# Question about dairy products



## Dr IB (Aug 22, 2014)

Hello I am new to Cyprus and this website so please excuse me if my question is daft. I'm very impressed with the fresh milk and yoghurt products here, but I don't understand why I can only find imported butter, and no fresh cream. Is it because these items don't feature in the diet here or am I looking in the wrong places? Thanks


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

Dr IB said:


> Hello I am new to Cyprus and this website so please excuse me if my question is daft. I'm very impressed with the fresh milk and yoghurt products here, but I don't understand why I can only find imported butter, and no fresh cream. Is it because these items don't feature in the diet here or am I looking in the wrong places? Thanks


Fresh cream we always buy in Alpha Mega. It is sold in 1 liter bottles. It is very fat, 40%. And it is local. Cost around 3.50 €


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

It is actually only in more recent times that fresh cream has been available at all in Cyprus. When I lived in Limassol many years ago it didn't exsit at all and the delicious looking "cream" cakes in cafes were made with a disgusting hideously sweet synthetic 'cream'. 
When we came back here to live 10 years ago we had to search for fresh cream and only ever found it at Christmas time in Debenhams food hall. In the last few years it has become more readily available in the better supermarkets.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

I think the question regarding butter is answered by observing that Cypriots have bread with their meals without butter. In restaurants you will only get butter served by those who choose to do so with a large ex-pat clientèle.

Bread may also be served drizzled with olive oil and herbs. I find this far more acceptable than messing about with what is usually a lactic butter like the amazingly tasteless Lurpak. I think also that this week the fashion may be to deem it more healthy than butter, but that may change again next week! :confused2:

Pete


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

It is a fact that Cypriots do not use butter in the way that Northern European countries do.
Lightly toasted bread drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with oregano(or other herbs) is absolutely yummy


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## Pam n Dave (Jun 11, 2007)

Veronica said:


> It is a fact that Cypriots do not use butter in the way that Northern European countries do.
> Lightly toasted bread drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with oregano(or other herbs) is absolutely yummy


Don't forget the squeezed lemon.


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## Dr IB (Aug 22, 2014)

Thanks very much for the useful replies. I found the cream, but it's a big bottle so I will have to wait for visitors before I get any. Re butter, I wanted it for brushing onto filo sheets rather than for bread. I have found a couple of locals ones, either clarified or "confectionary butter" which will do nicely.


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## Rema (Aug 12, 2012)

If you want small tubs then you can get fresh Jersey cream at the Kolios butchery. I think its in 250ml tubs. It comes in every Monday but tends to sell out quickly.

Expensive but so very nice!


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

Dr IB said:


> Thanks very much for the useful replies. I found the cream, but it's a big bottle so I will have to wait for visitors before I get any. Re butter, I wanted it for brushing onto filo sheets rather than for bread. I have found a couple of locals ones, either clarified or "confectionary butter" which will do nicely.


I don't know if the Alpha Mega cream is high pasteurized, it does not say on the bottle, but is fresh long after the date on the bottle


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## Geraldine (Jan 3, 2009)

I use the butter in Lidl for all my baking and lemon curd making, cheap enough and better than what passes for margarine !! (Of which I would never use in l/curd)


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## Rema (Aug 12, 2012)

Geraldine said:


> I use the butter in Lidl for all my baking and lemon curd making, cheap enough and better than what passes for margarine !! (Of which I would never use in l/curd)


I can't imagine anybody using margarine rather than butter. 
There are a myriad of unhealthy components to margarine and other butter substitutes including trans fats, free radicals, emulsifiers and preservatives, hexane and other toxic solvents.
In contrast raw milk butter, when made from grass-fed cows, is rich in beneficial conjugated linoleum acid (CLA), which is known to help fight cancer and diabetes.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

Rema said:


> I can't imagine anybody using margarine rather than butter.
> There are a myriad of unhealthy components to margarine and other butter substitutes including trans fats, free radicals, emulsifiers and preservatives, hexane and other toxic solvents.
> In contrast raw milk butter, when made from grass-fed cows, is rich in beneficial conjugated linoleum acid (CLA), which is known to help fight cancer and diabetes.


The only problem with butter is that it is not very easy to use on sandwiches. So we do our own. mix 1 part butter with 0,5 part oil and you will get a butter that you can take out from the fridge and spread directly.


