Get to Know the Minnesota Legacy Of Hope Creamery Butter

There’s an old saying that says “they don’t make it like they used to”. And basically, that refers to the fact that technology has advanced in certain areas. The advancement was to improve the product's outcome or make the process of creating it easier.  

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Let’s take cars for instance, in some respects they are built better than they were fifty years ago, but they sure are harder to work on. Some people would say they don’t make them like they used to.  

When it comes to cooking, people use recipes that have been around for years. Passed down from generation to generation, with no improvement needed.  

There’s a small town in Minnesota that features a creamery that still does things the old-fashioned way. I’m talking about Hope Creamery Butter in Hope Minnesota.  

Hope Minnesota is a little more than two hours south of St. Cloud by taking I-35 North and I-94 West. There you’ll find Hope Creamery. 

Hope Creamery is in the same building that it started in back in 1920. The business was originally designed as a co-operative for local dairy farmers to get the assistance they needed. Raw Milk was bottled into cream to be used in butter. 

In 1960’s, the creamery updated the process when they eliminated bottling and added the equipment to make Hope Creamery Butter. The facility still uses a lot of the same equipment. 

In 2001, the creamery faced being closed but was purchased by Victor Mrotz who was a Steele County farmer and businessman. He saw the opportunity to continue the tradition of Hope Butter.  

The staff at Hope Creamery is a small but dedicated one. Only eleven employees make up the roster of people who are continuing a tradition that dates back over one hundred years. The process of making the butter has been carefully taught and passed down to the caring employees who understand what it means to make Hope Butter.  

They make three products; 

Hope Creamery Salted Butter- Great for recipes of all kinds or just on toast or crackers. 

Hope Creamery Unsalted Butter- Recommended for gravies, sauces and baking. 

Hope Creamery Hi-Fat Butter- Recommended for pie crusts, pasties and other baked goods.  

Hope Butter uses cream from local Minnesota dairies, which keeps the process home grown.  

Their website goes into deeper detail of the history of Hope Butter, offers a few recipes, lists which stores where you can find Hope Butter, and you can even buy some of their logoed swag (shirts and hats).  

If Minnesota had a taste, I think it’s safe to say that whatever that would be, it would be made with Hope Butter.