Welcome, everyone, to Midday magazine for this December 19th, 2023.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here.
At 3.30, we're going to welcome in our friend Ben Eberlein,
community engagement director with the United Way of South Wooden Ends counties.
Right now, joining us on the phone lines, Ashley Hagenau,
Allison Dairyland's own, Ashley, good to have you with us again.
Good morning, great to chat today, and especially about Wisconsin Butter,
Wisconsin Dairy, leading up to the holidays.
Yeah, that is our main topic today. We are talking butter, and man,
I'm looking forward to this conversation, Ashley.
There's so many different, it's so much fun, butter is so versatile.
It's such a part of our baking and our cooking.
There's a lot of different places we can start.
If you don't mind, I think let's start here, like here in Wisconsin.
We are known as America's Dairyland, but what about Wisconsin's butter production?
I don't think we've really ever discussed that.
When it comes to Wisconsin butter, there are so many fun facts to share truly
about how butter contributes to the state of Wisconsin,
but starting with what butter is made out of.
It's really just too simple ingredients.
It comes down to cream and salt.
And hearing Wisconsin our dairy cows definitely work hard
to make sure that we have plenty of high quality milk
that ends up as cream to keep Wisconsin's 13 butter processing plants
very busy, which makes Wisconsin one of the top two butter producing states
across the entire country.
Now, speaking of national butter consumption,
much of the butter that we have here in Wisconsin or across the nation
finds its way to grocery store shelves and the average American
consumes around six and a half pounds of butter per year,
although I think Wisconsin definitely ups that average when it comes to butter
consumption and with butter, it contributes to Wisconsin's dairy industry.
We have a $45.6 billion dairy industry here in Wisconsin
and butter and other dairy products help to support Wisconsin's dairy farmers
and their families.
Some really interesting stats right there, Ashley.
I don't think many of us know that Wisconsin was just one of two
major states producing this much butter.
That's fascinating.
And the 95% of dairy farms are family owned.
Whatever it might mean to people out there, I know that I hear something like that
and that just brings a warmth to my heart.
That's really cool to hear.
Yeah, I agree in dairy farming and agriculture in general,
it's really a family affair.
And another, I think, fascinating, amazing stat is that we have about
6,000 dairy farms here in Wisconsin.
And as you mentioned, James, 95% of those are family owned.
We have more dairy farms than any other state in the country,
many of them led by families.
And I think that is such a cool fact to share and really just showcases the amazing
culture that is in agriculture when it comes to family owned farms and oftentimes
multiple generations working together to produce high quality dairy products
and other Wisconsin agricultural products.
Yeah, I've had the pleasure and I'm sure you have two in this position,
Ashley, to talk to many of these farmers and many of their families.
And the passion and the love that they have for what they do is unparalleled.
Oh, exactly right.
I mean, I love just having the chance to meet farmers across Wisconsin while serving as Alice.
And even the forehand growing up within the industry of agriculture and having so many
friends and families who are actively engaged in farming, they have amazing stories.
They work so hard each and every day to produce those high quality products for all of us to enjoy.
And there's amazing stories to tell when it comes to farming and agriculture.
Ashley, how are you using Wisconsin butter this year?
One really fun and unique way I am using Wisconsin butter is with compound butter.
So compound butter is a super unique recipe that uses butter,
herbs, cheese, maybe some fruity flavors depending on your preferences for flavor profiles.
There are so many different flavors to choose from when it comes to compound butter
and many unique flavors as well.
You can combine dill and citrus, pear and blue cheese or other flavors
depending on what you or your family or friends or your loved ones enjoy eating.
A really fun recipe I am highlighting is a little bit spicy, a little bit tart, sweet and buttery
is cranberry chipotle cheddar butter.
So now this recipe, it uses softened Wisconsin butter, car valley cranberry chipotle cheddar cheese
or really any brand of Wisconsin cranberry cheddar cheese.
You also add in some dried cranberries, honey, a little bit of chili powder,
some salt and pepper to taste.
And then you can serve this compound butter in so many different ways.
You can use it with warm dinner rolls or cornbread.
You can maybe add this butter on top of some green beans during the holidays
or with some potato dishes.
I think it would be really delicious in so many different ways.
And the possibilities are really endless when it comes to ways to use Wisconsin butter
especially compound butter recipes.
Yeah, I think you gave people some good ideas there
or one of the other things about some of the stuff you offered is the versatility with them.
I think that's something that people can kind of have some fun be creative with
and do some of maybe their own things with as well.
That's fun.
It is.
