Butter vs. Margarine

[Cherished]

Butter all the way! I'm going to start making my own in a few weeks from raw biodynamic, organic cream. I'm sure it will be YUMMMMO too. My great grandma told me once that the secret to great tasting home made cookies etc is to use good butter

[Eenee]

I would use butter here but as dairy free we use nuttelex. But yes butter is healthier as margarine is full of unnatural nasties.

[LuluHB]

We do pretty much what leckert does - marg for sandwiches and butter for everything else. When I'm baking unless the recipe specifically comments on it I use unsalted butter. I hate the thought of all the chemicals in marg, and given that most of the baking I do is for the kids (no, really it is ) and they're such scrawny little weeds I'd rather have the different/extra fat content of the butter over the nasties of the margarine.

[Netix]

Butter it is then. I can't even remember if I use marg in recipes that call for it specifically. I think I do. We also use marg for sandwiches as we don't keep it in the fridge, unlike the butter, which I always use for cooking, and i don't think its even unsalted

[Phteven]

I always use salted butter and add less salt - salt makes cakes yummier because it brings out the sweet.

I'm a full fat kinda girl

[meow]

Natural, saturated fats like butter and lard are good for you. The smear campaign against them is just based on bad science from the more profitable refined vegetable oil producers.

[Netix]

Mmm, bad science. Grr. Okay, will definitely keep on the butter. And it tastes way better than margarine anyway.

Cherished, be sure to let us know how you go with making butter. That would be a fantastic back to basic item to include in life. I would love to be able to do that.

[AnyDream]

Natural, saturated fats like butter and lard are good for you. The smear campaign against them is just based on bad science from the more profitable refined vegetable oil producers.

I take issue with this statement. There is a lot of evidence that the incorrect balance of omegas in people's diets (from eating milk and animal fats from non-pasture-fed animals) sets a whole inflammatory process in motion in the body (precursor to the development of cancer, diabetes, arthritis, etc). It is much healthier to eat a high proportion of oils that are high in omega 3s (fish, olive, flaxseed) than those high in omega 6s (non-grass-fed dairy and red meat fats, including butter, vegetable oils such as corn, sunflower, safflower, soy and yes that includes most margarines). Yes Butter is preferable to margarine, but it's most beneficial to consider substituting some of the healthier unprocessed vegetable oils for that animal fat.