The other morning, I came into the kitchen and saw the butter dish looking like the picture below. My 16-year-old has a late-night snack habit and this, along with lots of crumbs, was the aftermath. The next morning when I asked him, “Seriously, you could not take the wrapper off,” he did not skip a beat in saying it was “revenge butter” because I left the dish empty. Touché.
Then randomly, a cute whale butter dish crossed my Instagram feed and I decided it was a sign that my butter dish needed an upgrade. Not the whale, but I could certainly do better. Wow, who knew there were so many and varied choices here and it is the kind of small, functional splurge you can probably make without making a dent in your monthly grocery budget.
But first, a few fun butter facts that you can randomly throw out at parties – ok, maybe on zoom calls:
- About a third of the world’s milk production is devoted to making butter.
- Its natural, unmodified color is dependent on the source animal’s feed and genetics. This one caused me to pause for a second.
- We think of garlic butter as Italian, but some common archaeological finds in Ireland are barrels of ancient garlic butter.
- India is the largest producer of butter. Ghee, a kind of clarified butter, is an important ingredient in Indian cuisine.
- Échiré butter is the most expensive butter in the world. Handmade in a small pocket of western France, this butter is loved by chefs and served in many of the world’s most famous restaurants. It cost about $20 per 250 grams (8.8 ounces).
I also want to settle the debate about how to store butter. We have always had it in a covered dish on the counter. One of my sister’s greatest pet peeves was when someone (aka me) left crumbs or jam remnants in the butter. After a quick Google search, you will find that butter has a shelf-life of many months, and even longer if it is the salted variety which we eat. So, if you want soft spreadable butter, and unless you are the slowest butter eater in the world, then a fun butter dish on the counter it is.
To make the line-up below, the dish had to be long enough to fit a standard stick of butter and have a removable top with a flat base. I am not a fan of butter bowls with a lid because you cannot easily get a slice without creating chaos with the stick. Even though I may leave knife remnants in the butter, I feel strongly about making a clean cut.
Many of the solid color dishes come in various colors. They are also sorted from least to most expensive with all under $30 except for the last two – the bear is definitely splurgy. Click away if you see something you like; I am going to hit buy on one as soon as I finish my buttered toast.
I love this article! I recently switched from a traditional crock to a butter bell and I’m absolutely loving it. The butter bell uses cold water as part of the crock system to provide an airtight seal that protects and preserves butter’s flavor and freshness.
That said, that bear is calling my name!
Fun, I was not familiar with butter bells and love to learn about something new. Not sure why they only sell the bear in multiples of 2 but maybe one for you and one for a friend / family member though think the butter bells sounds most functional!