News from Municipalities

October 25: celebrate Vologda Butter Day!

24.10.2025 14:09

Every region has its claim to fame, but there's none sweeter than Vologda's position as Russia's butter capital.

Vologda's history is also the story of many exceptional men and women. This is the case also with the Vologda butter trade that was built up from scratch and rapidly turned into a flourishing industry of huge dimensions, involving thousands of peasants, local and foreign merchants.

The date of the celebration was not chosen by chance. It was on this day that our countryman Nikolai Vereshchagin, the founder of the dairy business in Russia was born.

Nikolai Vereshchagin (1839-1907), the then most influential Russian dairy expert, is considered the founder of modern Russian dairy farming. He had a talent for organizing that enriched the Russian language with the notion of "Vologda Butter."

It was Mr. Vereshchagin who noticed that ordinary butter seemed sour, and set about to fix that. Experimenting, he tried separating sweet cream from milk twice during butter-making, rather than once as was the usual practice.

The result was a king among butters. It was fattier than the 70-percent-fat butter produced by one round of separation, and creamier as well. It had no odor, a delicious walnutty taste and utterly no aftertaste, thanks to its remarkable 16 to 18 Turner degrees of acidity. This was real Vologda butter.

Vologda butter has won deserved fame and world-wide recognition for its delicious taste and natural lightness.