. We still got butter from the milkman into the mid 70's. And when Grandma did switch to margarine it was the sticks, already colored.


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## PrettyPaisley (May 18, 2007)

I've read about some folks finding Kerry Gold at Walmart. If you have a Costco around you can also find it there.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

IIRC oleo was a brand name of a margarine. I see it listed as an ingredient in a lot of recipes. I never thought about it, but the younger generation doesn't know what it was. 

We rarely used it cause we skimmed the cream from the raw milk and made butter. Every once in a while we'd run out of butter and have to buy a stick of oleo. Back then you could buy a single stick (do they still sell singles?)


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

I haven't seen singles for sale, but you can buy a 2 pack.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

Oleo is margarine but has not been called that in 40-50 years.
Neither are good for you - get the real stuff - Butter.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

We only eat real butter here. What I'd kinda like to know is, what is whipped margarine-that stuff dosen't even really melt in the pan,must have water or something in it.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

Spinner said:


> IIRC oleo was a brand name of a margarine. I see it listed as an ingredient in a lot of recipes. I never thought about it, but the younger generation doesn't know what it was.
> 
> We rarely used it cause we skimmed the cream from the raw milk and made butter. Every once in a while we'd run out of butter and have to buy a stick of oleo. Back then you could buy a single stick (do they still sell singles?)


I don't know about "younger generation" but I'd never heard of the stuff before I found an old cookbook. Had to call my Grandmother to find out what it was. Hubby knew what it was though.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

My grandparents used oleo-margarine around WWII and I grew up with it in the 60s and 70s too, because it was supposed to be healthy. My family has used nothing but butter for probably 10 years now. We like the taste of it better, and come to find out it's not bad for us like we were told.


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## Sawmill Jim (Dec 5, 2008)

Mom_of_Four said:


> My grandparents used oleo-margarine around WWII and I grew up with it in the 60s and 70s too, because it was supposed to be healthy. My family has used nothing but butter for probably 10 years now. We like the taste of it better, and come to find out it's not bad for us like we were told.


Yep I bet those food police would say country ham is bad for you too.


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## PrettyPaisley (May 18, 2007)

Mom_of_Four said:


> My grandparents used oleo-margarine around WWII and I grew up with it in the 60s and 70s too, because it was supposed to be healthy. My family has used nothing but butter for probably 10 years now. We like the taste of it better, and come to find out it's not bad for us like we were told.


I remember the first time I had real butter. Growing up we only ate Blue Bonnet so I didn't know any better. When I had butter the first time I was at some fancy shmancy place in Atlanta and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. 

We were eating out with my mom back in the summer and the girls dove into the bread basket while I was looking over the menu. Since they know the rule is butter with bread they smothered their biscuits but just sat there without eating them. When I caught up to what was going on at the table they told me they didn't like the bread. Now that's NOT something I hear from these two monkeys but my mom whispered, "It's not really butter." Made total sense at that point - they don't like the margarine, either !!!


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## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

I seem to recall hearing that Oleo - in addition to being dangerously close chemically to plastic - was originally developed to feed turkeys.

Its use was discontinued when turkey livers started exploding.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

After having eaten real butter for a good many years, it is interesting to note my own reaction to having a bit of margarine from time to time. It doesn't have the full bodied "flavor" of butter. I'm sure they try, but the flavor is just not there. It doesn't have that sweet smell that butter has, either. I also notice that when I use margarine, I tend to use a lot more of it, probably trying to get more flavor out of it, which is just not there. I do find that a little butter is way more satisfying to me than twice or three times the margarine.


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## bowdonkey (Oct 6, 2007)

BlackFeather said:


> Margarine was first made from tallow and milk, then came whale oil then vegetable oil.


I wish it was still made with whale oil, that was the best!:thumb: Dang that Greenpeace.


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## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

As a previous poster said, you couldn't buy oleo/margarine here in Wisconsin for many years. People would drive to Illinois to get theirs. Growing up here we only had real butter. It wasn't until I was nearly an adult when we started buying margarine, because it was supposedly "better" for you.

I switched back to butter years ago in everything we make. The only thing I will use oleo for is Chex Mix. It doesn't taste right when made with butter. DH also uses oleo for mac n' cheese.

I have always referred to it as oleo because it was fewer letters to write out on my shopping list.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Mom always called it oleo. Wasn't till they started taking in foster kids when I was 10 that she started calling it margarine (kids didn't know what oleo was). We use butter and oleo here, comes down to $....mom's still looks down her nose at me for buying butter. "With all the heart disease in your family you are only killing yourself using butter"....yeah, she drank that kool-aid.


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## Wild_Bill (Aug 4, 2014)

I guess I'm lucky. I live in Amish country, and get home made butter at the farmers market. It's about the same price as the store, but comes in a lump instead of sticks. Wrapped in wax paper. I have never bought margarine as an adult, and only eat it when a it's the only option.


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## Astrid (Nov 13, 2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine

An interesting read. I would never touch the stuff. Anything that needs to be created in a lab is not food. Just my two cents.


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## mvick (Feb 8, 2014)

Seems like I remember oleo was the one with the Orange dot you had to kneed and mix until
It turned yellow. In a bag. 
The oleo margarine was in a container already mixed. It cost more. 
I have a container, it was put out by Kraft. Have a pic, but have not figured how to post a pic of it. It is in my iPhone pictures. Wish I could.


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## Alice Kramden (Mar 26, 2008)

Years ago I would use Country Crock, thinking it was the thing to cook with and put on cornbread, bisquits, and so on. I noticed that if I put a lot of it on my potatoes, plus what was on everything else, I didn't feel so great, and eventually wound up in the bathroom. I got to thinking, and read the ingredient label, and thought some more. (This was in the days before the internet and you had to read and search to find things out). 