And another way too you might have seen compound butter is like on top of
say steak or seafood, especially around the holidays.
That's when you have some different herbs and a more savory flavor that comes into play.
But like we talked about butter and especially compound butter is so versatile
and there's so many unique flavor combinations to try out
that you can use with many different food products and at any time of year.
So Ashley, what is the best way to buy Wisconsin this holiday season?
If you're looking for ways to support Wisconsin's dairy industry,
especially around the holidays, be on the lookout for the proudly Wisconsin dairy badge
or the number 55 on dairy products packaging, especially when it comes to
cheese and butter and milk around the holidays.
This badge or the number 55 ensures that you are purchasing genuine Wisconsin dairy products.
And when you purchase products from Wisconsin, you are helping to support local economies
and also Wisconsin's farmers and small business owners as well as our dairy processors.
So again, be on the lookout for that proudly Wisconsin dairy badge
or the number 55 on dairy product packaging to purchase those delicious and genuine Wisconsin
dairy products.
If you are looking for recipe inspirations too, whether it's using Wisconsin butter,
Wisconsin cheese or other Wisconsin dairy products, an amazing resource is Wisconsin
cheese dot com slash butter or just Wisconsin cheese dot com in general.
There are hundreds and I mean hundreds of recipes that showcase ways to use Wisconsin dairy.
I've gathered some great inspiration already going into the holidays for ways to use Wisconsin
dairy products and there are so many fun and unique recipes to try for the whole family.
So again, visit Wisconsin cheese dot com slash butter for really fun recipes to try as well.
We're speaking with Ashley Haginau, Alison Darryl and so on to 76th Alison Darryl and
Ashley, I thought it might be fun to kind of go over some, you know, additional facts,
some other information when it comes to our friend butter.
I love it, our friend butter, because it is a good friend.
It is, it is, it's a very good friend.
So one fact, oh, I never were fast.
Yeah, you go right ahead, go ahead ahead. What do you got?
So one fact about butter, we talked about ingredients as cream and salt that can be found in
butter and another fun fact about what butter is made of and what it needs to contain in order
to be real butter is that real Wisconsin butter must contain at least 80% milk fat.
So milk fat is highly sought after from milk in dairy cows and some breeds of dairy cows
such as gurnsies, brown swiss or jerseys are known for having a higher milk fat or butter fat
content, which in turn their milk is oftentimes used even more so to make real butter and real
cheese. So that's a fun fact to get us started is that real butter must contain at least 80% milk fat.
Interesting. And again, I don't think common knowledge.
What about freezing our butter, putting in the fridge, that kind of thing?
This is something I've learned more recently actually is how you can freeze butter in the most
effective way to help it last longer and ways to store butter in the freezer. So say right now
during the holidays, you might be stocking up on butter as you might be using a lot during the
holidays, but there's also a lot of great deals on butter this time of year. So if you want to
stock up on butter this time of year, you can go ahead and freeze that butter to help it last for
sometimes almost a year after you have purchased it. So if you are looking to freeze some butter,
make sure you keep that butter in its original packaging and then put that butter inside a
receivable freezer bag. If you have purchased salted butter, that will oftentimes last for 12
months in the freezer. If you freeze salted butter and for unsalted butter, that will stay in the
freezer for about four months very well. So that's a fun fact is that you can freeze butter.
There are a few differences when it's salted butter versus unsalted butter. How long that butter
will last and stay fresh in the freezer. But that will allow many of us maybe to stock up on butter
this holiday season. And then we can continue to enjoy Wisconsin butter for months and months to come
well after the holiday season. Well, I hope people are writing a lot of this stuff down actually
because there's a lot of good information here and I don't think a lot of this stuff I didn't know.
I have to ask so much of this I imagine that you come across in your travels and everything.
Have you just been learning just tons and tons when it comes to the dairy and butter and all of these
things? I have been learning so much. Oh my goodness. When I am looking for facts and figures about
Wisconsin cheese, Wisconsin butter and Wisconsin dairy kind of like what we're sharing here today,
I definitely visit Wisconsin cheese.com. That is the incredible online resource through dairy farmers
of Wisconsin, which is Wisconsin's dairy checkoff organization which helps to support dairy farmers
and drive demand for dairy products. And also it is a long time program partner of Alice in
Darryland dairy farmers of Wisconsin is. And a lot of other ways I am able to gain more knowledge
about the dairy industry during Wisconsin is in meeting with farmers across our state and meeting
with processors who make our cheese and our butter. You can learn so much from the individuals
in the dairy industry who live this each and every day. And I certainly take some of those fun facts
with me from conversations and love the chance to share those facts and then also share those stories.
