Westgold Butter has come out on top of all butters sold in supermarkets after a blind tasting test conducted by Consumer New Zealand.
The secret was the grass-fed diet of cows raised on the pastures of one of the most beautiful and remote dairy-farming regions of the world.
A taste panel from Consumer New Zealand found Westgold butter to be complex, delicious, and buttery.
Westland Milk Products CEO Alex Turnbull said the results confirmed one of Westland’s best-kept secrets, and he wanted the world to know and help them share in the magic of grass-fed butter from the magical West Coast of New Zealand.
Given our location and the knowledge and skills of our butter team, we know we have a lot going for us, but this result still fills us with pride.
The simplicity of mixing only grass-fed fresh cream and salt gives Westgold butter a distinctive texture, while Westgold’s distinctive gold colour is a result of the more than 97 percent* grass-fed diet of the West Coast dairy cows cherished and looked after by partner farmers.
A centuries-old churning method built into the butter plant Westland commissioned in 2022 at Hokitika on the West Coast is used to process cream into butter. This is a slower processing method that results in a higher-quality product.
Another important ingredient in making butter as good as Westland's was the time spent perfecting the craft. Staff on the butter team have spent an average of 20,000 hours (about 10 years) producing butter.
Cream Senior Production Manager, Dean Robinson, has celebrated more than 30 years of service.
“Our butter team has more accumulated knowledge than any other team at Westland and, potentially, more knowledge than any other butter producers in the country,'' said Robinson.
"After making butter for so many years, everyone working in the factory has the eye for it and just knows when it is right. Our butter churners all have their own characteristics. Our staff have been able to use the instinct that comes from extensive experience.”
New employees are trained by those with the most experience to ensure everyone benefits from the team’s knowledge.
Sales of Westgold butter are booming, growing around 40 percent over the past four years in New Zealand.
*Sourced from data collected during the 2024/25 season.
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