This week I sat down with Alberto Borghi of Del Bocia Butter, although calling it “butter” barely covers it. This is butter with soul, butter with story. I first came across Alberto’s work at DOC in St Kilda, where a seaweed butter and a very memorable Alfredo pasta got me hooked. I imagined the maker must be an old Italian man with a wooden churn…and then I found Alberto on Instagram. Not an old man. No wooden churn in sight. But every bit as traditional as you’d hope, and just as passionate. From 30 kilos a week made in a shared kitchen with a planetary mixer to importing and restoring vintage machines from the Dolomites, Alberto’s journey is full of energy, joy, and a stubborn devotion to quality. He talks about butter like some people talk about wine or poetry. And I’m here for it.
Hi, Alberto, thank you so much for being on the podcast with me. I’ve been following your Instagram for quite a long time. The first time I tried your butter was at DOC in St. Kilda and I tried it with this really delicious bread that they made with a seaweed butter. Then they said they were going to have a special pasta alfredo with the butter and I specifically went back again. Just for the Alfredo pasta because it was so delicious. The chef, Tom Jones-Davies was saying that he really loved using your butter. He said, “There’s a guy that makes butter in the traditional way.” And imagined an old Italian man with a butter churn and then I started seeing your Instagram and you do not look like an old Italian man with a butter churn.
I started a very small batch production with a small planetary mixer. The project started because there was a gap in the market. You can find some amazing cultured butter, which is more French style butter and there was a gap for a premium uncultured butter. This stirs the memory I have of the butter I used to have in Italy, because in Italy, we only have uncultured butter. I was looking for a solution for the chefs. They were asking, Alberto, find me a good premium uncultured butter here in Melbourne. I started the research and there was nothing. I went to Italy and tried to find in Italy, we call it Alpine style butter or burro alpino, which is made by using full cream. It’s not the leftovers of the production or another product, and in Italy, usually is Parmesan, which is the biggest business. They use the full cream to produce the Parmesan and with the leftovers, they produce the butter, which is very pale and white in Italy. But also we have these alpine style butters which are made using the full cream very slow churning, low temperature, and comes out with a super rich, not oily after taste, and super amazing for cooking, too. I went to Italy looking for a supplier. Either they didn’t have the license to export or they didn’t have enough volume. So I came back to Australia and started playing around and I decided, I was going to make it myself. I’m the kind of person who likes to be out of the comfort zone. I used to run a consultancy for a pizza oven company in Sydney. I was selling pizza and everything was going amazing. But it was becoming too easy for me. When life becomes easy, I love to put myself out of the comfort zone. So I decided to leave everything and start a business making butter.
What’s the next step from wanting to make butter to then making butter in that way? Are there lots of rules?
Absolutely. Australia is very strict about the regulations to produce dairy products. I was getting overwhelmed to make everything happen, so I decided to create a QA department. They took care of everything: all the legislation, the permit, all the details you need to look after in the premises before you rent and see if everything is certified to do that. It took a while because it’s a very long and slow process. But when it’s done once, at least you are not doing crazy stuff. I started very easily; I rented a sharing kitchen and I was doing 30 kilos of butter a week, a lot of the process was completely handmade. And I would go out, doing chef testing and starting to sell.
I used to be one of the manager of a big cheese company here in Melbourne, That’s Amore Cheese. I need to say a massive thanks to Giorgio and That’s Amore Cheese because it made me fall in love with the dairy and with the hospitality business. When I finished with him, I was really missing that part in my life and that’s why I was 100% sure to jump on board on this new adventure and try to make it happen.
Bocia in my dialect from Veneto means kid. I’m 44, and my dad still calls me bocia. So when he calls me, he says, “How are you, bocia? How is your day going?” I wanted to have my memories of when I was a kid in the project. Also I have the butter bells made out of marble. They are made in Italy, and they are part of the memory of when I grew up. We usually keep butter in the butter bell in the benches, so it’s always ready to be spread. So that is all part of the memory in our family of we used to have butter. And bocia is kid, so I wanted to maintain the creativity and craziness that kids can have, but in a premium product.
Alberto Borghi, Del Bocia Butter
So 30 kilos a week, and that’s by hand?
I used a planetary mixer. I was using six litres of cream per batch and that produced three kilos of butter per batch, and I was doing batch by batch, washing by hand, squeezing by hand, forming by hand, wrapping by myself.
Oh, my goodness. You didn’t need to go to go to the gym then.
