Julia Altshuler wrote:
>
> While in the check-out line purchasing unsalted butter for holiday
> baking, I noticed the ingredients on the store brand: "Cream, natural
> flavorings. Contains milk." I realize that not all unknown natural
> flavorings are necessarily harmful, but I have to wonder what they're
> doing in butter. If butter doesn't taste like butter, there's something
> wrong, and if added flavorings are needed to make it taste like butter,
> there's something wronger. Anyone have the real scoop on what they're
> putting in there?

Butter suffers from a large seasonal variation
in flavor due to the forage available to the cattle.
It could be that they're trying to flatten out
this variation by adding flavors in controlled
amounts. When people become accustomed to a staple
item in their diet, they can be very intolerant
of variations in flavor. People who regularly
drink beer or smoke cigarettes, for example,
tend to stick to one brand, and expect a high
level of consistency from that brand.