Sol Canyon Kitchen Everyday Cultured Table Butter
Makes four 1-cup butter molds or eight traditional ½-cup butter sticks.
Cultured • Familiar • Dependable • Versatile
Slowly cultured for exceptional richness and a gentle tang, this is the everyday butter that quietly earns its place in your refrigerator—ready for warm sourdough toast, everyday cooking, simple baking, and all the small beautiful things that make a kitchen feel like home.
This recipe is 100% plant-based.
When the last of my treasured stash of Miyoko’s original Cultured Vegan Butter finally disappeared from the freezer, I felt a genuine sadness. For years it had been a staple in my kitchen and the butter I reached for without thinking—for toast, baking, vegetables, cardamom buns, and all the small everyday moments that good butter somehow makes better.
Sadly, nothing on the market tastes quite the same anymore. Most vegan butters today are little more than flavored oils or modern margarine. Even those that perform reasonably well in baking lack the cultured depth and richness that made Miyoko’s original butter so special. And perhaps most disappointing of all, few contain the cultured cashews that gave that butter its soul.
So rather than settle, I went back to the source.
I revisited Miyoko’s books, studied the ingredient label from the original commercial butter, and spent many happy hours experimenting in my own kitchen. Along the way, I discovered how her recipes evolved over the years—from the early cultured butters to the later baking formulas—and slowly began weaving those ideas together into a butter that captured everything I loved about the original while quietly becoming something uniquely my own.
This Everyday Cultured Table Butter is the result.
Made with cultured cashew milk, refined coconut oil, avocado oil, and sunflower lecithin, it captures the spirit of the original while using ingredients I feel even better about today. The cultured cashews bring the quiet tang and richness missing from most commercial vegan butters, while the carefully balanced oils create a butter that slices beautifully straight from the refrigerator, softens naturally on warm bread, and performs wonderfully in everyday cooking and baking.
I love it cold on freshly baked sourdough toast, melting slowly into every nook and cranny just as butter should. After many batches, thoughtful adjustments, side-by-side comparisons, and more than a few lessons along the way, I realized I wasn’t simply trying to recreate a butter I loved. I was learning what makes a cultured butter feel like butter in everyday life. The final recipe doesn’t simply capture the flavor I remembered—it behaves the way I remembered butter behaving—it slices cleanly, softens beautifully, and behaves like cultured butter should, from the knife to the toast, to the plate, to the pan. That was the moment I knew it had earned a permanent place in my kitchen.
I am deeply grateful to Miyoko Schinner for her generosity, her teaching, and the many years of inspiration she has given to home cooks everywhere. This recipe was inspired by her pioneering work and created with deep respect for what she brought to plant-based cooking.
This Everyday Cultured Table Butter has become the butter I reach for every day, and I hope it brings the same quiet satisfaction to your kitchen that it has brought to mine.
And because every kitchen is always learning, I look forward to creating a companion Sol Canyon Kitchen Cultured Baking Butter in the future. Until then, this is the butter I reach for every day—for warm toast, everyday cooking, simple baking, and all the Small Beautiful Things that make a kitchen feel like home.
INGREDIENTS
Cultured Cashew Milk
120 g raw cashews, soaked for 4–8 hours
204 g filtered water
⅛ tsp MinusMilk™ Mesophilic Culture (MSC Plus)
Butter
300 g refined coconut oil, softened until spoonable
42 g avocado oil
80 g cultured cashew milk
14 g liquid sunflower lecithin
4.5 g fine sea salt
METHOD
Step 1 — Prepare the Cashews
Place the raw cashews in a bowl and cover with boiling water.
Let stand for about 1 hour, then drain and rinse well. This quick soak softens the cashews and creates a cleaner starting point for culturing.
Step 2 — Blend the Cultured Milk
Blend until completely smooth:
120 g soaked raw cashews
204 g filtered water
Add:
⅛ tsp MinusMilk™ Mesophilic Culture (MSC Plus)
Blend briefly to combine.
Step 3 — Culture the Milk
Transfer the cultured milk to a clean glass jar, cover loosely, and place it in a warm location.
Allow the milk to culture until it develops a fresh, buttery tang without becoming sharply sour.
If using a pH meter, a target pH between 4.55 and 4.65 produces a beautifully balanced cultured flavor.
If you don’t have a pH meter, simply taste the milk. It should remind you of cultured buttermilk or plain yogurt—fresh, pleasantly tangy, and softly cultured.
Step 4 — Chill the Cultured Milk
Once the cultured milk reaches the flavor you enjoy, refrigerate until completely cold before making the butter.
Step 5 — Emulsify the Butter
Measure 80 g of the chilled cultured cashew milk into a tall container suitable for an immersion blender.
Add:
42 g avocado oil
11 g liquid sunflower lecithin
4.5 g fine sea salt
Blend until completely smooth.
Add:
About one-third of the softened refined coconut oil.
Blend until fully incorporated.
Repeat twice more, adding another portion of the remaining coconut oil and blending until fully incorporated after each addition.
Continue blending until the butter is silky smooth and fully emulsified.
As the butter emulsifies, you’ll notice it becoming lighter in color and creamier in appearance.
Even after it has fully emulsified, the butter will remain pourable, with a consistency similar to heavy cream.
That’s exactly what you’re looking for.
Step 6 — Mold & Chill
Pour the butter into butter molds or airtight containers.
Refrigerate until completely firm.
As it chills, the butter will naturally become firm, smooth, beautifully sliceable, and ready for everything from warm toast to everyday cooking.