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## hiatusxenia (May 6, 2013)

Do you mean that you mix the two together with a mixer and then cool it again? And are you mixing the butter with olive oil? Very intriguing.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

hiatusxenia said:


> Do you mean that you mix the two together with a mixer and then cool it again? And are you mixing the butter with olive oil? Very intriguing.


Yes let it be very soft and then mix oil and butter. I use grape seed oil, because it is tasteless, but many use olive oil. I use unsalted butter but add a little salt. Back in fridge for some hours. Then you can take it out and use it directly. The more oil the softer it will be


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## expatme (Dec 4, 2013)

Baywatch said:


> Yes let it be very soft and then mix oil and butter. I use grape seed oil, because it is tasteless, but many use olive oil. I use unsalted butter but add a little salt. Back in fridge for some hours. Then you can take it out and use it directly. The more oil the softer it will be


Wouldn't it be easier to use Lurpak ready salted spreadable straight from the fridge. Just a thought?


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

expatme said:


> Wouldn't it be easier to use Lurpak ready salted spreadable straight from the fridge. Just a thought?


For me Lurpak is the most tasteless butter possible.

And if I want to use readymade there is many different. I want to know what the content is, thats the whole idea


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

I agree that Lurpak, like all lactic butters is completely tasteless. I prefer to think of it as a chemical butter made by a more efficient industrial process at the expense of flavour. That's why so many of them have added salt. Even the colour is wrong!

It is remarkable that this dreadful, tasteless grease predominates in mainland Europe. I suppose it might be that it's lack of taste is preferable to the evil taste of margarine, something we have to thank those culinary marvels the French for.

I always remember when we had a deeper yellow Cornish butter at home. Utterly delicious we plastered it on bread, toast, scones, buns, beigels and crumpets greedily. It probably explains why I have 4 stents keeping me alive now!!

Pete


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## hiatusxenia (May 6, 2013)

Yes, as Baywatch says, it's all about knowing what goes into your finished product. The ingredients on the commercially prepared 'spread straight from the fridge' products do not make very pleasant reading. I love this idea and am going to try it!

Something which amuses me is that having spent decades telling us that all these 'spreads' are so healthy, now they are busy adding butter to them again; viz the new Bertolli/Olivio product.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

One of the problems about food nutrition advice is that much of it comes from the quango for the food concerned. So while one committee advises to cut down on fried food the Potato Council initiates Chip Week. Butter was discouraged for a long time and is now back in fashion despite Jamie Oliver and the School Food Trust.

I have noticed that my regular health email from Saga encourages the consumption of a particular fruit, vegetable or food for it's health giving properties. But these properties are always described as "_may_ help to reduce/prevent....". There is never a definitive commitment.

Thus advice is confusing and often seems to change in cycles. So what to do for the best? A suggestion: everything in moderation including moderation.

Pete


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

PeteandSylv said:


> I agree that Lurpak, like all lactic butters is completely tasteless. I prefer to think of it as a chemical butter made by a more efficient industrial process at the expense of flavour. That's why so many of them have added salt. Even the colour is wrong!
> 
> It is remarkable that this dreadful, tasteless grease predominates in mainland Europe. I suppose it might be that it's lack of taste is preferable to the evil taste of margarine, something we have to thank those culinary marvels the French for.
> 
> ...


I use Kerry Gold. We buy when it is one sale, it is quite often and then frees for future spread production


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## Rema (Aug 12, 2012)

PeteandSylv said:


> One of the problems about food nutrition advice is that much of it comes from the quango for the food concerned. So while one committee advises to cut down on fried food the Potato Council initiates Chip Week. Butter was discouraged for a long time and is now back in fashion despite Jamie Oliver and the School Food Trust.
> 
> I have noticed that my regular health email from Saga encourages the consumption of a particular fruit, vegetable or food for it's health giving properties. But these properties are always described as "_may_ help to reduce/prevent....". There is never a definitive commitment.
> 
> ...


Pete,
You, and others, may be interested in the web site of Dr Mercola (Natural Health Information Articles and Health Newsletter by Dr. Joseph Mercola)
Although he speaks about the American market I find the daily posts he puts out incredibly informative. Yes, I know he advertises his own products - which I don't buy - but don't let that detract you from his well researched articles.
He covers an enormous range of topics covering specific health issues, exercise, diet and related topics and is well worth, in my opinion, taking a look at.


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