◆ In House

La Colmena

Cultured Honey Butter

€15.90

Cultured butter folded with honey and vanilla, kept honest by sea salt so it stays a butter first and a sweet spread second.

Origin España

Producer Zales & Rego

Volume 120 g

Appearance

Pale gold, glossy, soft and spreadable

Aroma

Sweet butter cream, miel, vanilla, faint diacetyl from the cultured cream

Taste · Primary

Sweet butter, honey body

Taste · Secondary

Vanilla, sea-salt crystal, fresh cream

Texture

Lush, soft, spreadable, melts at body temperature

Finish

Long, sweet-cream-honey, with a salt-tinged close

FROM OUR TABLECuatro LunasOrganic Semi-Cured Manchego DOP

FROM OUR TABLELa pacienciaOrganic Cured Manchego DOP

A four-element compound butter built around the cultured-cream-and-honey axis. Cultured butter, the lactic ferments give the diacetyl complexity that uncultured cream butter lacks, is folded with miel, vanilla extract and sea salt.

The proportions are deliberate: the honey is meaningful but not dominant, the butter remains a butter, the cultured-cream lactic top-note is preserved as the lead. Vanilla extends the sweet register and harmonises with the honey's floral fraction; sea salt is the structural counterpoint that prevents the butter from sliding into pure sweetness.

The Producer

Zales & Rego - Alcorcón, Madrid

The line starts in a botica in Mondoñedo, Galicia, where remedies, conserves and spices once shared the same shelf. Alonzo Rego carried the trade to Cádiz in 1776, then across the Atlantic to Veracruz in 1795. In 1888, Don Ismael Rego y Salcedo gave the house its formal name. Seven generations later, Zales & Rego returns to the old world, composing and selecting from a workshop in Alcorcón, Madrid: compose, select, preserve the excellent.

Founded 1888

Generations Seven, documented in archive

Workshop Alcorcón, Madrid

Philosophy Compose. Select. Preserve the Excellent.

The Process

Cultured first. Honey second. Salt keeps it honest.

Cultured butter carries a diacetyl complexity uncultured butter doesn't have, and that stays the lead even after honey and vanilla go in. The proportions are deliberate: honey is meaningful but never dominant, vanilla extends the sweetness without taking over, and sea salt is the counterweight that keeps the whole thing from sliding into dessert territory.

Base Cultured butter

Sweetener Honey, 17%

Aromatic Vanilla extract

Balance Sea salt