Butter is beautiful: solid golden bars add the perfect flakiness to pastry, give cake a delightfully tender springiness, and melt mouth-wateringly onto toast. But unlike its cousin, cheese\u2014another concentrated, solidified form of milk\u2014we don\u2019t tend to think of butter as something that\u2019s available in hundreds of varieties, each with a different flavor, color, and texture. Nor do we necessarily consider a dairymaid costume to be a uniform of women\u2019s empowerment. But we should. This episode, we explore the science behind butter\u2019s subtle variations, as well as its long history as a vehicle for both ritual worship and female entrepreneurship around the world.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices