While I would never speak ill of supermarket butter, it still serves its purpose (and the Australian stuff serves it well!), there were multiple moments in France that made an impression. Making beurre blanc with Echiré, served over dos de cabillaud with white asparagus. Sharing Beurre Bordier with friends, while discussing malaxeurs and Breton gastronomy. Slathering a baguette with Le Vieux-Bourg seaweed butter while shucking oysters and drinking cider. But the moment that clinches it is visiting Ferme de Kerbastard – outstanding salted butter that surpassed my already high expectations. 

I’m stoked to not be behind my computer so much anymore, but I do miss the ability to work from any beautiful location that could fit a laptop. That being said, I have definitely wanted to eat my words in the past, but now I get to eat my butter – a much nicer proposition.

The short answer is the sponge cake – a simple yet beautiful treat that makes any moment a little more special. The name actually has many reasons though, which include… A gentle nod to France, to reflect the style of butter. My first exposure to French culture was a ‘teeny-tiny, a little bit petite’ cartoon girl who lived in Paris. A reference to butter’s feminine origins, the dairy has traditionally always been a woman’s domain. And there are still more…

Building the malaxer was incredibly difficult – mainly because my vocational skills rest behind a keyboard. I didn’t really know what to do or where to start, but I was determined to craft the best butter possible and I still believe that this machine is instrumental in that ambition. I did get super lucky though – I happen to live next to a genius. After pulling together a bunch of pieces that I thought could get me to prototype stage, I was chatting to Will and he mentioned he could help. Safe to say, he saved the day – so the machine is called ‘Will’, because where there is Will, there is a way. 

This is the part I love the most. Regular un-cultured butter is known as sweet-cream butter because the lactose is still intact. Cultured butter has significantly less lactose because little groups of bacterial cultures have gobbled most of it up. As the cream goes through this process of fermentation, acidity is developed alongside a slew of flavour and aroma compounds. It’s understood that there are nearly 100 different compounds produced, however the big two are diacetyl and acetoin – famous for giving butter its buttery flavour. 

Butter is the result of agitating cream up to the point where the solids (butter) separate from the liquid (buttermilk).

Cultured butter follows the same principle, although with one very important extra step; fermentation.

We use a number of different cultures to ferment our cream, resulting in a range of complex aroma and flavour compounds. At a fundamental level though, this extra step sees bacteria convert lactose into lactic acid, which is the reason why regular non-cultured butter is known as “sweet cream” butter – it still has all of its milk sugar (lactose) intact. 

Well, Jerseys are the cutest cow – a near objective truth. They’re small, friendly, and definitely have the most personality. They come up to you for cuddles, or to give you a big old lick, or they drop to the floor if you push them too hard. They’re complex – maybe that’s why the resulting cream is layered with complex flavour? Maybe that’s a stretch. The milk they produce though, while not huge in abundance, is super silky and incredibly rich. Holsteins are still lovely, but they’re big, amenable milk factories.

For most of our butters, I pulverise the salt to a fine dust, but in our Signature Cultured Butter I use salt crystals for this exact reason – texture, crunch and yummy bursts of maritime minerality. Guérande itself is a super cute medieval village, less than an hour from where we were living in Brittany. It’s highly prized and was the salt we used in our kitchen and when I was on the farm. It tastes unlike any other salt I’ve come across, and I loved it so much it made sense to continue using it for Madeleine.

A crusty sourdough baguette – untoasted, but as fresh out of the oven as possible. I don’t put huge amounts on. Definitely not a 1:1 ratio. But I also don’t spread butter – I slice it. 

Living slow is definitely the goal, but my life is far from floating on a breeze from one lazy lunch to the next. I think it’s ok to be frantic, and busy, and rushing out the door – that’s life for many of us. But sometimes, something small and beautiful can stop us in our tracks and give us pause for a moment. A cloud, a friendly smile, a stick of butter… maybe I’ve gotten a little corny, but I like corn. Especially warm and covered in salted butter.

Super tough question. First thought that came to mind though was Troupeau Bleu by Cortex. There’s flavour in every track to sink your teeth into – and for every occasion. French flair, upbeat jazz, a song for a winter’s day. It does it all. And it still feels contemporary even though its over 50 years old. 

You can find me over on Instagram @madeleinebutter, which is where I share what I’m making, thinking about, and occasionally overthinking. Madeleine is also stocked at a handful of great stores around Melbourne, and you can find the full list of stockists, plus a bit more about what we do, over at madeleinebutter.com.au.

Madeleine Butter, crafted by Jack Gaffney in the Yarra Valley, stands as one of Australia’s most exciting examples of artisan cultured butter. Combining traditional French technique with local Jersey cream and hand-crafted methods, this small-batch butter is sought after by chefs and butter lovers alike across Melbourne and beyond.