In an article reviewing the best butters available in the US, The New York Times has ranked Kerrygold as the number one choice for consumers, deeming it the “butteriest butter” and the most fitting for both eating and baking with.
The food journalists that co-authored the article, one of whom had previously worked in the dairy industry as a artisan cheesemaker, were tasked with taste-testing 17 salted butters and baked with 11 unsalted butters during the review process.
The publication also assembled teams to sample the butters which were examined under factors such as, spreadability, texture, colour and flavour, and were tested at both room and refrigerated temperatures to ensure a comprehensive and non-biased appraisal.
After extensive testing and stiff competition from both indigenous and European counterparts, Kerrygold came out trumps.
The article read: “Golden, grassy, and velvety: Kerrygold is the closest thing to the platonic ideal of butter in most supermarkets.
“The experience of unwrapping a brick of Kerrygold Salted Butter is almost transcendent.”
They praised the Irish commodity for its “sunny yellow tones”, “luxuriously creamy” texture and its “well-balanced” salty flavour.
The authors also encouraged readers to reach for Kerrygold unsalted butter when baking pies, cakes and biscuits, as it forms the basis for the perfect buttery delicacy, in their view.
Kerrygold
“Kerrygold is the butter of choice for many on the kitchen team because it’s excellent to bake with, widely available, and an excellent deal if you buy it in bulk from Costco (a popular US supermarket chain)”, the New York Times said.
Kerrygold was first exported to the US in 1999, enjoying “double-digit volume growth” in the market ever since – with Ornua, Kerrygold’s parent company, claiming to ship over 2.6 million block of butters stateside on a weekly basis.
Commenting on the success of Kerrygold in the US, managing director of Ornua Foods, Róisín Hennerty said:
“Kerrygold’s success in the US market is a result of decades of investment by Irish dairy farmers coupled with their commitment to producing high quality grass-fed dairy that is loved all over the world.
“Kerrygold is largely the story of Irish family farming which is rooted in honest, transparent origins and traditions.
“It’s our job to share this compelling story to protect and maintain our premium position in market; a premium which adds value to Irish milk, helping secure strong returns for Irish dairy farmers.”
According to official sale reports published by Ornua, since 2018, sales of Kerrygold unsalted butter account for over 30% of the US market for unsalted premium butter products while sales of Kerrygold’s unsalted butter in the US grew from $30.9 million in 2018 to $68.6 million in 2022.
Ornua also stated that between 2018 and 2022, it spent over $226 million on advertisements in north America relating to the Kerrygold brand, including print, television, and digital and social media campaigns.
According to Statista, a data analytics website, Kerrygold is now the second most popular brand of butter for sale on the US market.