I'd already read that soy was not good for you, and figured the soybean oil was making me sick. 

I changed over to butter, and it does not give me the "results" of the soy based margarine. Here is the ingredient list of Country Crock:

http://www.foodfacts.com/ci/nutriti...s/Country-Crock-Spreadable-Margarine--oz/4483

Soybean oil and cottonseed oil, artificial flavor and artificial color. Bleah. Butter is a natural product. I remember seeing milk churned until the butter formed, and how much work it was to have that butter.


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## ovsfarm (Jan 14, 2003)

For the record, I went to Aldi this week and they were selling butter and margarine as a loss leader. Butter was $2.29/lb of 4 sticks and margarine was $0.75/lb of 4 sticks. I bought what I needed and will freeze it.


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## Becka03 (Mar 29, 2009)

I used to buy the store brand of Country Crock when I was in college and I had no money- then when I realized how bad it was for you- Ackkk- I only buy butter now- and since we are close to the Amish I am going to try their butter- I assumed all butter - was butter- mmmm maybe the Amish butter will taste better? it is in a roll like someone else stated-
and I save and strain all our bacon grease into a mason jar- and use it all the time- for eggs....


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## Gercarson (Nov 2, 2003)

Alice Kramden said:


> Kerry Gold Irish Butter has been on sale at Publix. I bought a good bit of it to stack up in the fridge. It tastes like butter tasted when I was a kid.
> 
> Quit eating margarine (oleo) years ago when I figured out the soy in it was what was making me sick.
> 
> ...


Kerry Gold comes from grass fed cows in Ireland - it's imported.


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## Texasgirl (Sep 13, 2005)

I just read this to my mother and she remembers it very well.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

that oleo / margerine garbage used to be Illegal here , now it saddly occupies 7/8 of the shelf space in the store 

what a waste , butter all the way 

I agree the food pyramid is all backwards , healthy fats , protein , and vegetable should occupy the largest parts , with grains and cereals the smallest 

It isn't that grain is bad , you just can't seem to get it without a glut of sugar 

used to be if you wanted out of the draft you ate a 2lb bag of m&ms on your way in to get your physical you would come back diabetic or borderline diabetic and fail 
now it is normal for people to eat this much sugar daily


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I bought butter at Costco for 2.18/lb in a 4# bundle of 1# packages. Sticks were .10/lb more. Butter is better!


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

I milked the cow skimmed the cream and made the butter. Yeah I'll take butter over the fake stuff any day.


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## michael ark (Dec 11, 2013)

I wish butter came in big tubs like country crock.:ashamed: You haven't lived till you fried chicken in bacon grease.ig:


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

I bought some hog lard to grease my baking pans yesterday. LOL, I smeared it on good and the loaves just popped out of the pans.


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## sidepasser (May 10, 2002)

I have never bought margarine, only butter. I love me some butter


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## Blackwolfe (Sep 9, 2009)

calliemoonbeam said:


> Thanks! We don't have Publix here, but I'll try some stores other than my usuals and look for this brand. I use butter, but don't really enjoy it because it just doesn't taste like butter should, to me anyway. I've tried every brand I can find, and none even come close. Some of it is practically tasteless. I can drive 60 miles to the one Amish store that I know of in Oklahoma and get some, lol, but other than that I've been out of luck. I don't know though...if I actually find some GOOD butter, I'll probably eat way too much, ROFL!
> 
> Oleomargarine was the complete name, but then it got shortened to oleo, and people called it that until the mid to late 70s, then the companies started advertising it more as margarine. I work crosswords all the time and have never seen oleo in one, lol. I get "olio" all the time, which is a miscellaneous collection of things.
> 
> ...


Have you tried "Land Of Lakes" butter. It is very good, if your store doesn't have it try asking the dairy dept mgr or the store mgr if they can order it.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

Oxankle said:


> I bought some hog lard to grease my baking pans yesterday. LOL, I smeared it on good and the loaves just popped out of the pans.


I use lard, or bacon grease on my cast iron. Keeps them looking good.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Blackwolfe said:


> Have you tried "Land Of Lakes" butter. It is very good, if your store doesn't have it try asking the dairy dept mgr or the store mgr if they can order it.


Not in the last few years, but I did try it in the past, and it was one of the ones that I thought specifically had no taste, lol. Which was odd since it was the most expensive one. 

I'm glad you like it though, and a lot of people do. Maybe I'm just too picky, but none of the store butters I've found taste anything like what I grew up with. I don't know if it's the differences in the way the cows are raised/fed or what. Most of them just taste like greasy wax to me. :shrug: 

But I know I'm not imagining it or forgetting what butter was like, because that I get from the Amish store is a deep yellow color and delicious! It's just so far away and completely in the opposite direction of anywhere else I ever go that I don't get it often. Thanks for the suggestion though! 

I haven't found any of the Kerry Gold yet, not even at the specialty stores around here, but I'm still looking!


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## exsheeple (Nov 2, 2014)

The kerry gold usa site has a store locator. Just put in your zip code and use the distance drop down menu to find a store close to you.


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Thanks ES! Doh! Don't know why I didn't think of that myself, lol. I haven't gone out of my way looking for it, just checking out stores as I went to or passed by them. 

Unfortunately, it says the only place within 100 miles of me is at Sam's stores, and I'm not a member any more. I just don't buy enough stuff there to make it worth my while, and I tend to go overboard and buy too much stuff I normally wouldn't when I go there...no self control apparently. 

Oh well, probably just as well, like I said before if I found good butter I'd probably eat WAY too much of it! 

P.S. Welcome to HT!


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