Butter from another Mother

In my appreciation of all things dairy, alongside an admiration of regional products, I was excited to find this long sought after tin of butter (in a Thai food shop on Mulberry Street of all places).

H.J. Wijsman & Zonen began producing tinned butter in the early years of the 20th century as need for shelf stable items increased with wars in Europe.  They developed a way to preserve and tin butter while keeping it's emulsion, a mystery with a large rabbit hole that I will soon jump down.

It is salted, though at only 1% per weight, so the flavour is still sweet.  It is incredibly silky, with no fat crystals or water unincorporated, though the fat coats my mouth with a reminder of shortening.

I enjoy the label design, and am humbled by the science and technology involved in developing a shelf-stable butter that can provide people without refrigeration a buttery treat.

Product Label

4 - Micron pens

1 - pad of Vellum

1 - pad of graph paper

1 - box of lead

2 - erasers

7 - revisions

1 - very patient boyfriend with Photoshop skills

lots of sweat

lots of tears

no blood

1 - final design of a product label...

off to the printers it goes!

Thoughts on starting a business

I thought that beginning my own business would be as easy as pie.

Sign a few papers, fill out a few forms, source ingredients, draw up a label and some business cards and call it a day!

Oh, naïve Katie.

Being a design and lettering fiend, it has taken me weeks of perfecting labels to my OCD standards.  "Does this design reflect me?  My products?"
"What IS my aesthetic?"

I forgot to fill in one tiny section on my LLC paperwork, resulting in a re-file.

Logistics are a funny thing.

Starting a business has been on my mind for a while, though I always thought of going through the process after taking a course somewhere on Business 101.  What I've learned is that starting a business gives you real-time lessons in Business 101..

I finally have my head wrapped around many of the more initially daunting logistics, have sourced quality ingredients and materials, and bought two of my very own chest freezers (which makes me ridiculously happy!). 

Everything is coming together in its own time, and I am learning how to push my schedule for maximum efficiency.

Production begins next week!

Now, off to finish that label..