The internet is buzzing with the #butterboard trend. First mentioned in a 2017 cookbook by Joshua McFadden, the butter shelf has suddenly become hugely popular. McFadden, in his book Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, referred to the butter plank as a way to enjoy crunchy, fresh-cut vegetables by fusing their flavor with flavored butter spread over a wooden plank.
Butter boards are inspired by French charcuterie boards, which usually refer to elaborate settings of a variety of cheese slices or blocks, curated meat portions, vegetable sticks, crackers, and dips or sauces. However, butter boards are more like cheese boards. These contain cheese products more dominantly, compared to charcuterie boards, which focus on meat.
To make a butter board, all you need to do is grease a wooden board with butter and sprinkle with spices of your choice, pieces of fruit, spices, vegetables and herbs. These plates are often served with bread or food that resembles bread. The idea is to scrape the butter with bread and eat it. This is for eating in the community. The trend has diversified now, with people experimenting with other spreads like peanut butter, vegemite, hummus, Nutella, chocolate, etc.
There seems to be endless variations and possibilities of topping and seasoning. However, there are some health risks of the trend that you should be aware of before creating new boards.
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An inordinate amount of butter is used in many of the videos that are trending on TikTok. An extra large serving of butter also comes with a huge serving of saturated fat. An excess of butter in the regular diet can increase the risk of obesity, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, etc. Avoid making butter boards with too much butter or don’t make them regularly.
Another thing to look out for are the cracks in your wood plank. If there are any gaps, smearing butter will push it into the crevices, which are dark and damp — the perfect environment for microbes to breed. You can avoid the risk altogether by switching to a ceramic plate or a shelf made of non-porous material.
Also take care of the hygiene around your butter board. With several people sharing the same board, there is a chance of common contamination as each individual can leave their germs on board. Small bite-sized pieces of bread that don’t have room for double or triple dipping can be helpful.
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