The Store-Bought Butter Brand You Should Avoid At All Costs

Butter is a staple in kitchens worldwide. From slathering it on toast to baking a batch of chip-topped chocolate chip cookies, keeping butter on hand is a must for many households. It's the key ingredient in countless recipes, from delicate baked goods to perfectly roasted chicken, so selecting the right brand can make or break a dish. With butter being made from just cream and occasionally salt, the quality of these simple ingredients plays a crucial role in the final flavor.

Using butter made with low-quality ingredients can lead to dishes with an off-putting taste and a lack of the delicious richness associated with your favorite buttery dishes. To steer clear of a culinary disaster, there's one store-bought butter brand you should avoid at all costs, and that's Imperial spread — a vegetable oil spread that's made with oils like soybean, palm, and palm kernel, and is packed with natural and artificial flavors. 

Similar to margarine, but lacking in flavor and well, fat, Imperial spread is a no-go for your favorite baked goods unless you want tasteless results. For example, one tablespoon of unsalted butter contains 11.5 grams of fat – while one tablespoon of Imperial spread contains just 7 grams of fat. Fat is essential in baking because it inhibits gluten development, creates tender textures, and contributes significantly to flavor. Using Imperial spread can result in tougher baked goods that lack the signature rich, buttery taste you expect and may leave you with underwhelming treats. Plus, because it's a blend of neutral oils, it won't have the same rich taste as butter — or even a spread made from something like olive oil.

With so many different kinds of butter, finding the right kind can be a little daunting — but in fact, it's quite easy. Selecting a delicious butter comes down to the quality of its ingredients — including the feed of the cows that produce it. If you can identify those, you're in for some gold. Speaking of gold, Food Republic's taste tester ranked Kerry Gold Pure Irish butter as number one on the list of store-bought butter brands ranked worst to best.

While the gold wrapping might appear facetious, it truly does mirror what's inside. Made from the milk of grass-fed cows in Ireland, its bright yellow, creamy, silky smooth texture is incomparable to other brands. Some even say it's the best butter for baking cookies. It gets that bright, happy color thanks to the level of beta-carotene in the wild Irish grass the cows eat — the same pigment that makes carrots so orange.

Since Kerry Gold has a fat content of 82-83%, it's classified as European-style butter — it comes from Europe, after all. Compare this to American-style butter, which is required by law to have at least 80% butterfat. The higher fat content is what attributes that richer flavor and creamier taste and allows for a smoother spread. However, you'll likely have to shell out a little more for the improved quality.