Butter Made From Air Tastes Like Real Dairy
Foodtech startup makes butter using CO2 and water.
Starting the morning with a cup of coffee and toast or rolls slathered with creamy delicious butter is the morning routine for many people. But now, butter doesn’t have to come from a cow, or even a plant. A California startup has developed a groundbreaking better alternative that comes from air.
This new innovative butter substitute from the San Jose food startup Savor uses a thermochemical process which is free from the environmental impact of dairy farming, according to ZME Science. The process captures carbon dioxide from the air and combines it with hydrogen and oxygen.
The fats that are created are identical on a molecular level to those found in real butter and it actually tastes like the real thing. So much so that one bakery in Berkeley, California has been using it in the baking of croissants.
Endorsed by Bill Gates
The startup that was founded by a team of businesspeople and entrepreneurs received funding from philanthropist Bill Gates who is very enthusiastic about the promise of the product and the new technology.
“They started with the fact that all fats are made of varying chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms,” Gates wrote in his GatesNotes blog. “Then they set out to make those same carbon and hydrogen chains – without involving animals or plants. They ultimately developed a process that involves taking carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water, heating them up, and oxidizing them to trigger the separation of fatty acids and then the formulation of fat.”
The reason for creating animal fat alternatives is noticeably clear. Livestock is responsible for 14.5 percent of all global emissions and animal fat alternatives use palm oil that contributes to deforestation, reported New Atlas. But will people endorse the use of a butter made from carbon dioxide even with the endorsement of Bill Gates?
“The process doesn’t release any greenhouse gases, and it uses no farmland and less than a thousandth of the water that traditional agriculture does,” Gates said in his blog. "And most important, it tastes really good – like the real thing, because chemically it is.”
Already a Demand for Savor’s Faux Butter
Right now, the butter alternative is only available to a few partners but there are plans for a wider distribution, according to ZME Science. There are several restaurants and bakeries that have expressed an interest in using the faux butter.
Despite having great promise, there are challenges in scaling production and getting regulatory approvals. Savor’s research was published in the journal Nature Sustainability in November 2023, but there are other hurdles to meeting the requirements.
Another issue is whether consumers will accept lab-made food. This is a technology still in its infancy that consumers will need to be educated to the benefits before it becomes widely accepted.
If successful, the company sees butter as only the first step, with milk, ice-cream, cheese, and even meat currently being developed, noted New Atlas. Savor’s products could redefine people’s relationship with food by its blending of science and sustainability.
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