Dr Oz: Coconut Butter vs Ghee for Diets + Cultured Butter Recipe

Dr Oz: Healthier Butter Guide

If you’re health conscious, you likely try to use as little butter as possible. But what if you were to learn that your previous thoughts about butter could be thrown out the window? According to Dr Oz, fat is back but it’s all about making the right choices when shopping, which is why he first explained how full-fat dairy helps you lose weight. Certain butters are healthier than others, which is why Dr Oz brought in two butter connoisseurs to weigh in on the topic.

Dr Oz: Healthier Butter Taste-Test

First was Dan Souza, chef and executive editor of “Cook’s Science,” and Dan Pashman from The Cooking Channel. Dan explained that people want to know what’s in their food and when you talk about butter, it’s really just churned butter. But there are a ton of different options.

Dan admitted he’s obsessed with butter because it’s like a “three chord rock song” because it’s simple and timeless and you can do so much with it but it never gets old.

Dr. Oz put together a Butter Bar and held a healthiest butter taste test, to see which butter is healthiest AND tastes great.  The results are on the next page, along with an easy recipe for healthy, cultured butter…

Dr Oz: Cultured Butter Recipe with Probiotics

First, Chef Dan and Dr Oz took a closer look at cultured butter, which essentially butter the way it used to always be made. People would leave the cream out before you churn it and the natural bacteria in it would sour it a little bit. These days, people make it on purpose by adding live bacteria to the cream and then churning it. Dr Oz referred to as “probiotic butter.” Dan Pashman shared that he loves the way cultured butter tastes on a baked potato. He recommended adding a little sea salt on top to help you truly taste the butter.

Dr Oz: How To Make Probiotic Cultured Butter

You can make your own cultured butter at home by adding a little buttermilk to a carton of heavy cream. Then shake it up and let it culture on the counter for 2-7 days before churning in your food processor.

Next up is ghee! How healthy is ghee? The answer is on the next page…

Dr Oz: Is Ghee Healthy?

Ghee is one of the trendiest butters out there, but what is it? Ghee is like browned butter with browned milk solids, but then you strain out the milk solids, leaving you only with milk solids. You’re left with pure fat because it doesn’t contain water or milk solids. According to Chef Dan, that makes ghee very versatile and great for those who follow the paleo diet or who are lactose intolerant.

Does Ghee Lower Cholesterol?

Dr Oz likes ghee because it lowers cholesterol and contains vitamins A, D, and K. According to Dan Pashman, at room temperature ghee has a texture similar to mashed potatoes. But when you heat it up and it melts, it tastes great on broccoli.

Dr Oz: Coconut Butter

Chef Dan then took a closer look at coconut butter, explaining that coconut butter and coconut oil are two very different things. Coconut butter should be thought of like peanut butter because it’s all the flesh of a coconut ground up. It’s great to spread on things but you wouldn’t want to cook with it because it won’t act like butter.

How To Eat Coconut Butter

Dan Pashman described the texture as similar to peanut butter and liked the idea of heating it up and adding it to popcorn with some spices.

Dr Oz: Is Spreadable Butter Healthy?

What about buttery spreads? Chef Dan stressed the importance of looking at the ingredient list for spreads to find out what you’re really eating. They’re great for spreading on bread or using right out of the fridge They’re made with plant-based oils and can help reduce blood cholesterol. However, they’re not a substitute for butter when it comes to baking.

Buttery spreads typically contain a blend of oils and sterols and stenols which are plant-based compounds that help reduce cholesterol. The American Heart Association claims spreads are probably your best option in terms of heart health.