While working on a farm in the wilds of Sweden, Grant Harrington discovered how to create gold – a creamy, yellow cultured butter with a taste that puts a smile on your face. He knew then it was his destiny to spread the word (and the butter) back in the UK

INTERVIEW SUSAN LOW PHOTOGRAPHS DAVID CHARBIT

Delicious. 2017 PRODUCE AWARDS WINNER

Guernsey cows supply rich, creamy milk

WHAT OUR FINAL JUDGING PANEL SAID

“The deep, rich, gold colour is visually appealing and it’s so smooth, rich and creamy. The flavour is moving towards cheesy in a way that I can only describe as mind-expanding!”

Butter-maker Grant Harrington is a happy man. It’s not just that he’s pleased with his Produce Award (which he describes as “awesome”); or that chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants clamour to get their hands on his wares; or that he’s being lauded for re-introducing traditionally made cultured butter. He generally wears a big grin because he knows that what he creates is so well received.

“As long as it makes people happy, I’m happy,” he tells me as we stand, surrounded by a herd of 250 Guernsey cows, in a barn at Bickfield Farm. This 340-acre third-generation, family-run dairy farm in the Chew Valley south of Bristol is one of the two dairy farms that produces the cream Grant uses to make his butter. Cream from Guernsey and Jersey cows has a higher fat content. These breeds produce less milk and cream but it’s richer – and that, says Grant, is one of the factors that sets his butter apart.

As the cows ruminate and eye us curiously, Grant explains his career path (‘buttermaker’ isn’t often found on the list of job options). He started out as a chef working under Gordon Ramsay at Maze restaurant in London where, he says diplomatically, he “learned a good work ethic” – but eventually he wanted something different. A fellow commis chef from Sweden told him about Fäviken, an ingredients-focused restaurant way out in the wilds of central Sweden, run by a maverick chef called Magnus Nilsson.