Poll: Where's your butter?

titansrunfarm · #41 01/14/07, 02:58 PM

I'd never heard of a butter bell, how do you get the butter to stay up in the lid?
Right now the butter is kept on the counter in a covered dish. Spares are in the fridge and freezer.

Cheryl in SD · #42 01/14/07, 03:07 PM

You don't have my option. Mine is in the microwave we only use to heat ricebags, so is usually unplugged. This keeps the bugs out, keeps it clean, but keeps it soft too. Summer time I hope to get butter bell.

RedEarth · #43 01/14/07, 03:12 PM

I had never heard of a butter bell, so I googled it, and even watched their little commercial. My questions are these: is the butter actually immersed in the water? Unless your kitchen gets reall hot in the summer, is there any use in this thing?

Buffy in Dallas · #44 01/14/07, 03:43 PM

http://www.butterbell.com/

MelissaW · #45 01/14/07, 06:17 PM

I LOVE my butter bell. Yes, the butter does touch the water. It doesn't get soggy or anything. After all, it's pure fat! In very hot weather, the butter can stay a teeny bit too soft, and plop out into the water when you lift the lid. On the rare occasions when it is that hot here (maybe 2 weeks in July or August), I keep it in the fridge. Otherwise, it's the perfect consistancy. I change the water every day when I'm waiting for my coffee to brew. That way it's easy to remember. I think mine was about $15, but it's the kind of thing you buy once and it lasts forever.

KimM · #46 01/14/07, 06:41 PM

Butter bell here too. I got mine as a gift from my sister. I love it!

donsgal · #47 01/15/07, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PyroDon

well I tend to cook like julia childs so we use over a half pound aday .
for the toast theres butter in the butter dish, a spare warming, keep 5 pounds in the fridge and the rest in the freezer . also keep beacon grease in a tin though not for more than a day or two without freshing it by frying some tators , try to keep a pound of beacon in the fridge all the time .
shock of shocks our colestoral is really low

Actually, contrary to popular belief animal fats do not contribute to increases in cholesteral. People ate animal fats for THOUSANDS of years and did not have the level of heart disease that we see today. It wasn't until vegetable oils were introduced in the 1960s DISPLACING the consumption of natural animal fats in the average American diet that arteriosclerosis and other types of heart diseases developed into epidemic proportions.

Check out http://www.westonaprice.org/index.html for more information about the importance of natural animal fats in our diet.

By the way, PyroDon you can invite me to dinner at your house ANY DAY! Yum!

donsgal

sheepish · #48 01/15/07, 06:12 AM

I didn't vote because I beat oil and butter together in equal quantities. This keeps it soft and fresh in the fridge.

In the summer plain butter melts and goes rancid on the counter. In the winter, it is too hard to spread.

full sun · #49 01/15/07, 08:27 AM

My mother was diagnosed with Chronic Leukemia (no symptoms) in 2001. I was diagnosed and treated for Lymphoma in 2004 and my dad died in January 2005. It was obviously an overwhelming time for our family with no other history of cancer. We were wracking our brians trying to figure out what happened. I am thinking pesticides or power lines too close to the house. One day, my mom said to me very quietly and very seriously, "Do you think it was because I left the butter out on the counter?"

Jennifer

Bruce in NE · #50 01/15/07, 11:04 AM

Surprised no one has mentioned turning butter into ghee. Refining butter into ghee gets rid of some of the bad fats; you can use it like cooking oil (doesn't burn as easily); and you can store in in the cupboard.

Pony · #51 01/15/07, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce in NE

Surprised no one has mentioned turning butter into ghee. Refining butter into ghee gets rid of some of the bad fats; you can use it like cooking oil (doesn't burn as easily); and you can store in in the cupboard.

Well, Bruce, now that you have mentioned it, I'm intrigued. How's it done? How do you cook with it? (Should we take this over to the Cooking and Crafts forum?)

Pony!

Dubai Vol · #52 01/15/07, 11:24 AM

They sell ghee in the supermarket here: it's clarified butter, and very popular with Indians.

Wiki on ghee

Junkman · #53 01/19/07, 11:04 PM

Just read this today from a very old book. TO KEEP MILK AND BUTTER COOL
"All you need is a box and a jar or crock with a cover to it. Sit the crock in the box and pack sand around it and keep the sand moist at all times. you will find the milk and butter will keep better than in a refrigerator." Now, I wonder if it really works.

Might be something good to know if TSHTF someday.

frazzlehead · #54 01/19/07, 11:27 PM

There are several butter bells here:

www.goldaskitchen.com

for $7-12 CDN.

I got the one with herbs and spices on it for Christmas and I absolutely love it.

When I was little, butter was stored in the cupboard/on the table in a special covered dish. In the summer it would get icky fairly quick, and even just regular room temperature for awhile it would get ... "tired", I guess. In the butter bell, it stays really fresh - I honestly do notice the difference.

Highly recommended!