The Vegetarian Resource Group Blog

Nucoa Margarine Still an All-Vegetable Product Despite Label Change

Posted on April 29, 2010 by The VRG Blog Editor

Nucoa Margarine Still an All-Vegetable Product Despite Label Change
by Jeanne Yacoubou
VRG Research Director

A reader recently asked The VRG if Nucoa margarine was still whey- and dairy-free. She was concerned because of a recent label change that removed the words “contains no milk or whey” from the tub container.

The VRG contacted Nucoa’s manufacturer and spoke with Connie, a Customer Service Representative. She assured us the change occurred only on the label. The margarine still is free of any and all milk products. The lactic acid in Nucoa is derived from corn and all flavors are non-animal as well.

The Nucoa tub margarine did undergo a reduction in total fat from 10g to 7g; the sticks did not undergo a reformulation keeping their total fat steady at 11g. Connie informed us that Nucoa is available only regionally, being most commonly available in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

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  1. Jackie Cook says:

    I don’t believe there is no dairy in the new buttery
    sticks. My son, who is allergic to milk, ate some lemon
    bread I made with it and immediately felt a reaction
    coming on. This was the first time I had tried it and
    will never use it again.

  2. JOhn C. says:

    Wow. Buttery Sticks are awful! Greasy and flavorless. Ill use BUtter flavored Crisco until they fix this Nucoa problem. DONT BUY IT!

  3. Beverly says:

    I AGREE WITH JOHN C YOU REALLY NEED TO FIX THIS, YOUR NUCOA TASTE LIKE CRAMP, THE NUCOA HAS BEEN IN OUR FAMILY AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’VE TRYED EVERY BUTTER AND MARGINE , NOTHING EVEN COMES CLOSE, I AM SO UP SET, PLEASE HELP ME ,BRING THE NUCOA BACK:!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BEVERLY.

  4. Angie says:

    I love Nucoa Butter, because I love that it’s Dairy free. It’s a smart thing to make butter without any Dairy(milk) for people who are allergic to milk products. I think other company’s should come up with more delicious things that require no milk. One suggestion, chocolate chip cookies with no milk or any kind of dairy products in it etc. I Love Nucoa Butter, it helps make my baked potato taste delicious. It’s perfect for people that can’t have any milk products, I’d recommend it for people who can’t have any milk products at all.

  5. Doris Mask says:

    Grr! They are taking the trans-fats out of everything. Must have contained something extremely harmful to people. Nothing tastes good anymore. Store cookies and cakes cost went up and they all taste the same..real yucky! Why couldn’t they have left our Nucoa alone and let us decide if we wanted to risk the trans-fat factor?

  6. jim says:

    it is all about dollars they do not care just boycott it

  7. Emily Brown says:

    My popcorn is soggy. What has happened? It doesn’t melt the same on toast. The flavor has changed too.

  8. J D Wachs says:

    Yuk! I’ve been baking grandmother’s amazing butter cookie recipe for 60 years that calls for 1 cube butter, 1 cube Nucoa. Every Christmas I get out recipe and bake these amazing cookies everyone loves. It a family heritage. This year: Yuk! I knew the moment I tasted the batter something was terribly wrong.

    What can I do? This recipe was part of my family heritage.

    JD

  9. Tusk says:

    Ruined absolutely ruined. I have to change my cookbook. I am happy to buy a different product. Change can be good, maybe someone makes something better.

  10. Rob C. says:

    This product is just not the same and does not cook well or taste good anymore. Perhaps this is why? http://www.foodliabilitylaw.com/uploads/file/Yumul.pdf

  11. Sandra says:

    I make vegan cookies and still use Nucoa when I can find it. This is because the only other vegan margarine product that I can find is Earth Balance and it’s much worse tasting.

  12. my favorite store no longer carries your product. why is safeway dropping your product?