No. You didn’t need it. After that, I flew back to Italy, I found these two machines on a farm on top of the Dolomites. There were two machines in a shed. No one was using them, and I asked the owner to sell them to me. They were a piece of crap, but I was super excited because they were the machines able to do the traditional recipe to make the butter I had in mind. I imported them. I completely restored the machinery here in Melbourne. I received them in June, and by the time we restored the machinery and they were ready to work it was halfway though July. From then on, I was able to do much bigger batches and have much more control of consistency of the product. They are two amazing machines. They always have something not working properly, but it’s part of the fun. And I just love it.
Did you have any butter disasters at the start?
No. Because I was doing small batches. So if I wasn’t completely happy, I would start from scratch again and make a new one. But disaster, no.
As you were going, were you noting down what you did?
Absolutely.
Now you have a variety of butters. What are they?
At the moment, I have the unsalted butter, which is our gold medal butter, which I’m very proud because it’s the one I grew up with. In Italy, we only have unsalted butter. I also have salted butter, truffle, crispy chilli, Australian herbs. And now, I’m not sure if I can say, but we have something coming out with a beautiful restaurant in Melbourne, an anchovy butter. Stay tuned for that. I’m working on a 24-month Parmigiano Reggiano and pepperberry from Tasmania butter, so it’s will be like a cacio e pepe. We just just launched the first 100% buffalo cream butter, which is insane. This will be very limited. It’s beautiful.
The philosophy behind the butter is to create something good. The premium has to be premium and different. Because chefs are looking for different. You’re never going to see a Del Bocia garlic butter, for example. If we do something with garlic, it has to be something more special, something different.
I see what you’re saying. I’ve read the story on the website about the name Del Bocia, but maybe you could tell me about that?
Bocia in my dialect from Veneto means kid. I’m 44, and my dad still calls me bocia. So when he calls me, he says, “How are you, bocia? How is your day going?” I wanted to have my memories of when I was a kid in the project. Also I have the butter bells made out of marble. They are made in Italy, and they are part of the memory of when I grew up. We usually keep butter in the butter bell in the benches, so it’s always ready to be spread. So that is all part of the memory in our family of we used to have butter. And bocia is kid, so I wanted to maintain the creativity and craziness that kids can have, but in a premium product.
First of all our focus is that the quality of the product has to be impeccable. Secondly, all the people involved with Del Bocia need to have fun. Because when there is fun, people can really feel it behind the product, there is a good energy, good fun. I am convinced of that. We try to spread the butter and spread the love.
Alberto Borghi, Del Bocia Butter
It’s interesting to hear you talk about the butter bells, because they are works of art, they look beautiful. I think we tend to keep our butter in the fridge. But is it okay in Australia to keep your butter out in one of those?
Absolutely. The enemy for butter is the air, not the temperature. If the butter becomes soft, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s protected from air. There are some butter containers with a lid on top, but still there is air inside. The big difference with the butter bell is, first of all, they are made out of marble, so marble in a natural way keeps the room temperature lower. You add chilled water in the container, and the chilled water will seal the butter on the bell, so there is no air touching the butter surface, so it can’t get rancid. And it’s always ready to be spread. That’s the perfect way to keep the butter outside the fridge without ruining it. My suggestion is try to find a bell made of marble. No ceramic, because ceramic, the butter can flip on the water, basically. And ceramic can’t maintain the temperature lower enough for the bottom.
Speaking to Giorgio, we spoke a lot about cows, and you are obviously using buffalo milk for your particular butter, but do you favour a certain cow for the other butter?
I’m more focussed on the area the milk come from and that is East Gippsland, close to Wilson’s Prom. And in this particular area, the milk comes is very similar to the one we have in the Dolomites, which is rich, super yellow because the cows are eating grass all year long. I love because it’s super natural. There is nothing in it and it gives me a beautiful result.
Do you have a favourite way of using your butter?
Oh, for me, the perfect way is slice of bread, butter, and an anchovy on top. I can live on that. Or just with pasta. I’m Italian, so pasta, butter, and Parmesan, for me is delicious.
I just read a book, it’s translated from Japanese. It’s called Butter. It’s actually a bit of a gory book because it’s based on a true story about a serial killer who was in prison and but she loves food. And the journalist who goes to speak to her to get closer to her has to try all these things that this woman suggests. One of the things she says is you have to go and buy this very good butter and just put it through noodles. And the for the journalist, it just transformed her whole experience of and relationship with food because she hadn’t been interested in food previously. The descriptions in the book are so quite visceral, you almost feel like you can taste it. They talk about butter with rice and a bit of soy sauce as well, and it sounded delicious. It’s beautiful.
