Especially at barbecues and picnics, you’ll find herb butter to spread on a baguette. This does not change the fact that there are many suppliers for this product: we have come up with no fewer than nine brands.

You can also find garlic butter on supermarket shelves. the difference? Herb butter is usually butter flavored with garden herbs such as parsley, chives, and garlic, but also pepper and salt. Garlic butter may also contain horticultural herbs, but it has a much higher proportion of garlic.

Then there are also the cheaper herbal creams, with a little bit of butter and oil added to make them softer/spreadable.

The most famous herb butter is Café de Paris butter that melts on stir-fry steaks and consists of an astonishing array of herbs and spices: mustard, marjoram, dill, rosemary, tarragon, paprika, capers, chives, curry powder, parsley, and shallots. Garlic, Worcestershire sauce and anchovies! It was invented by Café de Paris – Chez Boubier in Geneva, Switzerland, where you can still buy butter.

Then the test. La Viré’s herbal butter (including Jumbo’s) did not appeal to colleagues. “Do I taste anise?” Milbona from Lidl (“not special, but not bad either”) and Melkan, also available at Dirk/Dekamarkt/Vomar (“single herb dominates”).

Taste of toppers came this week from Jumbo’s own brand, Campina, Beurre trèfle (Dirk/Dekamarkt), Albert Heijn and Milsani from Aldi.

1. Herb butter is sometimes confused with garlic butter, as garlic is missing – wrongly. It can’t be a coincidence that jumbo herb butter is #1 and contains a relatively large amount of garlic. “A little sour, a lot of garlic. It makes me happy.” 1.29 euros per 100 grams

2. Also happy faces after tasting Campina. “Perfect proportion of spice, you can take it overnight.” “Fine structure.” Some thought the butter was “a little sour”. €1.67 per 100g

3. Dan Beurre Trèfle for sale at Dirk / Dekamarkt, among others. “Nice hot and airy.” “Light, but delicious.” Another said: “It has no taste.” €0.95 per 100g

4. We find Albert Heijn in fourth place. “Mostly buttery, a little garlic,” wrote a colleague who may have been considering garlic butter. And another thought “yummy, but could use less salt”. 1.29 euros per 100 grams

5. Aldi Milsani’s dairy brand completes the top five. “A good balance between sweet and salty, and lots of spice.” “Lots of flavor.” 1.29 euros per 100 grams