Olivia Morrison was at a restaurant in Copenhagen when she first
tasted real butter. “My husband and I were living in Sydney at the
time,” the New Zealand-born founder of Tasmanian Butter Co. says,
“and we were really getting into food and the whole idea of travelling
to eat new things.” When they sampled Copenhagen’s cultured
butter, they were both a little wowed by its intense flavour. “It was
awesome stuff, and we were immediately like, why can’t we get
butter like this in Australia and New Zealand? I wanted to know why
it tasted so different.” When they returned home, Olivia embarked
on a research mission and discovered the answer to her question:
it was all about bacteria.
Adding live bacteria to the mix creates a richer, tangier product, and
for the past few years, Olivia’s been producing cultured butter in the
garage of her Launceston home. While her husband, Rob, works
upstairs, she and her close friend Lili churn cream in machines that
she describes as “scaled-up KitchenAid mixers”. From beginning
to end, the process is extremely local. “We source our creams from
a co-op in the north of Tasmania,” Olivia says, “so that arrives on
Friday mornings, and we heat it up and add the lactic bacteria
cultures that afternoon.” Later in the week, they shape and package
the butter by hand, adding a touch of east coast Tasmanian sea
salt. On Saturdays and Sundays, Olivia travels around to Tasmania’s
farmers’ markets to sell about half her butter stock to locals, then
the rest is sent across the island to restaurants and grocers.Olivia’s butter hasn’t always travelled so far. When she first
arrived home from Copenhagen, the concept of making butter
was really about bringing traditional flavours to her family and
friends. “I liked the idea of making something people would
enjoy,” she says. “Just like cooking dinner for your mates, or
spending an afternoon making jam and sharing that with other
people.” She began by experimenting with different cultures and
creams, all in an attempt to recreate the experience she’d had
overseas. “There was a period of trial and error,” she recalls.
“To make good butter at home, you need to start with good cream,
and finding some that’s delicious and doesn’t have any additives
is hard.” She then went through a long process of searching for
cultures and trialling salt levels, before she felt confident enough
to turn butter-making into a money-making activity. “I’d been
working in IT,” she says, “and I wanted a change, because you
can’t sit in front of computers forever!”These days, Tasmanian Butter Co. is a fully-fledged business,
producing around 100 kilos of the spread per week. For Olivia,
though, the motivation has stayed the same: she just wants people
to taste good food. “When I’m taking the product around Tasmania,
I tend to come across a lot of old dairy farmers,” she says, “and
they’re always reminded of what butter used to taste like when they
were home on the farm.” The nostalgia of handmade produce is
a large part of the appeal. “The industrial dairy industry produces
butter that’s consistent but not particularly flavoursome,” she says.
“It’s hard to explain, but cultured butter is like really buttery butter!
It tastes like butter should!”As the business expands, Olivia’s beginning to turn her hand to
flavour experimentation. She’s produced a very popular truffle
butter, and is currently honing her Tasmanian whisky version just
in time for Christmas. In keeping with her maxim of staying local
and handmade, the simple gold and black packaging is designed by
a mate and local architect, and the official taste tester is Olivia and
Rob’s young daughter. “It’s been a big change,” Olivia says, “but it’s
something I can imagine doing for a very long time.”tasmanian butter co.
LAUNCESTON LADY OLIVIA MORRISON’S
BREAD AND BUTTER IS, WELL, BUTTER.
Wor d s Sam PrendergastPhotoLusy Productionsmy project