FAQ
What makes your butter different?
The quality of our ingredients is what makes our butters so special. We use 100% WA ingredients, supporting the livelihoods of fellow WA families.
We’re a small batch artisan product with no added preservatives, fillers, or nasties. This allows us to work with the freshest perishable ingredients possible.
Combined both these elements with our passion for great food and environmental awareness means you can truly taste the difference in our Butter.
Is it organic?
The salt we use is organic approved by Australian Certification Limited (former Australian Certified Organic, or ACO). This means that the salt we use complies with the Australian Organic Standard but can’t be awarded certification because it’s harvested not grown.
With this in mind, the cream we use isn’t organic as there isn’t an organic dairy operator in WA large enough to reliably produce and deliver the amount of cream we require on a weekly basis. We choose to support local over importing organic cream as this allows us to make the freshest butter possible.
We are supplied by 3rd generation dairy famers, Bannister Downs Dairy. This is the most sustainable and ethical dairy WA has to offer who can reliably accommodate the volumes we require. This allows us to deliver a consistent supply of product to you – yay!
How long does it last?
Depends on how quickly you eat it! In saying that, the refrigerated shelf life of our butter is 8-weeks from date of manufacture.
Being a natural product, butter like all fresh perishable food items, oxidises when exposed to air and this will lead to rancidity in time. You’ll know when your butter is off as it will have that classic metallic ‘off dairy’ smell.
To prevent this and get the best shelf life out of your butter we recommend the following:
- Store your butter in the fridge in an airtight container. You will generally have 2 months shelf life this way but enjoy sooner as fresh is always best.
- Alternatively if you don’t think you’ll get through 200gr of butter within 2 months, you can freeze it. Portion the butter in half/ thirds/ medallions/ whatever portion works best for you and place in an airtight container in the freezer. Frozen butter will generally last for up to 3 months without any degradation in flavour or texture once thawed and stored in the fridge.
Can I store it on the bench?
We don’t recommend storing your butter out of the fridge or freezer (we’re looking at all you people who prefer to keep it on the kitchen bench ). Butter is a natural product, and natural foods go off, therefore the fridge is the best place to store our butter.
Why do you freeze your butter?
We make our butters fresh and freeze them straight away. This allows you the opportunity to have control over the full freshness of the thawed product.
Remember we’re an artisan product with no preservatives - not the standard commercial butter you’ll find in the supermarket. We’ve found that freezing is a natural preservation method, and the best.
What do you put in it to make your Spreadable Butter spreadable?
The olive oil in our Spreadable Butter allows the butter to soften making it more bread friendly in comparison to our Unsalted and Salted Butters. This is a cold pressed WA grown and family owned Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). Funnily enough, the addition of the olive oil actually makes it taste even creamier.
How Spreadable is it?
Butter is temperature sensitive and will naturally be firmer in colder temperatures. We could overcome this by adding more olive oil, however we prefer the butter to maintain as much of its natural buttery flavour as possible and we know you prefer this too.
We recommend, particularly during the winter months, to cut your desired portion and allow it to sit on the bench for roughly 5 minutes before eating (summer a little less, of course).
Toast is generally easier as the heat from the bread will help to soften up the butter quicker.
How much lactose is left in the butter after churning?
If we had to put the answer to this question down to a percentage per batch this would be impossible to keep on top of as each batch is unique.
Whilst our production process includes removing as much of the buttermilk (where the lactose is stored) as possible, we cannot guarantee that our butters are 100% lactose free – nor do we make any claims around this.
Our gentle suggestion, if you have a dairy allergy, would be to seek products alternative to dairy. Or where you have a dairy intolerance, see if ghee is a more suitable product as the heating process further removes the dairy component.
Whilst your health is our highest priority, it is ultimately your responsibility.
How do you make butter?
Butter occurs whereby during the whipping process the solids (or, globules) separate out from the liquid (buttermilk). It’s quite magic!
The globules are then washed to become butter, which we then flavour, wrap, and store.
Where can I get your products? Do you do Wholesale?
For retail sales we are at Farmers Markets every weekend.
