More About Butter

Our French butter collection brings together the butters French households and bakers use every day: unsalted doux and salted demi-sel butter, AOP butters from Charentes-Poitou and Isigny, Échiré, Breton butter with Guérande salt, spreadable and light butters, and professional pastry butter. Epicerie Corner stocks Président, Paysan Breton, Elle & Vire, Échiré, Grand Fermage, Lescure and more, delivered across the UK.

What Makes French Butter Different?

French regulations define butter strictly. Unsalted butter (beurre doux) must contain at least 82% milk fat, and salted butters slightly less because of the added salt. Much French butter is made from cultured cream, cream that has been lightly ripened with lactic ferments before churning, which gives it a fuller, slightly tangy, nutty flavour compared with many sweet-cream butters.

Regional traditions also matter. Most of France prefers unsalted butter, but in Brittany and parts of western France demi-sel (lightly salted) butter is the norm. Some regions hold a protected designation of origin: AOP Charentes-Poitou, which includes the famous butter from the village of Échiré, and AOP Isigny in Normandy. These butters must be made in a defined area following set methods.

Types of Butter in Our Range

AOP and Premium Butters

Échiré butter comes in unsalted and semi-salted 250g pats and in 20g portions, ideal for a cheese board or a restaurant-style table. From Charentes-Poitou there are Grand Fermage AOC butter, Lescure Soft Butter and Lescure butter with salt crystals, plus Nos Régions Poitou and AOC butters. From Normandy, Isigny Sainte-Mère churned butter and semi-salted butter, and Nos Régions Isigny semi-salted butter with Guérande salt.

Breton and Salted Butters

Paysan Breton is a farmers' cooperative brand from Brittany. We stock its moulded butters in unsalted, demi-sel, Guérande salt and sea salt crystal versions, in 250g and 500g blocks, and individual 10g portions in packs of 20 or 100. Paysan Breton Guérande Salt Moulded Butter is a favourite on fresh baguette. Grand Fermage adds semi-salted butter from Noirmoutier and moulded Vendée butter.

Everyday Butters and Butter Dishes

Président covers everyday needs: La Motte unsalted, half-salt and sea salt butters, Gastronomic Flavour and half-salt butter dishes, and organic versions. Elle & Vire, from Normandy, offers Condé-sur-Vire butters and Beurre Tendre, a soft butter that spreads straight from the fridge.

Light Butters and Spreads

Elle & Vire light butters at 41%, 20% and 10% fat, and Président La Motte Tendre, are for people who want a lighter spread. Bio Village also offers a butter spread for soft baking.

Organic Butter

Organic choices include Bio Village unsalted and half-salt, C'est qui le Patron organic butters, Elle & Vire organic, Grand Fermage organic half-salt and Président organic.

Pastry and Professional Butter

For laminated pastry such as croissants and puff pastry, beurre de tourage is a dry butter with a higher fat content that stays firm while folding. We stock Président dry pastry butter, Fléchard coloured dry pastry butter, Lescure AOP pastry butter in 1kg and Montaigu AOP professional sheets. La Vache de Paris smen, a clarified butter, is used in North African cooking.

How to Choose French Butter

• For bread and tartines: a demi-sel or salt crystal butter, such as Paysan Breton or Échiré semi-salted.
• For baking and cakes: unsalted (doux) butter, so you control the salt in the recipe.
• For croissants and puff pastry: a dry pastry butter (beurre de tourage).
• For spreading from the fridge: Elle & Vire Beurre Tendre, Président La Motte Tendre or a butter dish.
• For the cheese board or a gift: AOP butters such as Échiré or Isigny.
• For lighter eating: light butters at 41%, 20% or 10% fat.

Butter in French Cooking

Butter is at the heart of French cuisine, especially in the north and west of the country. It is the base of classic sauces such as beurre blanc, hollandaise and béarnaise, and of beurre noisette, butter cooked until it turns golden and smells of hazelnuts, poured over fish or vegetables. Pastry relies on it too: croissants, pains au chocolat, puff pastry, sablés, madeleines and the Breton kouign-amann all depend on good butter for their flavour and texture. At the table, a pat of butter is served with radishes, with oysters and rye bread, and on fresh baguette with ham in the jambon-beurre, the classic Parisian sandwich. For cooking, many French cooks use unsalted butter and season separately, while salted butter is kept for the table and for Breton-style baking.

Storing French Butter

Keep butter in the fridge in its wrapper or a butter dish, away from strong-smelling foods, which butter absorbs easily. Take it out 10 to 20 minutes before serving if you want it soft. Butter freezes well for baking: wrap it tightly and defrost in the fridge. Use it by the date on the pack. For other dairy, see Cream and Dairy and Eggs, or discover the food of Bretagne, the home of salted butter.

French Butter FAQs

What is the difference between doux, demi-sel and salé?

Beurre doux is unsalted. Demi-sel is lightly salted, containing between 0.5% and 3% salt. Beurre salé contains more than 3% salt. Demi-sel is the most common salted butter in France and is typical of Brittany.

Why is Échiré butter so famous?

Échiré is a village in the Deux-Sèvres, within the Charentes-Poitou AOP area. Its dairy cooperative churns butter in traditional wooden churns, and the butter is prized by chefs and pastry makers for its fine texture and delicate flavour.

What is beurre de baratte?

Beurre de baratte means "churned butter" and refers to butter made in a traditional churn, a slower process than modern continuous butter-making. It is valued for its texture and flavour, as with Isigny Sainte-Mère's churned butter.

What is beurre de tourage?

Beurre de tourage is a dry butter with a higher fat and lower water content, used for laminating dough. It stays pliable without melting into the pastry, giving croissants and puff pastry their distinct layers.