  13. PLEASE listen to your “past” customers! I’ve been checking back on this blog for over a year – we are still not changing our mind about the repulsive “Buttery Sticks” replacement for our tried and true Nucoa from decades past!
    Buttery sticks can be re-cycled at a mechanic shop to lube cars – leave that greasy film there, not on our palates!
    We need our Nucoa margarine back in our kitchen!

  14. Romulus says:

    Great product. I am a Vegan and I used Nucoa to make beignets (Mardigras) for a group of 200 at a Lions fundraiser. Our beignets were the hit of the evening, everyone coming back for seconds and more. I had prepared enough dough for 600-700 servings and had some left over to bake several loaves of bread. I will always keep Nucoa on hand.
    Obtw, palm trees and thier products are a sustainable industry providing income for many Pacific peoples.

  15. Angie says:

    My popcorn is soggy and cookies not as tasty, can anyone recommend a decent replacement for non-dairy milk-free “butter” to bake with??

  16. Rose says:

    I noticed the change immediately! Nucoa was the only margarine I’d ever known – lifelong life-threatening milk allergy. My mom would have to smack me to get me to stop eating cookie dough with nucoa in it (nucoa + sugar = heaven!) Loved the taste of nucoa on toast with jam.

    The recipe change is heartbreaking, I’ve switched to Earth Balance but it’s terrible too. I miss the old taste so much! I’d stockpiled boxes and boxes in my freezer of the old stuff, wish I’d stockpiled more!

    I skip marge on toast completely now and only use marge in things I won’t taste it in – mostly use olive oil now in baking, no more cookie dough for me. 🙁

  17. Carole Curtis says:

    “Where’s the beef” who cares! I want to know where’s the Nucoa Margarine? Safeway don’t carry it, Walmart dosen’t have it. I want my Nucoa! When you put it on your popcorn, it is buttery, when you bake with it, you have the best baked goods there are. When you whip up your potatoes, you get the creamist potatoes that melt in your mouth. I love it on my taost, all other margarines turn you toast into a wattery soggy sponge. Nucoa on corn WOW!
    What happened to Nucoa? Where’s the Nucoa?

  18. Ann says:

    I have used NUCOA margarine for as long as I can recall, probably 40 yars or more, untill recently. It wont melt on toast any longer. I have changed toasters several times thinking they aren’t getting the bread hot enough, but after I made toast in the oven and the margarine still didnt melt, I changed to butter. I’m disappointead to have to do that as I had always sworn by your product.

  19. rita says:

    It is so gross. New nucoa should be really thought. Please bring the old one back. I can’t use this product it makes me ill.

  20. Patti says:

    What a shame! I love to bake…..have always used Nucoa! I live in California, but still have a hard time finding it! Now I know why. People must not be buying it because of the reported change in taste. (The company must not want to make money on their product – makes no sense!)

    PLEASE BRING IT BACK!!!!

  21. Angel says:

    For those of us with allergies Nucoa was the best thing we could use. It worked great on and with everything. My son who has many issues was able to eat and enjoy this without enduring any further problems. The new recipe is horrible tasting, you can’t bake with it, or cook with it. It is unusable and disgusting. There are enough “diet” butters out there could you just leave one of them alone and let people enjoy their food! Don’t fix it if it isn’t broken……….well, you broke it, now fix it please!

  22. Kris says:

    Haven’t baked for years but decided I will make some old family favorites this year for Christmas. I never see Nucoa anywhere anymore and thought “uh, oh.” Went online to see what the scoop is and found you guys. THIS IS *&^%$#@ing maddening! My grandma’s handwritten recipe for banana nut bread says “don’t use anything but Nucoa, it won’t come out right!” This is THE MOST DELICIOUS BANANA NUT BREAD in the whole world! A big hit every time we bake it. Guess this is another good thing that’s just gone forever. Like Angel said “can’t you just leave some things alone and let people enjoy their food?!” I’m hopping hot under the collar!

