Last week, I stopped by Citizen Kitchens, the commissary/co-working kitchen/culinary incubator that’s housed in what’s known in the neighborhood as “the Love Building” near the intersection of Charlotte Avenue and 47th Avenue North. The kitchen space was buzzing with chefs and food entrepreneurs preparing their products. I stopped in to visit with Wendy French Barrett, proprietor of Wise Butter, a line of handmade, small-batch compound (flavored) butters.
Barrett started out making butter from scratch after deciding to make it a fun weekend project. It really struck her fancy and she decided this would be the way to turn her passion for food into a business. However, the many regulations the state of Tennessee has on dairy products forced her to get creative and (let’s hope, temporarily) set aside her dreams of making butter from scratch and instead make flavored butters. She instead uses good quality Amish butter (sourced regionally), Plugra (European-style, higher-fat butter), and when available, Hatcher Dairy butter. After years of working on recipes and testing on friends, Barrett launched Wise Butter officially in March of this year.
Flavors of butter include Roasted Garlic Basil (one of her first flavors and her best seller), Chipotle, Apricot Almond, Vegan (made with coconut oil and soy milk) and a roster of seasonal flavors such as Salted Caramel Peach and Maple Cranberry. Though she personally prefers the savory butters — which she says work great as seasonings drizzled on meats as well as side dishes — she said demand has been high for the sweet butters, which are great to spread on breads or put in oatmeal or on cakes. I sampled several of the flavors, and all were fantastic.
Though the suggested use for the Apricot Almond flavor is as a glaze on a simple cake, I had it on crackers and toast (I love toast). I did the same with the Salted Caramel Peach, which is addictive (it’s made with peach jam, so I hope it will outlast peach season) and with the Vegan butter. The Vegan is what surprised me most; the taste and texture reminded me of the whipped butter I ate at breakfasts in France many years ago on vacation. If no one told me it wasn’t whipped, European-style butter, I would not know it was vegan. If you’re dairy-free and have missed a schmear of butter on your toast, I highly recommend it. Don’t let it melt, though; you’ll want to experience the fabulous texture.
I also tried the Roasted Garlic Basil butter on just a cracker, but I could see how it would be great to melt just a tiny bit over roasted vegetables such as potatoes, asparagus or carrots or over freshly steamed long beans, wax beans or green beans. It’s also popular to add a dollop to a steak, and Barrett says it’s really good on chicken, shrimp and pasta for an easy shortcut to flavor them.
Citizen Kitchens is closed to the public, but you can find Wise Butter at a farmers market almost every day of the week, all around the area. Check out the schedule to see where it will be. You can also purchase it at Green Door Gourmet and Tinwings in West Nashville or at Herban Market in Franklin. Butters are $8 each for 4-ounce containers or three for $20, and worth every penny. Follow Wise Butter on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on flavors, farmers market schedules, and new retail availability.
