Vegan Butter

Digoa

Digoa

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Apr 17, 2013
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Shetland Islands, Scotland
I've decided to try going vegan in a couple of months because the guilt's really getting to me and I'm doing some research at the moment to help persuade my mum it's a good idea, but the one thing I'm stuck on is butter. I've seen some recipes for vegan butter but they contain ingredients that I doubt I could get at my local supermarket as it's pretty small. Are there any good vegan butters that you can buy in most supermarkets in the UK that would be suitable for baking, because I've never seen any and I'm pretty limited by just what's in my local shop (only two supermarkets on the island). Also, are there any good alternatives just for using on bread?
 
That's great news!

Pure and vitalite are good for using on bread, both very easily available.

As far as vegan baking goes, look for vegan recipes rather than trying to veganise the ones you already know (it's a whole new chemistry). Most recipes will use oil instead of butter. Gotta say I find baking much easier since I stopped eating eggs and butter; it's a lot more straightforward!
 
Yep I was going to say what Yally said. You can substitute into recipes, so if you have old favourites you will be able to veganise them, but it takes some practice and using an already vegan recipe is much easier.

I like vitalite better than pure too. I know vitalite is sold in a small tescos near me, so hopefully you should be able to find some. If you can't you could ask if they could get some in, sometimes shops (especially independent ones) are happy to do that for you.

Both vitalite and pure are more like margarine than butter, but you can use margarine instead of butter in recipes. For fiddly pastries it might not be very good, but for cakes/biscuits/cookies/etc if works just fine.

You can also get vegetable shortening if you need a hard fat for cooking or baking with - I've only used it once or twice, in cake icing or in pastry, but it's useful to know.
 
Thanks, I'll see if I can find any of those suggestions next time I'm at the shop. If vegan spreads are more similar to margarine than butter does that mean they contain all the wierd chemicals that are in margarine?
 
Reading this thread makes me wish I could pack some Earth Balance in dry ice and send it to you. :)

I guess you'll just have to come to the States during your gap year and sample it for yourself. ;)
 
SummerRain said:
The ingredients for vitalite are here: http://www.vitalitedairyfree.co.uk/#/nutrition

I think the short answer is yes. Coconut oil is sometimes used as a healthier alternative I think http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=690&prodid=733 as it's pure coconut oil, but it's very expensive.

(ETA: The dog in your avatar pic is gorgeous!)
Click to expand...

The Vitalite website doesn't seem to be working at the moment, I'll try again later.

The dog in my avatar pic is an Old English Sheepdog. He's five months at the moment. There is also a chocolate lab in there but he's a bit hard to see because of his colour! I can only get good photos of him when it's sunny.
 
Digoa said:
The Vitalite website doesn't seem to be working at the moment, I'll try again later.

The dog in my avatar pic is an Old English Sheepdog. He's five months at the moment. There is also a chocolate lab in there but he's a bit hard to see because of his colour! I can only get good photos of him when it's sunny.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, there's a second hiding dog who is also very cute. :)

Oh okay, I can't copy and paste it but it;s about 40% oil, emulsifiers, preservatives, flavours, colours, etc. Doesn't scream out "wholesome" :p
 
I love vitalite :) but yes there are healthier more wholesome alternatives like coconut oil (which is not really like an oil as I think it's hard at room temperature).
 
Well **** I didn't even realise vitalite was so bad. As I don't have it very often I'm not top bothered.

Interested to try pure coconut oil as a kind of butter replacement though.
 
talking about real butter in recent years I am finding a different taste in that butter then years ago. However when I went to earth balance it tasted better then real butter.
 
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