During my spring break, I went on a five-city adventure that started off in Amsterdam (Argentine steakhouse heaven-- no problems finding a good steak there!), then moved to Geneva (which is so expensive that I cooked out of my hostel the entire time). I couldn't find Kerrygold in either place. Then I headed to Germany, where I first encountered Kerrygold in Berlin's main train station, the Hauptbahnhof. (Berlin is Paleo heaven. One word: Sauvage.) I had an "Oh my god, it actually exists!!!!!" moment of both extreme disbelief and extreme excitement. This was the butter that the entire Paleo community has been raving about!! IT'S REAL!!!! But since I had a four-hour train ride (to Prague) ahead of me, I couldn't hoard a brick of it to see what the big deal was. (Well, I guess I could've...) So I settled on some Kerrygold cheddar cheese to snack on instead. Nom. However, since I didn't cook at all in Prague or Vienna, I still hadn't tried the most talked-up butter in existence by the time I headed back to Edinburgh.
Fast-forward to mid-May. Four months in Europe, and still no Kerrygold... but a trip to Dublin changed that. I was convinced by this point that Kerrygold leprechauns would hide all of the butter before I got there, and I'd spend the rest of eternity missing out on the one butter that puts the Paleo/Primal community into an "OMG NOM" frenzy. But no!! I got to Dublin, and Kerrygold was everywhere-- it's even sold in the airport!!!! AHHH!!!!! So after sight-seeing all day, I bought a brick of it from the grocery store and headed back to my hostel to cook dinner and finally try this practically mythical butter. It did not disappoint!!!! It's creamy, smooth, rich, delicious... and totally worth all of the hype. It's great for both cooking and eating, and I truly don't have words that accurately describe how absolutely incredible this butter is.
I brought my Kerrygold back to Edinburgh. They must've thought I was insane at airport security for having almost a pound of butter in my backpack!
So I finished off an incredible semester in Edinburgh by smothering everything in Kerrygold, not knowing the next time I'd get to have this fantastical butter again.
I was in for a real treat when I ended my time in Europe with a week in Mijas Costa, Malaga, Spain, for some desperately needed Vitamin D. (Seriously: don't take the sun for granted. After living in Scotland for a semester, just seeing the sun makes me insanely happy now.) I never thought I'd stumble upon Kerrygold there, but I did!!!! I hadn't even been looking for it, and it was in the supermarket!! Vitamin D/sun and Kerrygold in the same place?? Paradise!! My mind was also blown by finding Kerrygold on the plane ride back to the US-- sure, it was a tiny packet of it, but still! (But thank god for it: it was the only thing I ate... the rest of the meal served was just sad.)
So what exactly is so special about Kerrygold? It's made from the milk of grass-fed cows! Grass-fed butter has more carotene, Vitamin A, and Vitamin K2, has a totally balanced O3:O6 ratio, and just tastes so much better than other types of butter. This stuff is truly incredible, and if you tolerate butter and live somewhere where you can get this stuff, do it! Really: it's that good. (And you can also use it to make Bulletproof coffee!)
I can't believe I just wrote an entire post about Kerrygold. But after a semester-long quest to finally find/try it, it totally deserves its own post... and all of the hype!
Quote of the Day:
"Some people would say they couldn't do without olive oil. I could do without olive oil a lot quicker than I could do without butter." -Paula Deen
