How did a cutting board spread with butter become the must-try viral recipe?

While the skyrocketing price of butter is generating headlines, butter is also making the rounds on social in a massive way through a recipe that requires using the dairy product in large quantities.

And paradoxically, this trick that riffs on the famous charcuterie board trend by replacing deli meats with butter has become a large-scale phenomenon, as evidenced by a hashtag with more than 235 million views.

Alongside meat, pasta and cooking oil, it’s one of the food products with some of the highest rates of inflation. In the United States, butter has not been this expensive since 2017, exploding by nearly 25% over the past 12 months, as of the end of August, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In the UK, the price of butter is so staggering that consumers are sharing their dismay on social media, with photos of the price tickets in stores, while others are explaining how to make their own homemade butter, in an attempt to save money.

ALSO READ: Recipe of the day: Three refreshing drinks to beat the heat

Despite this, the recipe of the moment on social media happens to be based on a large amount of butter, generating hundreds of million views on social networks and inspiring endless variations with their own videos.

It all started on Tik Tok, about two weeks ago, when a content creator who supplies her community of two million followers with various recipes, presented a new way to use a cutting board for a convivial snack.

Gone are the slices of sausage and mortadella in a board of cold cuts, served with a vegetable platter. TikToker Justine Doiron, known as Justine Snacks on the Chinese social network, spreads softened butter on the wood a bit like icing a cake.

After sprinkling the butter with fleur de sel (salt), the cook grates lemon zest, adds thin strips of red onion and adds a touch of honey.

@justine_snacks

I like this one idk I’m in a silly goofy butter mood

♬ original sound – speed songs

The ensemble is seasoned with fresh herbs, while the influencer adds purple edible flowers as a final touch to make the concoction even more visually appealing.

The creation is consumed by sweeping a piece of bread across it in order to pick up a good selection of all the ingredients in one bite, to catch as many ingredients as possible in one bite, as one would scoop up hummus on a cracker.

Of course, we must give credit where credit is due.

The influencer says in her video that she is reinterpreting in her own way a recipe by the chef Joshua McFadden, a superstar of the American food scene, who mentions the concept in his book “Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables,” co-authored with Martha Holmberg and published in 2017, which focuses on how to prepare vegetables to be eaten raw, grilled or in marinated form.

The video for Justine Snacks’ recipe has been liked on TokTok over a million times. More importantly, it has inspired others and gained further traction through the hashtag #butterboard, which counts over 235 million views.

Nuts, fresh fruit, raw or cooked vegetables, sauces… Everyone has made this ultra-easy recipe their own by adding their favourite elements and that’s what makes it so popular.

The board spread with butter can be served with both sweet and savory dishes. Both adults and children can help themselves, while the recipe can be adapted to various different international culinary cultures.

There are even some no-butter boards out there with vegans adapting it with vegetable spreads.

And of course, the aesthetic presentation isn’t to be ignored as many versions of the recipe take on the air of colorful and edible paintings; some TikTokers like to create flowers and draw other designs with their favourite ingredients.

NOW READ: Daily hacks: 3 ways to get creative in the kitchen when you don’t have power