Posted on 12/14/2011 8:10:29 AM PST by smokingfrog
Scandinavia's butter crisis is spreading. First Sweden ran into supply problems, in part blamed on a television chef urging everyone to use butter. Now Norwegians are facing a similar squeeze, as butter stocks have mysteriously melted away, sending prices soaring and shoppers frantically buying up slabs of the stuff wherever they see it.
Imports and distribution have become sporadic at best, and as soon as word gets out about a delivery, butter disappears from the shelves within minutes.
With the sense of national crisis deepening, the national daily Aftenposten ran a two-page spread with instructions on how to make your own butter. It's all a big disappointment for the domestic goddesses of the north for whom butter is a standard Christmas staple.
"I need butter today to make my lussekatt buns and my Christmas biscuits," grumbled one elderly Norwegian. "I brought up my four children under German occupation but this is nothing like that."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Well, the one good thing here is that even with a shortage, the Norwegians are sticking with butter, instead of being seduced by the evil spread that is margarine. :-)
Butter here in the US isn’t a problem so far. But I’ve noticed lately that supermarket unsalted butters now all have so-called “natural flavorings” added to them, so I’ve switched to Kerrygold unsalted Irish butter. Really good stuff.
Is there a cream shortage? Or are they ignorant to the fact that cream, a blender and 15 minutes = butter?
Well, no feces, Ferlock. "I once watched a movie about space aliens, but that's not important now."
If there's a butter shortage, it may very well be spreading to cream as well, as the dairy producers divert more of the cream to make butter themselves.
The is no such thing as a shortage of a given commodity. There is only a shortage at a given price. A market tightly regulated by the government prevents higher prices which would result in outside suppliers filling the void to take advantage of these higher prices.
Who wrote this -- Garrison Keillor?
This reminds me of the time Johnny Carson, (Remember him?), said jokingly that there was a toilet paper shortage. Lo and behold in the next few days people scrambled for the stores and bought up all of the Toilet Paper and then there WAS a shortage.
I don’t know how anyone can use this disgusting baby puke ,yuck
You’re right!!
“Norway’s butter, cream, and bacon shortage was previously thought just to have been due to low carb diets. However, the cows have produced 20 million fewer litres of milk this year compared with 2010.”
That bacon looks serious to me.
Apparently it is a case of cream shortage. The article says this year the cows produced 20% less than normal. I do not see, though, how that translates to little to no butter at all...
At the moment, butter is somewhere around $500/kg there. That’s not just a minor blip in pricing.
I get Kerrygold butter at my local Trader Joe's.
Production quotas...
Hooray for central planning...
Are they ignorant to the fact that cream, a blender and 15 minutes=butter?
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That’s what I was thinking. WTH??
Just so. And when market forces raise the demand smuggling and black market conditions obtain.
“Last Friday, customs officers stopped a Russian at the Norwegian-Swedish border and seized 90 kilos (198 pounds) of butter stashed in his car. - Sapa-AFPL”
Meanwhile, Dennmark, having plenty of butter but shut out from the Norwegian Tariffs, is laughing at the effete offspring of the Viking raiders. One butter rich Dane is handing out free small butter packets to Norwegian day visitors from the ferries.
The local Amish and Hutterite communities sel lthe best-tasting butter we’ve ever had. We buy it in 2 and 3 pound chubs.
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