Animal Farm Cultured Butter

Animal Farm

Animal Farm cultured butter from Vermont
Regular price $60.00 Sale

Animal Farm Butter will be restocked Friday, 11/22, at 3 PM EST! 

If you know, you know: Animal Farm Butter is some of the best in the world! Every few weeks, Saxelby Cheesemongers has the privilege of bringing you this sought-after butter straight from the Champlain Valley of Vermont. 

Animal Farm Creamery, founded by Diane St. Clair in 1999 and presently run by Hilary and Ben Haigh, is a haven for its small herd of Jersey cows. For 22 years, St. Clair cared for her prized herd of ten, turning their milk into exquisite butter. Last year, though, the time came to move the girls to new pastures. Their new home wasn’t far, only seven miles down the road. Now, at the Haighs’ Rolling Bale Farm in Shoreham, they enjoy a wooden barn on a grassy hill, and have three new bovine friends. 

Following the creamery’s 2022 transfer of ownership, Hilary continues to make the butter with the method Diane taught her, the same one she had used since 1999. First, Hilary skims the rich Jersey cream by hand, keeping its precious fat globules in pristine condition. She cultures the cream for 24 hours, using buttermilk as a starter. The final steps, churning and kneading, are also done by hand, until Hilary arrives at a product that she deems fit for the table. In many ways, Animal Farm Butter is the image of careful, small-scale dairying’s magic, and a testament to handmade products’ ability to persist despite the surrounding industrial landscape. 

Most of this exquisite butter goes to some of the best restaurants in the country: Per Se in New York, The Inn at Little Washington in Washington DC, and The French Laundry in Napa. Saxelby Cheesemongers is the only place you can buy it online! 

Each package contains one pound of sweet cream butter (4 balls at 4 oz each). The unsalted butter can be eaten fresh (which is what we recommend!) within ~2 weeks of arrival. If you can’t get through all of it in 2 weeks, make sure to throw it in the freezer!

Want to learn more about the creamery, its current owners, and storied history? Check out our conversation with the Haighs on our blog, and Melissa Clark’s New York Times article about Animal Farm’s persistence.

Customer Reviews

Based on 39 reviews
100%
(39)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
E
Eileen Brussolo
Amazing

The best butter I have ever used!

M
Mikhail Cucuk
Worth every dollar

This butter is the highlight of my family's annual Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Basting turkeys and hams, enriching mashed potatoes, and more. Even something as simple as Rice-A-Roni becomes far more creamy and flavorful thanks to this butter. It's a sad day when it's all used up, but it's a journey of happiness from the day it arrives in the mail. Keep up the great work! :-)

j
john flaherty
3rd times a charm

Ordering it the first two times didnt work, but i was not to be denied a 3rd. My brother, step-mother, and multiple friends all tried ordering with me this time around at exactly 3pm. We all got confirmed orders, so now well have $320 worth of butter between us .

P
Peter Costa
Hard to buy, but worth it.

It is truly good butter. A cut above all the others.

J
John Hillman
Worth The Wait

My wife was obsessed with this butter ever since hearing about it on The Bear. It took multiple times to order but once we were able to purchase, it was well worth the wait. It is by far the most natural tasting butter we have ever had and has brought out fantastic flavors in our cooking. The package contains a great deal more than it seems, and we have been able to use it sparingly - a lot goes a long way. Will definitely purchase again!

Follow @saxelbycheese

© 2024 Saxelby Cheesemongers | Art Direction by Alexandra Hammond