Butter Quotes

“(It’s worth noting that the traditional Irish phrase to wish someone well, “Top o’ the morning to you,” has its origin in the dairy world; “the top” refers to the richest, loveliest part, as cream is at the top of milk.)”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“Eating butter, they say, is a greater sin than to lie, blaspheme, or indulge in impurity.”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“The Great Butter Rebellion, which took place at Harvard University in 1766, was the first recorded student protest in the United States. Since the opening of Harvard’s gates in 1636, food service had been an issue and the quality of the butter was exceptionally poor. Apparently one meal with particularly rancid butter led Asa Dunbar (the grandfather of Henry David Thoreau) to jump upon his chair and proclaim: “Behold, our butter stinketh!—give us therefore, butter that stinketh not.” The cry was adopted by fully half the student body as they rose together and exited the Commons in protest. They were subsequently suspended. Eventually the students were readmitted, but its unclear whether the butter continued to stinketh or not. —The Harvard Crimson”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“The Irish butter market, like its competition around the world, wouldn’t have existed without the manual labor of women. All together, their ability to transform a daily tide of milk into tubs, balls, bricks, mottes, and prints of butter constituted a cottage industry of global proportion. Although their production varied in quality and quantity across the buttermaking world, the basic techniques and tools dairywomen used were nearly identical across time and place. It’s easy to forget that the simple equipment women wielded to make butter also drove dairy trade, and more than any other tools they were proof of women’s pivotal economic role on the farm.”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“COME, BUTTERCHURN, COME Buttermilk to the wrist, butter to the elbow; Come, butterchurn, come. Buttermilk to the wrist, butter to the elbow; Come, butterchurn, come. There’s a glug here, there’s a glack here; There’s a glack here, there’s a glug here, There’s something better here than you’d expect, There’s something better than wine here. Come, butterchurn, come. The thrush will come, the blackbird will come, The mist will come from the hill, The cuckoo will come, the jackdaw will come, The father osprey will come. Come, butterchurn, come. —traditional Irish song for churning”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“On small farms with few cows, skimmed cream was often combined over several days until there was a good amount to churn. In”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“(It’s worth noting that many people of the oil-eating regions regarded butter with great suspicion in the Middle Ages. Accounts of medieval Provençal or Spanish travelers, obliged to pass through or visit dairy-rich foreign countries, describe how they took their own olive oil with them, believing that butter made one more susceptible to leprosy.) Fasting in the southern olive- and fish-rich parishes still allowed for most of the staples people enjoyed,”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“Anthimus, a Byzantine physician who authored On the Observance of Foods in the sixth century, specified the kind of butter used for healing: “Fresh butter is taken for consumption [tuberculosis]. But butter completely without salt, for if it has salt, it does not cure it as well. If it is pure and fresh with a little honey mixed in, lick it at intervals while laying down.” (If nothing else, it was easy to take.)”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“Water is the soul; milk is life.”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“For the inquisitive eater who savors more than just the taste of things, butter’s story is a ticket to appreciating the mighty role a simple food can play in the course of human events. One of the oldest of man-made edibles, butter’s history is our history. In part, the purpose of this book is to show how the life and times of butter have been deeply entwined with much that has gone on far from the kitchen and creamery. Beginning”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists. —JOAN GUSSOW”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“In 1924, the Cork Butter Exchange closed its doors forever. In many ways, the end of Cork’s butter reign symbolized the end of an era in peasant butter making, one that had existed for thousands of years.”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History

“NOT MANY FOODS CAN CLAIM TO HAVE BEEN A CEREMONIAL linchpin for multiple spiritual practices spanning several millennia. But butter can.”
― Elaine Khosrova, Butter: A Rich History