We also have a small selection of retailers with the most updated list available on our website. Please see this Stockists page of every retailer that stocks The Butter People's grass-fed butter.
If you are interested in working with The Butter People, please send your interest in via e-mail to hello@thebutterpeople.com.au.
Tell me about your packaging?
We’d love too! We’re very conscious of where our packaging ends up and take as much responsibility for it as possible.
Our brown paper is biodegradable and compostable and breaks down within 4-6 weeks. There are no waxes, adhesives, or dyes.
Our white label is kept separate to the brown paper, and this is recyclable.
The only component we haven’t managed to sustainably source (yet) is the small amount of glue adhesive to keep the label firmly wrapped around the butter. Simply tear this off and recycle where there are any concerns.
We’re always looking for environmentally friendly solutions while satisfying the Food Safety and Handling labelling requirements set by The Food Standards Code (FSANZ).
Hmmmmm… When something doesn’t seem right!
We understand that sometimes things just happen, and this is a part of working with fresh perishable foods. Please understand that we never intend for your experience with The Butter People to be a bad one and we always carry out strict health and hygiene procedures, we are fastidious in our approach and never cut corners.
If you purchased your products from one of our retailers, please see them as once we’ve delivered the stock it becomes the responsibility of the retailer.
Where the butter has been bought from us directly. If for some reason your butter isn’t edible, as a result of an error on our end, and you need to throw it out, please feel you can talk to us openly and honestly first before taking any other action. If you contact us as soon as possible via hello@thebutterpeople.com.au or see us in person, we can resolve the matter quicker together in a much friendlier way than over Social Media.
We will ask for the following information:
- The label and return this to us – this allows us the opportunity to identify the batch and retrace our steps;
- Your name;
- Your best contact number;
- Your best e-mail address;
- Your preferred contact method (phone or e-mail).
We welcome the opportunity to make it up to you, and how you are compensated will vary from case to case.
However, if the error is on your end for example, incorrect storage methods (refer question 3), understandably we cannot be held responsible for the butter once it leaves our premises.
Milk / Cows / Bannister Downs
Where does your milk come from?
All our dairy products come from grass-fed cows, and the farms are based in Northcliffe Western Australia.
Are the cows grass fed?
Predominantly yes! However pristine lush and perfectly green grass is difficult to maintain consistently through all the WA seasons. So the cows don’t starve they are fed hay to top them up during those peak summer months.
They’re also fed a little grain at the dairy to help them settle while milking. The grain they are fed is genetically modified free (GM) and supplied by a local farming neighbour.
These girls are very well fed, thoroughly spoilt, loved, and looked after. The health of the herd is the highest priority and integral to the way our suppliers operate. We respect and applaud them as good humans for this.
Foreign ownership
The dairy farms we work with are 100% WA owned and operated by WA families. A strong focus on local is integral to our core values here at The Butter People.
Food Standards / Regulation / Compliance
What about garlic butter?
Our challenge with adding fresh garlic to our butter is the shelf life drastically reduces from 2 months to 3 days. This is due to the introduction of new pathogenic bacteria which increases the opportunity of food borne illness and our highest priority at The Butter People is to keep you and your family safe.
It’s not within our ethos to compromise on ingredients and Kylie, our Founder, is always experimenting and coming up with new (delicious) ideas. And she’s always looking at ways to become more adventurous and creative in overcoming these challenges naturally.
In the meantime, we have our Unsalted, Salted, Spreadable Butters available as the most versatile and stable butters in any household.
What about cultured butter?
We like to keep it creamy here at The Butter People! Using the very recipe that Kylie perfected in her home kitchen 15 years ago (and has been making ever since). Maintaining authenticity is at our core and we absolutely delight in bringing a piece of ourselves to your family table.
Are your dairy products pasteurised?
Yes. Pasteurization of dairy products fit for human consumption is a regulation set by The Food Standards Code (FSANZ) and all dairy operators in Australia must comply. As such, The Butter People do not make butter from raw milk.
Our dairy farm of choice, Bannister Downs pasteurize on the lowest temperatures possible so as to not interfere with the natural taste and quality of the milk/ cream whilst still meeting their legal obligations. This process takes more time for them, and it’s worth it for you!