# Why is shortbread so expensive?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** food-cooking
**Created:** [November 15, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401 "2021-11-15T16:29:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/81 "2021-11-23T23:06:35Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> I know a pastry chef who recommended adding a few tablespoons of custard powder to shortbread. She said it made it taste “luxurious”.
I will have to try this.
What’s everybody’s take on butter? Cultured? Uncultured? Salted? Unsalted?
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/82 "2021-11-24T00:34:43Z")
Sorry to return to the OP briefly, but the cost of production usually only represents a lower floor on price. The price is usually a result of market conditions. In this case, I suspect that shortbread is being marketed as high end/special occasion. The price is set high accordingly.
By the way, I make my butter by starting with hydrogen, then hand crafting each element required in a small fusion reactor, then building up each molecule by hand using a small pair of tweezers.
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### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2021, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/83 "2021-11-24T00:37:37Z")
> [@carnut](#):
>
> What’s everybody’s take on butter? Cultured? Uncultured? Salted? Unsalted?
unsalted, cultured.
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### Author:  [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2021, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/84 "2021-11-24T01:51:53Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> By the way, I make my butter by starting with hydrogen, then hand crafting each element required in a small fusion reactor, then building up each molecule by hand using a small pair of tweezers
_sniff_
Well if you don’t have quarks and electrons on hand, I guess store bought hydrogen will do in a pinch.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2021, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/85 "2021-11-24T02:29:46Z")
Never said I bought the hydrogen from a store.
I just already had some left over and on hand from when I made the Universe in the first place.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/86 "2021-12-06T20:49:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> You know what – now that I’m looking online at various Dean’s brand heavy cream products, most of the ones I’m finding just have plain ol’ cream listed as an ingredient, with nothing else. I’m going to have to check the store when I get a chance in the next couple of days. I wonder if they’ve changed, or if they have different product lines, but what I’ve been looking at is plain ol’ Deans whipping and heavy whipping cream and I’m not seeing the thickeners and stabilizers.
Not that it’s an important update, but today I was at the grocery store and bought my usual brand of sour cream, Daisy’s, which has one ingredient listed: Cultured cream. I was reminded of this thread, and decided to check the four brands of heavy cream the store carried: Dean’s Dairy Pure, Kemp’s, Organic Valley, and a fourth one I don’t remember. Every single one of them had ingredients other than cream (or milk) in them. Two or three had carrageenan; one had guar gum, and still another had some other gum I had never heard of (not xantham.) Plus two of the four also had polysorbate 80, and some of the others may have had another stray ingredient or two (usually marked parenthetically after the main ingredient with the words "contains less than 0.5% of: " So no heavy cream, at least, at my grocery store that is simply cream.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/87 "2021-12-06T22:38:07Z")
Huh, I just did some grocery shopping today, and one of the items I bought was a package of shortbread cookies, because they were half the price of all of the other kinds of cookies (about 10 cents per ounce, compared to 20 or more for most others).
Though looking at the ingredients, it looks like they use other fats instead of butter.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2022, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/88 "2022-01-29T00:55:26Z")
I came across this thread today discussing dairy additives:
> **[r/AskCulinary - Additives in cream](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskCulinary/comments/seybgu/additives_in_cream/)**
>
> 107 votes and 91 comments so far on Reddit
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2022, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/89 "2022-01-29T03:24:15Z")
I bought some Wegmans half and half. The ingredients were organic milk and cream. Of course, no one expects half and half to whip.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-shortbread-so-expensive/954401/92 "2022-03-15T15:24:29Z")
I don’t know about weddings, but I read a book called _ **Ten Beaver Road** _ when I was in primary school. It was about a Scottish family (the McTavishes) that emigrated to the Pacific Northwest around the turn of the 20th century. There was a whole chapter devoted to their traditional Christmas, in which the making of shortbread and scones was described in detail. It was emphasized they were special treats because they were expensive to make and too rich to eat often.
So it wouldn’t surprise me if it were served at weddings as well. (When I was doing Medieval reenactment, I would sometimes bake it for the dessert course at banquets too.)
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