How to bring French butter back through customs.
French Butter is having a moment. Can you bring it home?
For years, Australians returning from France brought home Champagne. It was wedged into suitcases between shoes and emergency knitwear, then carried through customs with the strained expression of someone transporting a potential laundry disaster.
But Champagne now has competition. The latest French obsession is butter. French butter, particularly the Breton sort made by Maison Bordier, has acquired the sort of following usually associated with limited-edition handbags and restaurants whose booking systems open at 3am and are full by 3.01.
Brittany butter is the finest
In Brittany, butter is the principal guest. The cream is churned and carefully worked until the result is silky and slightly nutty. It tastes as though ordinary butter has been sent to Paris for several years and returned with strong opinions about your curtains.
Then there are the flavours.
Butter flavours from France
Seaweed butter brings the Breton coast to dinner. Yuzu is bright and citrusy. There is Roscoff onion, buckwheat and wild garlic with Kampot pepper. Vanilla butter exists for pancakes and brioche. Truffle butter is especially dangerous. Put it on scrambled eggs and they immediately begin behaving as though they attended boarding school.
The only difficulty is getting it home.
How to pack your butter for Australia
Paris to Australia is a journey of more than 24 hours, during which your butter must survive airport queues, a long-haul flight, a stopover in a terminal apparently heated for tropical orchids and the baggage carousel at Sydney.
The sensible approach is to buy the butter as close to departure as possible, chill it thoroughly and place it in a small insulated cooler bag with frozen gel packs. Keep each block in its original sealed wrapper, then add a watertight bag. Pack the cooler in the centre of your checked suitcase, surrounded by clothing for insulation and emotional support.
Dry ice may seem clever, but it comes with airline rules and generally requires prior approval, because aviation authorities become understandably alert when passengers announce they have packed smoking carbon dioxide beside their socks. Frozen gel packs are less theatrical, though travellers should still check their airline’s baggage requirements before departure.
Ensure you declare your French butter
Once in Australia, the butter must be declared. Commercially produced, unopened dairy from an approved country may generally enter for personal use, subject to quantity limits and inspection. The final decision belongs to biosecurity officers.
Champagne will always have glamour. It pops and sparkles. But French butter has one decisive advantage, it improves breakfast.
And unlike Champagne, it is perfectly acceptable to consume it before nine in the morning.
