Pure and Simple

April 9, 2008 / Add comment

Forty miles north of San Francisco, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, sits Albert Straus' small organic dairy farm, which has been in operation for 67 years. Hall tours the family's cow-filled pastures and nearby creamery in search of the secrets behind some of the country's best sweet cream butter. While the farm-fresh milk, simplistic machinery and traditional American and British techniques are important, when Hall samples the "slightly sweeter, herbaceous" summer butter, he gushes about the importance of seasonal changes on the final product. It's this celebration of flavor, texture, and color variation that's crucial to the Straus Family Creamery -- and makes this story a pleasurable read.