Ever wonder how better butter is made? As America’s oldest family-owned creamery, we have five generations of butter fanatics under our belts, so we know a thing or two about the butter-making biz and how better butter making works. It’s in our blood.

First, a little history….

The butter making experts

We make better butter because we’re better a making butter. It would be hard not to after 125 years!

The story of Minerva Dairy Inc. goes back to 1894, when Max P. Radloff established Radloff Cheese, in Hustiford, Wisconsin. By the early 1900s, Max had started expanding the business, opening a series of cheesemaking locations. In 1935, he launched Minerva Dairy, in Minerva, Ohio. The plant began producing bottled milk, ice cream, butter and cheese.

Fast forward to my personal favorite anecdote, the forbidden love story of Max’s grandchildren (third generation) Lorraine Mueller (Nee Radlof) and Delbert Mueller. Max’s granddaughter Lorraine met the love of her life, Delbert, in the 1930s. Both were born into families in the dairy industry who instilled in them a deep, deep love of butter. Their love for each other, however, was forbidden. Their families were direct competitors and it was rumored the Meuellers set fire to one of the Radloff’s facilities. That’s butter lovin’ crazy! Lorraine and Delbert got married anyway and ran off to butter paradise, also known as Minerva, OH.

Our history is a unique one, but shaped us into the butter experts we are today. Today, Minerva Dairy still produces an 85% batch-churned Amish butter, as well as a wide range of cheese that includes cheddar, Swiss, Italian, and kosher varieties. We are America’s oldest family-owned cheese and butter dairy, and we’ve been enjoying the good stuff with our families since 1894. So it’s safe to say we know our butter.

What makes Minerva butter better?

Our butter has no artificial anything. We are GMO-free, antibiotic-free, gluten-free, and free of the synthetic hormone rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin). Our farmers are committed to producing high-quality milk, which means no artificial hormones allowed. Our milk comes from local, American family-owned farms that pasture raise their cows. The cattle are allowed to graze in green, grassy pastures, resulting in healthier cows producing the highest-quality milk possible.

The 85% butterfat solution

Our customers always ask, “What makes it taste sooo good?” The reason our Minerva products are creamier, richer and more flavorful than other brands is because of their 85% butterfat content – a tradition we’ve carried on for 125 years.

We’ve been making our butter the same way since 1894. Our family began making butter using a small, 100-gallon wooden churn that could produce about 400 pounds of per batch. This small-batch, slow-churn butter originally was sold in bulk pieces of random sizes.

During World War II, when America initiated a food rationing policy that included 2-pound butter allotments, Minerva Dairy needed a more-consistent method for measuring its butter. Using the hand butter-rolling technique employed by the Amish at the time, we were able to form 2-pound rolls of butter to exact specifications.

Today, we still pack our 85% butterfat Amish butter in 2-pound rolls, and also in 8-ounce rolls and quarter sticks. And we still make our butter in small, slow-churn batches, using milk from pasture-raised cows on family farms. It’s a proud feeling being part of 5 generations of butter experts who always put quality first. After all, butter made better makes better butter.