Yeah man you're doing a great job of it too. I'm curious about the sales of butter. When are the
high times for sales of butter? The sales for butter increase pretty dramatically going into
November and December. And this trend is pretty consistent each year because around the holidays
many of us are purchasing butter to use in cooking and baking recipes that we are excited to share
with family and friends and loved ones around the holidays. So around November and December
each year butter sales increase over 30 percent 30 percent for both months for November and December
and it just goes to show how much we enjoy using butter in holiday cooking and baking recipes
and in increasing butter sales especially close to the holidays. That certainly helps to continue
supporting the dairy industry during Wisconsin and Wisconsin farmers and small businesses.
Fascinating. So just by buying the best butter around we can help our ag industry.
That sounds like a good deal. That sounds pretty cool. You really you really are and whether it's butter
or cheese or cranberries or fruits or vegetables there are so many Wisconsin commodities that
Wisconsin is well known for and when you purchase those products at a grocery store or a local
retailer you are truly helping to support farmers and the people behind these products. So it's
really a win-win because then we all get to enjoy these delicious products especially around the
holidays with loved ones and we're also supporting the local economy and farmers in the process.
Ashley I'm curious how much how much butter are we have did we buy like in 2022 just I'm sure we
can have the 23 stats yet but how about 2022? Of course in 2022 alone we purchase around 19
million pounds of butter. That is how much butter Wisconsinite purchased is right around 19
million pounds of butter in 2022. So going back to the averages we shared earlier Americans
consuming right around six and a half pounds of butter. I think Wisconsinite we might consume just
a little bit more when it comes to Wisconsin butter and supporting the dairy industry here in our state.
Yeah yeah I think so. I think we might even be able to get those numbers a little higher
when it comes there. I think so too. What about nationally? How about nationally?
Nationally those numbers are similar as well as we are consuming millions and millions of pounds
of butter across the United States and it really just goes to show how strong of a dairy industry
we have not only here in Wisconsin but also nationally as well and just tell many consumers across
the country value butter consumption and going back to those butter sales nationally it is right
around 800 million pounds of butter. So again here in Wisconsin we're consuming around 19 million
pounds of butter buying and purchasing that each year on average that was the data for 2022
and nationally we are increasing that quite a bit because we're taking into account all of the
butter sales and consumption from around the country and that is right at around over 800 million
pounds of butter that was sold nationally in 2022. Incredible and it's one of those products that we
don't I don't think we spend a whole lot of time on I think that some of that has been proven in
our conversation with some of the stats and numbers that you've given us but boy does it give and
it's such an integral part of our day-to-day lives so much of what we cook we make we bake with.
Oh exactly right when I think of ways that I use butter as you know growing up and more recently
you can use butter we almost use butter every single day and maybe don't even realize it I know
I sure don't because you might think of using butter with breakfast maybe you put it on your
morning toast or you put your eggs with it or use it again sometime in the morning and then
for lunch you might use it to butter your sandwich bread if you're enjoying a sandwich and then at
night like one way that I really like using butter is if I make spaghetti or some type of pasta I think
butter just adds a really delicious and rich creamy flavor to a pasta dish so that right away is
an example of how you might use butter at certain at certain points throughout your day and then
especially around the holidays when we think of all of the cooking and baking that we are doing
and we're experimenting maybe with some fun new recipes to use Wisconsin dairy products like butter
that just blows it through the root how much butter we use especially around this time of year
but we really use it in so many different ways and I think it's so fun to kind of reflect and think
wow we use Wisconsin dairy products like butter all throughout our days and it all goes back to
them being able to support the dairy industry hearing Wisconsin and our hardworking dairy farmers
Ashley as we're getting close to wrapping up here what about Wisconsin sales of butter
Wisconsin sales of butter so per capita butter sales in Wisconsin and we're looking again at data
from 2022 was about 3.3 pounds of butter per person and when we talk about maybe upping the
average when it comes to butter consumption and butter sales we definitely do that as nationally
the national average for per capita butter sales per person is right around 2.5 pounds per person
so we almost increase that to a full pound to have here in Wisconsin per capita butter sales
right around 3.3 pounds per person so we do consume quite a bit more butter compared to other states
across the country and I think that just goes to show how much we value our dairy products
here in Wisconsin and also value supporting our dairy farmers and the local economy
oh well said yes very very true and oh boy there's just nothing better than Wisconsin butter
you know it's understandable how much of it we eat here
there really is nothing better and like I said it butter especially when it comes to cooking and
baking it adds incredible richness and texture and moisture to recipes that you might be
