For Christmas, I bought myself a little present. The other day I made a video to show you it to you.
It’s a butter keeper! Mine is the Butter Bell Crock which comes in 14 colors. I chose black. Modeled after the original French butter crock, it keeps butter fresh and soft for up to 30 days without spoiling. Ours is working great; I’m so happy we got it. It would be nice to have a larger receptacle, but that’s not a huge problem. We just refill it more often. The price on the one I chose was $19.95 – not that expensive, but not super cheap, either.
Norpro offers a butter keeper for $8.93, but it doesn’t come in all those colors.
Of course, Butter is Better!
Anyone else have a butter keeper? How do you like it? I’m sharing this find in Real Food Wednesday, this week hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
I’m definitely going to try it. Soon.
Honestly…I hated my butter bell. The butter kept falling into the water no matter how hard I smashed it into the bell. Now I have a pretty silver butter dish from the thrift store which has a little glass tray inside to keep the butter off the actual silver. We use at least a quarter pound of butter per day- butter IS better! Now, if only I was making it myself
Lindsey in AL´s last blog post… What a pretty apron!
I love my butter bell! Butter’s delicate flavor loses some of its depth when refrigerated. Keeping it at room temperature makes it easy to use, and oh, so very delicious!!
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I loved my butter keeper when we lived in MN and our family was smaller. Now there are more of us and we live in GA… and it’s not so practical. We go through the butter pretty quickly and just leave the slab on a pottery plate. I would prefer a butter keeper, just because it looks neater!
Stephanie, I agree with you about it being not-so-practical in Georgia — but mainly because of the summer heat! My husband bought me one as a gift about 8 years ago, and I loved it, but when we moved to GA, our butter would mold in the crock during summer months (after only 2 weeks — there were only two of us an we probably didn’t eat as much butter then). Now that we’re in chilly Indiana, and eating much more butter, it’s back out on the counter, and I LOVE it!
Congrats on a well-chosen gift to yourself, Wardeh!
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I have the cheap nor pro butter bell and love it so. We do have some floating butter problems sometimes in the summer (in AZ) but not enough to keep us from using it. I would love to get a green one to match my kitchen and thought I would go through them pretty fast since they are glass and I have 3 kids with cement floors in the kitchen, but still have the original!
Wardeh, for some reason when I clicked onto this blog posting so I could watch the video, nothing shows up as a place to click on a video. So, I’m confused how this butter bell works. When someone mentioned water, I’m really confused! Do you soften and melt your butter and pour/mash it into the crock? Guess I’m showing my ignorance here!
Would this work with butter that has been frozen and then thawed?
Thanks!
Julieanne
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/iLoveHomeschooling
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Here’s the direct link on vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/9019232
I’m not sure why it isn’t showing up. Perhaps you have an adblocker blocking the vimeo (which is what is embedded in the post).
I love my butter bell too! Mine is bigger than the one you show. And I use salted water to store the butter in. I’m glad you discovered butter bells!
Sylvia´s last blog post… Homekeeper’s Journal ~ 1/27/10
I have a butter crock, but mine is always slipping out into the water. I still use it because it is an attractive container, but it is discouraging to have wet butter in the water =) I will try some of your tips to see if that helps. (mine was purchased through Lehmans.)
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Wardeh,
Great video!! I have a butter bell but go lazy filling it up with butter and water. My butter often would fall out into the water too, which bugged me. It is a nice thing to have in the summer though when butter gets too soft leaving it out. I have been using store bought butter though, it may work differently with “real” butter.
And yes of course, EVERYTHING is better with butter!
Wardeh, your curly hair is so awesome! And your butter keeper is cool too!
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I have the Norpro butter keeper, and although I’ve loved the idea, I have the problem of butter falling in the water…a lot. Maybe the butter isn’t softened enough when I put it in…I will try a couple of different things. If they don’t work, maybe it’s time to upgrade!
Wardeh, I noticed your curly hair right away, too! Looks very nice on you!
In order to view your video, I had to call my ISP and ask them to unblock the VIMEO website. They automatically block and filter all video hosting sites because of so much inappropriate content, but they will unblock a site if we call them and request that…which I did!
Now I see what a butter crock/ball does. But I’m still curious about using butter purchased from the store, and butter that has been frozen and then thawed. Do you have any suggestions about that?
Neat and informative video! Thanks, Wardeh!
Julieanne
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/iLoveHomeschooling
Julieanne´s last blog post… Brittany gets her ears pierced!
Oh, and also I, too, am curious why the butter falls down in some people’s crocks and not in others? Is it the brand or the shape of the crock that makes a difference?
Thanks!
Julieanne´s last blog post… Brittany gets her ears pierced!
Julieanne – I am (for the most part) using Kerrygold butter purchased from Trader Joe’s which I freeze and thaw as needed. So I think all purchased butter would be fine. From what I understand, if the butter is not soft, it doesn’t make a good stick to the butter keeper and that’s why it falls out. One time I put butter in that had not softened fully (to room temp) and it fell out. Another time, I put butter in the crock after just washing the crock (so it was a little wet) and the butter fell out. I don’t think it has anything to do with the shape or size of the crock, IMO, but more to do with making sure the butter can stick well to the crock. Hard butter or a wet crock prevent that good stick. I’d be happy to hear if anyone else has ideas about why butter would fall out!
I am glad to hear what the issue what with vimeo – I’ll remember that for the future. I don’t always put videos on vimeo, sometimes I host them myself. It was sweet of you to go to all that trouble to see it.
And my curly hair – that was a day I had just washed it. Most of the time when you see me, I’ve got my pony tail on.
In my eCourse videos, some days I’ll have it up and some days down. Thank you to both you and gilliebean for the sweet compliment!
Hi – I have the Emile Henry butter keeper and the best tip I have is change the water daily…and throw an ice cube or two in it. The butter is still spreadable but it stays fresher, longer. Because I live alone I don’t go through it very quickly and this helps a lot.
I’ve been wondering, sort of at the back of my head, when I get settled and have a good raw milk resource, what I would keep my better in. Now I know! btw- thank you so much for your understanding words of encouragement, and even more for your prayers. I let you know how things “turn” out, but regardless God has really filled my heart with a peace over everything.
Butter is one of the “perpetual marital arguments” my husband and I struggle with (along with whether TP goes over or under but don’t get me started on that one
So I got one of these at TJMaxx for about 5 dollars and was excited about it until the butter kept falling out. I think I will have to try again with a dry container and fully softened butter and see if that helps. Knowing that others have gotten it to work inspires me to keep trying!
I love my butter bell. I have had mine for about 10 years and it works great. I do notice that if the place where you put the butter is not dry, the butter will slip into the water. But it’s not really a problem. I just scoop it out. I do have a hard time in the summer with the butter going bad quickly. Even when changing the water daily it still gets molding. I like Sylvia’s idea of using salt. It might help it.
Wardeh,
You look like my niece Cynthia, you are adorable and I LOVED YOUR VIDEO!!!!