British butter costing almost £100 named one of the world’s finest foods

It contains luxury ingredients such as lobster, crab and caviar

Ridiculous No55 butter (Chris Mair/ Sublime Butter / SWN SWNS)

A British butter that retails for £95 has been named as one of the finest foods in the world.

Family-run business Sublime Butter has created a new spread infused with British Isles lobster, Devon crab, fennel, lemon and caviar.

The luxurious butter, named Ridiculous No55, has been awarded three stars by the Guild of Fine Food’s (GFF) Great Taste Awards.

The Great Taste Awards are judged by a panel of more than 500 chefs, food writers and retailers who bestow one, two or three stars on the finest foods from across the world.

Ridiculous No55 is one of 218 food items that won three stars this year.

Announcing the launch of its new invention on Instagram on Sunday 3 October, Sublime said the butter had been inspired by the British coastline.

“This hand-churned butter may be perfectly balanced in every way, but it’s nevertheless Ridiculous. There’s not a butter like it the world over,” it added.

Unlike the standard kinds of butter sold in supermarkets, Sublime’s Ridiculous No55 does not come in a foil wrapper or a plastic tub. Instead, it is served in a limited-edition butter dish that has been handmade in Italy.

Chris Mair, Sublime’s founder, told The Independent that the butter takes between 24 and 36 hours to make.

“We’re very proud to have been awarded three stars at the Great Taste Awards. Only around one per cent of products entered pink up three stars, and it’s great to know our butter is up there with the best of them,” he said.

One expert on GFF’s judging panel described the butter as an “exciting, innovative product”.

“You can tell a butter is good when you want to sit there and just eat spoonfuls of it without any bread or biscuits to go alongside.

“The butter has been whipped perfectly to give a wonderful mouthfeel. The fennel comes through with sophistication as does the citrus and generous pieces of shellfish just add to the overall luxury,” they said.

Other food items which received a Great Taste Award this year include a tangerine spread from Greece and a raw, stingless bee honey harvested in Singapore.

Mair created Sublime in 2019 in a bid to create a steak condiment that didn’t drown out the flavour of the meat.

“I had run a steak club for the last 12 years and I picked up that despite all the great steak restaurants and the great meat, there hasn’t been much condiment development.

“I hired a chef and we created some flavours and then we made flavoured butter and had a eureka moment. We couldn’t believe no one had really done it before,” he said.

Ridiculous No55 is currently available to order for delivery in December.