You may not think an entire book could be written about butter or that you'd be likely to grab it off a bookshelf. Think again. Elaine Khosrova has mined the rich history, cultural, culinary, scientific, and even spiritual aspects of butter, debunking the myths that margarine is better for you.

"Butter: A Rich History" is filled with intriguing facts and stories through the ages and around the world, fun butter facts, and an appendix on how to say butter in 50 languages, as well as flavorful recipes from sauces to cookies and cakes to instructions for making your own butter.

A former pastry chef, Khosrova holds a BS in food and nutrition. She is the winner of a Gold Folio Award (for editorial excellence) and is founding editor of "culture," a national consumer magazine about cheese. She lives with her family in New York's Hudson Valley.

Khosrova shared her love for and extensive knowledge about butter in the following Day interview.

Q. You say in the book that butter is taken for granted — people have no idea how many subtle flavors there are. Why is that?

A. People take butter for granted because it's so common and available. It's a staple. And most of us tend to choose the same butter brand whenever we buy it, so we don't get to compare the subtle and significant differences that can exist between butters.

Q. Now that we know all butter is not the same, do you think we'll start having butter tastings, the way oyster tastings, for example, have become so popular?

A. Yes, I think butter tastings are already beginning to be a "thing." This past summer, I organized a butter tasting at the American Cheese Society Convention, and it was a big hit. Even that dairy-savvy audience was surprised and intrigued by the variety: goat butter, sheep butter, whey butter, and several cultured and sweet cow butters. Between the variety in the market and the potential for making your own butter easily, I foresee butter tastings becoming more popular — especially for food enthusiasts.

Q. What was your intent in writing this book? No one has ever written a book about butter in as much depth as this one, have they?

A. My intent in writing the book was partly to reveal how extraordinary a common food can be. To marvel about something we thought was ho-hum is, after all, a pretty good feeling. The poet Mary Oliver was quoted giving three instructions for living: "Pay attention. Be astonished. Go tell about it." That's a pretty good way of describing how this book came to be. Once I paid attention to butter, the research fell into place.

Q. What are some of your own butter memories as a child?

A. Butter was ever present in my childhood. My mother was from Scotland and so we never had a shortage of tea and toast — with lots of butter. It was essentially the only seasoning in my mother's plain cooking: Butter in mashed potatoes, on vegetables, with noodles. She also made plenty of buttery shortbread.

Q. Did you realize when you started the book that there were so many aspects of butter or that it had such a fascinating history?

A. I had a sense that butter had a long history, but it wasn't until I was drilling down to create an outline for my book proposal that I began to understand that butter's narrative is really epic. It has had a role in technology, politics, economics, nutrition, gastronomy — even the arts and religion. I uncovered so many interesting details that my original proposal of six chapters grew to 10.

Q. Butter has gotten a bad rap with the "healthy," low-fat eating craze that didn't turn out to be so healthy with all the chemicals in margarine and fake butter substitutes. Are people coming around to realizing it's much better to eat the real thing?

A. Yes, tragically, butter has gotten a bad rap from the nutrition establishment for more than 50 years. My sense is that many people, especially young people, are enthusiastically coming back to butter, trusting it more than the synthetic fats that line the shelves, especially as new science keeps emerging that challenges the old anti-fat science. But there are many in the baby boomer generation, who grew up with the constant anti-saturated fat/cholesterol message and may never be able to bring themselves to enjoy any amount of butter.

Q. Did you learn anything you didn't know about butter in your research that was particularly surprising?

A. There were so many surprises! For instance, how butter was used by many ancient cultures in their sacred rituals and, likewise, how butter-making was once surrounded by many superstitions (witches could steal your "butter luck"!). There were also plenty of surprises in my travels, such as trying traditional butter churning in India that uses a unique system of ropes and seeing 1,000-year–old bog butter in Ireland.

Q. Was it fun to travel the world discovering the many unusual ways butter is made?

A. My travels were fascinating. Hiking up 13,000 feet to camp among the yak herders in Bhutan and participate in their ancient method of butter making; visiting France's butter markets and India's ghee shops; interviewing the "Butter Viking" in England who makes things like Butter Mayo, Dew Drop Butter, and gender butters — one batch cultured with female bacteria and one with male bacteria! I also had a lot of interesting trips in the U.S., including a week watching and documenting the carving of the butter cow for the Iowa State Fair.

Q. What makes a "great" butter?

A. What constitutes a "great" butter is very subjective when it comes to flavor, but I believe that most people love a uniformly cohesive, velvety texture with no hint of greasiness. That's the gold standard.

Q. How did you decide which recipes to include in the book?

A. The recipes I chose, butter's "Greatest Hits," were ones that depend on butter for their authentic deliciousness and character. Croissants, a pound cake, French sauces, for example. These foods can, of course, be made with margarine or oil, but it would be an imitation of the original recipe. The collection is also geared to be familiar to my audience — North Americans and Europeans — for whom these butter classics are beloved. If I were writing to North Africans or Indians, who also have a butter-rich culture, the recipes would be quite different.

Kick-starting a butterscotch comeback

Elaine Khosrova believes we're way overdue for a butterscotch revival, citing that before caramel — the darling of today's confectioners and pastry pros — butterscotch goodies were the big deal, not just as the classic hard candies, but also in butterscotch puddings, custard pies, ice cream, and sauces. Instead of caramel and toffee's distinct burnt sugar flavor, butterscotch has a lush honeyed butteriness (not the sickly sweet flavor of those artificial chips everyone now associates with it). Here's a classic recipe to kick-start the butterscotch comeback.

Butterscotch Pudding

Makes 6 servings, about ½ cup each

1¾ cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup cornstarch

3 large egg yolks

½ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a pitcher, combine the milk, cream, cornstarch, egg yolks, and salt. Whisk until combined and set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the sugar and reduce heat to low. Stirring frequently, let the mixture cook for about 2 minutes.

Gradually whisk the milk mixture into sugar mixture in a thin steady stream. Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until it begins to bubble and thicken. Let it cook for another minute, then remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and divide among glasses or pudding cups. Cool until warm, then cover the glasses with plastic wrap (keep the plastic from touching the surface of the butterscotch) and chill in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours, until set.

By the book

What: "Butter: A Rich History" by Elaine Khosrova

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Cost: $25.95, hardcover

Talk and booksigning: 7 p.m. Thursday at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 786 Boston Post Rd., Madison. The event is free, but registration is required rjjulia.com or (203) 245-3959. This is Khosrova's only Connecticut appearance on her book tour.