Friday, 24 May 2019 09:24

Westgold Butter melts judges’ hearts

Written by 

Westgold Salted Butter, produced at Hokitika on the West Coast, is the best in the country.

The product took out the title for champion overall butter at the prestigious New Zealand Champions of Cheese awards held in Hamilton earlier this week.

Both salted and unsalted Westgold variants won Gold Medals, but it was Westgold Salted that reigned supreme over all other butter entries. Judges commented on the butter’s creamy, smooth texture, well balanced flavor and aroma. 

Both butters also achieved gold in previous years’ competitions, since being launched onto the New Zealand retail market in 2016. It is the second time that a Westgold butter has received the supreme champion award. 

Westgold butter has been sold throughout the world by Westland Milk Products for more than 15 years. However, until 2016, it was only sold in New Zealand as a bulk product for use as an ingredient by bakeries and other large scale food producers. 

Kiwi consumers quickly took the rich, creamy “every day gourmet” butter to heart, with sales rising rapidly. Westgold now outsells all other premium-range butters in New Zealand supermarkets, with unit sales totaling all of their volume combined.

“The best butter starts with the best cream, and our farmers have a higher percentage of Jersey breeding in their herds, known for producing high quality cream,” says Westland Chief Executive Toni Brendish.

“This quality is further enhanced by the fact that most of our West Coast dairy farmers have almost entirely pasture-based systems. That natural grass diet gives our cream its flavour and rich yellow colour.”

Westgold also benefits from a long tradition of making butter on the West Coast, dating back to 1893. The process at Westland’s Hokitika factory has been refined over generations to become both an art and a science. Using time-honoured processes, based on traditional batch churning, Westgold’s butter-makers use only fresh cream (and a little salt for the salted product) to create butters that have now twice been recognised as New Zealand’s best.

More like this

Wrong again!

OPINION: Remember when the once-crumbling Westland Milk Products company was bought out by Chinese company Yili in 2019 and the howls of outrage and derision from current Minister of Agriculture and West Coast MP Damien O'Connor describing it as a 'sad day' for the West Coast?

Westland hits $1b revenue

Hokitika-based Westland Milk Products is bracing for another good year after hitting $1 billion in revenue for the first time in 2022.

Featured

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

Editorial: Passage to India

OPINION: Even before the National-led coalition came into power, India was very much at the fore of its trade agenda.

National

Govt urged to reduce ETS units

The Climate Change Commission wants the new Government to reduce NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction volumes as son as…

Dairy sheep, goat woes mount

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand…

Machinery & Products

All-terrain fert spreading mode

Effluent specialists the Samson Group have developed a new double unloading system to help optimise uphill and downhill organic fertiliser…

Can-Am showcases range

Based on industry data collected by the Motor Industry Association, Can-Am is the number one side-by-side manufacturer in New Zealand.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Papal visit

OPINION: European farmers are going to extreme lengths to have their message heard.

Thai egg tarts

OPINION: The hustle and bustle of one of Bangkok's most popular fast food outlets may feel a world away from…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter