Transforming Carbon Emissions into Delights: Savor's plant-based butter redefines the food sector's conventional practices.
Love for butter led me down a weird path, and I found myself scratching my head over what food tech company Savor was up to. Cow-less butter? I thought it was just some kind of imitation shit I'd usually swerve.
But after gobbling up an entire meal crafted around it, all in a swanky Victorian in the Mission District, surrounded by food innovators, San Francisco's top chefs and bakers, I was converted.
The fancy San Fran launch dinner brought Savor's groundbreaking butter to life: a silky asparagus tartlet with a buttery, flaky crust; perfect caramelization of spaetzle and mushrooms thanks to Savor's higher smoke point; butter-roasted golden beets stuffed into crispy panipuri shells; indulgent tarts with caramel, ganache, and a buttery crust—and more! With each dish, Savor's sustainably-crafted butter stood out as more than just a gimmick. It was a mind-blowing game-changer.
Backed by Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Savor has pulled off the seemingly impossible: creating the world's first butter from carbon, without relying on traditional agriculture.
The breakthrough wasn't a shortcut or an imitation. Instead, it's the result of a scientific process that molecularly constructs fat out of carbon dioxide (CO2), green hydrogen (GH2), and methane (CH4), building real fats from the most fundamental elements of life. For consumers, the implications could be massive, reshaping not only our eating habits but helping sustain a growing population while conserving the planet.
Founded in 2022 with a mission to create sustainable ingredients, Savor reached a major milestone in March: the commercial launch of its animal- and plant-free butter. This achievement came after years of research, development, and culinary innovation.
Savor's rapid ascent has already landed it a spot on Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2025, and its co-founder and CEO Kathleen Alexander was recently honored as one of Inc. Magazine's Female Founders 500.
"Savor was founded to find the most sustainable way to feed humanity. Sustainable solutions can't just reduce our environmental footprint, they have to be affordable, approachable, and delicious," Alexander shared. "As the only technology with the potential to replace palm oil and other widely used fats with a low-carbon alternative within the next decade, Savor is set to make a significant impact on global sustainability efforts in the food industry."
Savor's method dramatically reduces land use, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike traditional agriculture, which circularly cycles through plants and animals to create usable fats, Savor constructs fats directly from carbon molecules under controlled heat and pressure.
"Our technology begins with the most fundamental building blocks of life: carbon gases like carbon dioxide and methane," Alexander explains. "Through a carefully controlled process involving heat and pressure, we transform these simple carbon gases into carbon chains. These chains are then converted into fatty acids—the building blocks of fats and oils—and ultimately into complete fat molecules."
The result is chemically identical to the fats we consume daily, but produced without the burden of farming. Savor's platform also offers versatility, able to mimic the properties of everything from dairy fats to tropical oils and even specialty fats used in cosmetics.
To celebrate the launch, Savor hosted special dinners in San Francisco and New York City, giving esteemed guests a taste of its butter in action. Collaborations with high-profile restaurants like Michelin-starred SingleThread, Atelier Crenn, and ONE65, and beloved bakeries like Jane the Bakery, are already underway. These chefs and bakers haven't merely endorsed the product; they've pushed it to its limits, ensuring its performance across a range of demanding applications.
"Many chefs and bakers around the Bay Area have tested Savor butter, from its early prototypes in late 2023 to its commercial version," says Pierre Coeurdeuil, Savor's Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships. "They’ve been instrumental in pushing our product's limits to make it better over time."
In the world of pastry, butter must meet exacting standards, especially for laminated pastries like croissants. Savor's team faced numerous trials with early versions of the butter: melting, baking, laminating, freezing, and reheating.
"It was tough, but we can proudly say that we've cracked the code!" Coeurdeuil shares. "As reported by practically all the chefs who've tried it, Savor butter now outperforms any other butter alternative and is comparable to regular dairy butter."
Incremental tweaks—adjusting fat content, melting points, and malleability—helped the team hit the mark, thanks to feedback from leading chefs.
At Jane the Bakery, the results have been game-changing. "At Jane the Bakery, we dig Savor Butter in our croissants because it delivers the rich taste and performance of traditional butter while being completely vegan and sustainable," says Amanda Michael, Jane the Bakery's Owner. "Its exceptional quality ensures our pastries are flaky, flavorful, and indulgent, all while aligning with our goal of using eco-friendly practices as much as possible."
For Juan Contreras, Chef Pâtissier at Atelier Crenn, the shift felt natural. "Savor butter has gotten to the point where it's like working with dairy-based butter...As inhabitants of this planet, we have an obligation to better ourselves and work with those dedicated to making a difference. I think it's an amazing product."
At SingleThread, the innovation struck a chord for Chef-Owner Kyle Connaughton. "I'm particularly interested in Savor because it's this intersection of gastronomy and environment and technology," Connaughton says. "We're evaluating it based on its flavor, its deliciousness, and its functionality within our dishes."
While chef endorsements elevate the butter's credibility, Savor's ambitions go beyond fine dining. Major consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are working with the company to explore large-scale applications, from plant-based confections to carbon-smart cosmetics. Savor's proprietary technology allows for tunable fatty acid profiles, unlocking an array of possibilities far beyond dairy alternatives.
"We collaborate with both large CPGs and boundary-pushing chefs because both are essential to our mission," says Chiara Cecchini, VP of Commercialization. "Large partnerships won't dilute culinary integrity; instead, our job is to deliver the best-quality, best-performing fats, and let our partners express their creativity."
Looking ahead, Savor is focused on achieving price parity with high-value fats like dairy and cocoa butter.
"We're designing our first commercial facility to achieve this price point," Alexander says. "We expect to build toward that over the coming years with continued joint development and pilot trials."
For Savor, the vision is clear: to change the way the world creates and views fat. In doing so, they're not just building a more resilient food system; they're offering a new template for how science, sustainability, and taste can work together to nourish our planet.
Insights:
- Savor's process for animal- and plant-free butter includes sourcing carbon, converting it into hydrocarbons, synthesizing fatty acids, forming triglycerides, and refining the product for versatile use.
- Sourcing carbon feedstock can come from atmospheric capture, industrial emissions, or alternative origins.
- The chemical conversions involved in Savor's process occur under thermal and pressure treatments and require catalysts.
- Savor's technology reduces land use, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional agriculture.
- The company aims to achieve price parity with high-value traditional fats like dairy and cocoa butter within a decade.
- The innovative food tech company, Savor, has managed to create the world's first butter from carbon, independent of traditional agriculture, a feat that was previously thought impossible.
- This breakthrough in technology doesn't involve a shortcut or imitation but rather is the result of a scientific process that constructs fats from the most fundamental elements of life, using carbon dioxide (CO2), green hydrogen (GH2), and methane (CH4).
- Savor's method dramatically reduces land use, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions, making it a potential game-changer for sustainable cooking and a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
- Savor's butter has been acclaimed by renowned chefs and bakers, including those at Michelin-starred SingleThread, Atelier Crenn, and ONE65, and beloved bakeries like Jane the Bakery, who have not only endorsed the product but pushed it to its limits for a range of demanding applications.
- Savor's ambitions extend beyond fine dining, as major consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies explore large-scale applications for its proprietary technology, from plant-based confections to carbon-smart cosmetics, altering the landscape of both food and fashion-and-beauty industries.
- Savor's mission is to change the way the world creates and views fat, offering a more sustainable and delicious alternative to traditional dairy and plant-based fats, contributing to global sustainability efforts in the food industry and promoting healthy-cooking practices.