trying out during the holidays or that you might have made for years and years over generations
even because I know a lot of us tend to have really fun traditions with family and friends around
the holidays and butter is really one of those magical ingredients that adds to holiday celebrations
add to recipes and meals that you might enjoy any time of year and what I love about food in general
when it comes to enjoying meals and cooking and baking is that it really brings people together
there is no better way in my opinion to connect with loved ones than over a delicious meal or over
delicious food that many of us are likely going to be enjoying during the holidays and butter
definitely plays an important part in allowing us to connect with everyone anytime of year
you know I don't think there's anything that brings people together like food I think that's a
great point Ashley that's a great point we just got a couple minutes left Ashley and as we're
wrapping up we we're not the only ones wrapping up you're getting close to wrapping up your run
here how are you enjoying the process how are these last couple of months feeling for you
I am really excited for what is to come in the next six months or so serving as the 76th
Alice in Dairyland and at this midway point of my journey there's been a lot of reflection and
really just taking the time to appreciate all of the incredible experiences that I've had so far
serving as the 76th Alice in Dairyland and I'm just so thankful to the state of Wisconsin
for offering so many incredible opportunities to promote Wisconsin agriculture and also to
meet the people who make Wisconsin agriculture truly so special and going into the next half of
my journey a really big area of the Alice in Dairyland experience that we are currently
preparing for is the search for the next Alice in Dairyland the 77th Alice in Dairyland so already
in the first part of January January 2nd is when applications become available for the 77th
Alice in Dairyland that will be made available on the Alice in Dairyland website and then we welcome
our next group of top candidates who will be buying for the role of the 77th Alice in Dairyland
and this all leads up to the Alice in Dairyland finals taking place in Door County in May of 2024
which is honestly right around the corner it's hard to believe but that is one big area we are
preparing for and as we go into the next phase of this journey as I'm serving as Alice in Dairyland
I'm so excited to continue promoting Wisconsin agricultural products I look forward to getting into
more classrooms sharing more about Wisconsin agriculture attending quite a few conventions and
conferences focused on different Wisconsin agricultural topics and commodities going into 2024
and all the while being able to make amazing connections with farmers and processors and local
businesses hearing Wisconsin while really just taking in all that this experience has to offer
actually if if somebody out there is listening and they're thinking oh my you know I know
somebody who will make a good you know Alice in Dairyland or they themselves are thinking of it
what would you suggest it would to people what would make who would make a great Alice in Dairyland
what what does a person have to have to do you think to be able to do this job
in reflecting on my experiences maybe making that decision to apply for the role of Alice in Dairyland
and just what I really was looking for within myself when making this decision to apply for Alice in Dairyland
is someone who just love agriculture and I know there are so many of us in Wisconsin who love
the industry of agriculture and who love the people who make agriculture possible and also for
this role it's really just having an open mind and being so curious to what happens in Wisconsin
agriculture how our food is produced all of the amazing commodities and products that are made
right here in the state of Wisconsin and having that open mind to new experiences when it comes to
traveling across Wisconsin or Wisconsin agriculture so those would be two things that immediately stand
out to me is having that love and that passion and that excitement for Wisconsin agriculture
and always having a curious mind and an open mind when it comes to learning more about our state
and about agriculture in general those are all really really good notes there Ashley you know I
don't know the 77th is going to have some big shoes to fill tell you that you're doing an amazing
job we really do appreciate you. If people want to find out more where's the website we can send
them to. If you would like to learn more about Alice in Dairyland in general some of our program
history what we are currently up to and as we touched on the Alice in Dairyland final we have a
whole portion of our website dedicated to information for the upcoming Alice in Dairyland finals
that can all be found on Alice in Dairyland dot com we have our website dedicated to all things
Alice in Dairyland and Wisconsin agriculture so we would love for you to check us out online
and also reach out as our website has a form to request Alice if you have an upcoming event that
you would like Alice in Dairyland to be a part of we would love the chance to connect with you
and visit you to promote Wisconsin agriculture. Always good talking with you Ashley I wish
in you and yours a very Merry Christmas a happy new year we're looking forward to talking again
real soon. Thank you you as well happy holidays always a pleasure to connect thank you especially
for your help in promoting Wisconsin Butter and Wisconsin Dairy especially when it comes to the
holiday season and I am so excited to connect in the upcoming new year continuing to highlight all
of Wisconsin agriculture so thank you. Looking forward to you take care. Thank you so much have a great
day. Will a more midday magazine coming up for you right here on WFHR locally grown radio.