This book is actually in my cart on Amazon. I need to read it because a few people have mentioned, so I’m super curious to have a look. Butter has had very crazy marketing, like it is the enemy of your diet? Instead, the right quantity of butter is actually super healthy for the body. We are trying to re-educate people through our videos. We have a nutritionist and she’s doing an amazing job explaining why we should have butter in our diet. In the ’70s, they did a massive propaganda around Margarine, and everyone still thinks margarine is much better than butter. There are some different points where butter is much better.
You are a great storyteller. I think you’ve really got a good narrative for Del Bocia and the way that you use social media and so on is really great. Does that come from your sales background or you’re just naturally a great storyteller?
No, most of the videos you can see online come from my wife. I’m very focussed on the product. She’s very focussed on making the product look good. So all the packing, all the communication, I put my energy, my kind of vibes, and she organises all the content for the social media. She has a beautiful marketing agency and all the photos, all the video and the social media, she takes care of it. But we have fun. Every day for her is a massive challenge because I don’t like three takes of the video, so it’s one go, and it’s going to work. So it’s a big challenge while we’re having fun. That is the other main focus of Del Bocia. First of all our focus is that the quality of the product has to be impeccable. Secondly, all the people involved with Del Bocia need to have fun. Because when there is fun, people can really feel it behind the product, there is a good energy, good fun. I am convinced of that. We try to spread the butter and spread the love.
Well, every time I’ve seen you, and I was at last year’s Little Food Market, and it was just so much fun. You must be exhausted at the end of those days.
You can actually get energised from these kinds of things. The people coming in love the product, they gave me the feedback. So I’m actually getting energised. I go home and I can’t sleep usually because I can’t wait for the next day.
It’s good fun, and at the moment, my feeling is we haven’t done anything yet. Good things are still to come. In just one year, seeing what we have done, I am really happy. Let’s see what this next year is going to bring. We already have a few awards for our butter. Every time I wake up and get that kind of recognition from the people in the industry, that gives me energy because it’s not an easy life. People ask me how is your life going? I say, it’s a little bit miserable because I wake up at 2 a.m. to do the production.
Alberto Borghi, Del Bocia Butter
How big is Del Bocia now? Are you throughout Australia.
We are six people. We are three in production. We have QA, the driver, and distribution is done directly through us in Victoria, plus another distributor, helping us in Victoria. And we have a distribution in every state: South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and Western Australia. We try to be everywhere. On Sales at the moment it is just myself going around, but again, thanks to my background with That’s Amore Cheese, I was able to maintain all the relationships with customers, and they just love the product, so they help me a lot.
Well, it’s so great. Well done.
Thank you. It’s good fun, and at the moment, my feeling is we haven’t done anything yet. Good things are still to come. In just one year, seeing what we have done, I am really happy. Let’s see what this next year is going to bring. We already have a few awards for our butter. Every time I wake up and get that kind of recognition from the people in the industry, that gives me energy because it’s not an easy life. People ask me how is your life going? I say, it’s a little bit miserable because I wake up at 2 a.m. to do the production. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to wake up at 2 am. I’m going to be at the lab around 3am.
Why so early?
Because I have the girls coming to do the packing at 8 am and it takes me two hours to wash and disinfect all the surfaces, mop the floor and disinfect all the area, which is, for me, the most important part of the product. When everything is clean, the easy part starts. You put the cream in the machinery and for three hours, the machine’s going to turn. And by the time it’s finished, it’s going to be 8 am. Take the butter out, so the girls can start with the packing. Then I start the next batch, which is going to be ready around midday. We can do the second packing in the afternoon.
How many days a week are you doing that?
Three. I think from this week, I think I’m going to add an extra one.
Oh my goodness. And that produces how many kilos of butter now?
300 kilos.
300 kilos a day? So you went from 30 kilos a week to 300 a day. That’s huge.
For me, it’s still mind blowing. I pinch myself because I feel very lucky.
But also tired. So is the next step maybe to think about some more sustainable ways for yourself.
I have to find a person who can take at least half of what I’m doing at the moment in production. So I can be more dedicated also to customers, go and visit the chefs and give some support to them. I’m looking at the moment for a person who can help me with the production and some support for the delivery too, because we are growing, so we can cover more area.
When did you start?
The first production with the little planetary mixer was the 12th of December 2023.
Oh, so it’s still very new. Gosh, you’ve come such a long way. Congratulations.
I love every single moment. Some mornings, I remember I was waking up crying because it’s physically draining, but if I had to go back, I would do everything exactly the same. I just love it.