  23. JAN in MT says:

    This new formula is awful. It doesn’t melt, it burns, it is no longer the good tasting spread I have love & used for years. Due to Milk allergies I will now be forced to look at expensive health food stores for an alternative. Please Please Please go back to your old formula. It was wonderful.

  24. Jeff says:

    I’m no vegan but I do agree with many of you, What have they done to our Nucoa, that’s the only thing I’ve used all my life and love the original flavor. Sadly, I think big brother is taking away everything that has a little fat and lots of flavor. What happened to “We the People” as opposed to “We The Politicians”?????

  25. Robert Costa says:

    In 1975 when I was 15 years old Famous Amos was a successful cookie company owner and I wanted to invent my own cookie. For a year I experimented with different recipes, different ingredients and different types of ingredients until a year later I developed the perfect cookie flavor using half butter and half Nucoa margarine. Half butter and half margarine gives the cookie a butter flavor and the margarine keeps it soft when baked and Nucoa margarine produced the best flavor and consistency. At 16 years old I had not the knowledge or money to start a cookie company so they became a family tradition for Christmas cookies for the last 30 years. I bake as many as 400 cookies and send out to friends and family. I want to start a cookie company with the passing of the new law where you can bake out of your kitchen to get a small business going. Now I cant find my margarine anymore and from what little I have read it is not the same flavor with baking with the new product being introduced. Bring back the old Nucoa margarine, seems like there is enough demand. My tradition as well as business opportunity is gone.

  26. Laurie says:

    I completely agree with the complaints/comments above. I’ve used Nucoa for 35 years – started when my son was born and developed a serious milk allergy. Even since kids have been grown I’ve continued to use Nucoa because we all preferred its flavor & texture. We always used it for everything and noticed the diffence immediately – it doesn’t melt the same, it burns in the frying pan, it makes popcorn soggy – awful!!! I have stopped even looking for it and am trying to find a suitable replacement. One thing no one mentioned above was that the wrapper also changed – it is impossible to unwrap the sticks without having the wrapper come off it shreds – very messy and unpleasant. One more reason to not bother buying it. If it was still the same recipe, I would consider it worth the bother, but not now!

  27. Carolyn B says:

    Please bring back the original Nucoa!!! This new recipe is terrible!!! Popcorn is soggy….it pops & splatters all over the microwave/stove if you try to melt it & the true flavor is GONE. I have spent at least $50 trying to find something else I might like….no such luck!!! So, as terrible as it is, I was still buying it cause it is still the only one I could at least eat a little bit of. That is UNTIL the state of Colorado discontinued it in every store in the state. So UPSET!!! Now I eat nothing on my toast & have gone to microwave popcorn…YUCK!!!

  28. Carolyn B says:

    OH….and one more thing….”IF IT AIN’T BROKE…DON’T FIX IT”!!!!!

  29. Gloria Kimble says:

    I have loved Nucoa Margarine for many years. I hate soggy bread. Nucoa does not make the bread soggy. Thank you for your product. Gloria 75 years old

  30. Jeff says:

    Does anyone know how to make the original Nucoa margarine and if so how difficult would it be to get the ingredients and recipe. I soo miss the original Nucoa. Like others have said it tastes like some kind of very nasty oil. YUCK!!!

    Please post if you do, like I said me an many others would really love to know how. BTW, why did they stop making it in the first place, it was an excellent product with an excellent customer base??

  31. Jeff says:

    Oops, I meant to say that as other posters have mentioned, the “New Nucoa Butter stuff” tastes as if your eating some kind of raw nasty oil. Again YUCK.

    Bring Back the “Original Nucoa” Please!

  32. Trena says:

    You say nucoa is only available in California and Arizona, well I live in Arizona and for the first time I can’t find it. Where can it be found? What stores carry it?

  33. Connie Enos says:

    Hello, I used Nucoa for years. Loved the flavor and the fact it is no dairy as I allergic. When you changed the label it lost flavor. It no longer meltswhen it needs to.it tastes like plastic! GROSS!



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