First Bite

Grass Fed Butter

By | March 27, 2019
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Photo by Erin Hartley.

Many of us don’t hesitate to slather butter on our toast and devour it steadfastly — but if someone told you that butter had its own terroir, would you slow down to get a better taste?

“We know that foods from specific terroirs will taste different,” explains Pamela Hamel, brand ambassador at Thornloe Cheese. Butter is similar to wine in the sense that “it’s a pure food — its taste profile is derived from the soil base, air and lifestyle of the dairy [cows]."

“Cows are magic,” Hamel asserts. “They convert their plantbased diet into a rich and nutritious food.”

The cows responsible for Thornloe’s grass-fed butter are from the Temiskaming Valley, about 600 kilometres north of Toronto. Thornloe started producing butter in 2018 after recognizing a growing trend among Canadians “seeking domestic grass-fed dairy products,” Hamel says.

Just months after launching the butter, it won the grand champion award at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair.

The quality of grass-fed products is controlled by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario. DFO stipulates everything from the number of days a cow needs to be pastured to the type and amount of grain it eats.

Over its 71 years in operation, Thornloe had been owned by various multinationals and nearly closed on several occasions, but farmers always rallied to save the plant. Today, they own it. The 100-per-cent Canadian farmer-owned company is now doing things its way — proving that grass-fed cows and nature know best.

Thornloe Cheese
999 697 Hwy 11 N., Thornloe, Ont.
thornloecheese.ca | 705.647.7441 | @thornloecheese

Find it at: Sweet Potato, BlossomPure Organic, Farm Boy, Cheese Boutique, Bruno’s Fine Foods

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