Remove from the molds and store in the refrigerator for everyday use, or freeze extra butter for longer storage.
NOTES
Cultured Cashew Milk
The cultured cashew milk is one of the defining ingredients in this butter, providing much of its richness and characteristic cultured flavor.
Allow it to ferment until pleasantly tangy and buttery, but not sharply sour.
If using a pH meter, a target range of 4.55–4.65 consistently produced my favorite balance of flavor.
If you don’t have a pH meter, simply taste the milk. It should remind you of cultured buttermilk or plain yogurt—fresh, pleasantly tangy, and softly cultured.
If you don’t have MinusMilk™ Mesophilic Culture (MSC Plus), you can substitute 15 g (1 tablespoon) plain unsweetened vegan yogurt or the contents of 2 probiotic capsules. All three methods work well, although I consistently prefer MinusMilk™ for its buttery flavor and reliable results.
The Coconut Oil Secret
Refined coconut oil provides the structure of this butter without adding a noticeable coconut flavor.
One of the biggest discoveries during recipe development was that the coconut oil should be soft and easily spoonable, not fully melted.
When blended at this consistency, the butter emulsifies more easily and produces a smoother, creamier finished butter.
Emulsification
Liquid sunflower lecithin helps bind the cultured milk and oils into a smooth, stable emulsion.
An immersion blender consistently produced the best results throughout my testing.
As the butter emulsifies, it will become noticeably lighter in color while remaining pourable, much like heavy cream.
This is completely normal.
The butter does not need to thicken before chilling. As it cools, it naturally becomes firm, smooth, and beautifully sliceable.
Ingredient Temperatures
For the most reliable emulsion:
Use thoroughly chilled cultured cashew milk.
Use room-temperature avocado oil.
Use refined coconut oil that is soft and spoonable—not melted.
These three temperatures consistently produced the smoothest butter during testing.
INGREDIENTS & SOURCES
MinusMilk™ Mesophilic Culture (MSC Plus)
This culture provides the characteristic buttery, cultured flavor I was looking for throughout recipe development.
Butter Mold
I use a silicone mold with four 1-cup compartments. It creates beautiful butter sticks that freeze well and thaw easily.
Sunflower Lecithin
I use organic liquid sunflower lecithin.
Salt
I prefer 4.5 g of fine sea salt because it seasons the butter beautifully while allowing the cultured flavor to remain the star.
If you enjoy a more salted table butter, feel free to increase the salt slightly to suit your own taste.
Double Batch
This recipe doubles beautifully.
I often make a double batch and freeze the extra butter so there’s always cultured butter ready without waiting for another batch of cultured milk to ferment.
Storage
Store the butter in the refrigerator for everyday use.
Extra butter freezes beautifully.
Simply thaw a stick overnight in the refrigerator whenever you need it.
Baking
Although I call this my Everyday Cultured Table Butter, I use it throughout my baking as well.
It fills the same role that Miyoko’s original European Cultured Butter played in my kitchen for many years—from cookies and cakes to pie crusts, cardamom rolls, croissants, puff pastry, and all the small beautiful things that make a kitchen feel like home.
I’m also looking forward to sharing a companion Sol Canyon Kitchen Cultured Baking Butter, developed specifically for laminated doughs and pastries.
Until then, this is my all-purpose cultured butter—the one I reach for every day.
Troubleshooting
If, after chilling, the butter shows white streaks, pockets of coconut oil, or small brown flecks, the emulsion likely didn’t fully come together during blending.
This is more likely when using a standard blender or when the coconut oil was too warm.
Fortunately, it’s easy to fix.
Allow the butter to soften until spoonable, then blend again with an immersion blender until smooth and fully emulsified.
Return it to the molds and refrigerate until firm.
Why I Use Grams
This recipe was developed and tested entirely by weight.
Whole cashews vary considerably in size, making cup measurements surprisingly inconsistent.
Using a digital kitchen scale ensures every batch of cultured cashew milk—and every batch of butter—turns out exactly as intended.
The ratios in this recipe were earned through many rounds of testing and are one of the keys to achieving the texture and cultured flavor I was looking for.
Inspiration
This recipe was inspired by Miyoko Schinner’s original European Cultured Butter and by the generosity with which she shared her knowledge over many years.
Her books, teaching, and original butter opened the door for countless home cooks—including me—to discover just how beautiful cultured plant-based butter could be.
I share this recipe with gratitude and full credit to Miyoko, whose work inspired my own journey toward creating the Sol Canyon Kitchen version.
A Final Thought
Making butter from scratch has always felt a little magical to me.
With just a handful of simple ingredients, a little patience, and the quiet work of a living culture, something ordinary becomes something truly special.
I hope this cultured butter finds a permanent place in your refrigerator, just as it has in mine—ready to spread on warm bread, enrich your favorite recipes, and remind you that some of the most satisfying things we make in the kitchen begin with curiosity, careful observation, and the willingness to keep learning.
For me, that’s exactly what Small Beautiful Things is all about.
Inspiration
This recipe was inspired by Miyoko Schinner’s original European Cultured Butter and by the generous spirit with which she shared her knowledge over many years.
Through her books, her teachings, and the original cultured butter that became such a beloved staple in my kitchen, I was able to follow the evolution of her recipes and continue that journey in my own way.
I share this recipe with gratitude and full credit to Miyoko, whose work helped countless home cooks discover that cultured plant-based butter could be every bit as beautiful and satisfying as the traditional versions many of us grew up with.
This is the kind of food that nourishes quietly.
It asks us to slow down,
to listen,
and to remember what is enough.