Holly-Kay, I'm an enabler. LOL!

That particular pattern is a siren call for me. Love the "blank" pieces and whenever I happen to come across those or the Ranson dishes for a steal, I snap them up. Bargains are harder to find these days! I bought some covered vegetable bowls in this and the bow pattern for $20ish each.

$82 for a butter dish is not a steal...sigh.

The "bow" version is slightly less, but I don't like it as much and it's not a bargain, either.

Here is a link that might be useful: Another Limoges

In a glass rubbermaid covered in an upper cabinet.

I got out my butter bell. :D

I made baked bread this morning and cleaned up and filled the butter bell.

Since we don't use a lot of butter, you think it's a good idea to just put half a stick in at a time? Keep the other half wrapped in it's wrapper in the fridge in the butter place in the door?

And am I remembering right, you want the water up to at least the lowest part of the upper part? (hopefully that will make sense to people who've used them)

Here's mine. And I use sticks of real butter, often, so it never goes rancid when left out on the shelf. Now if the temp outside is very warm or the oven is on, I have nearly melted butter when I lift the lid. :)

Cal- I've used a half stick before without a problem. Just make sure its packed well without air pockets or it falls into the water.

Yes, water up to the lip.

I keep ours in a glass butter dish much like the one below. Plugra or KerryGold! :)

My chef friend shared this on his FB page. I just had to laugh!

Duplicate post.

This post was edited by hsw_sc on Sun, Oct 5, 14 at 15:39

Butter bell fan here, too. They are getting easier to find.

I didn't read every word of every post here so maybe this was covered--but I really can't stand butter that has absorbed fridge odors. I will trim off the sides of a stick of butter just to get rid of the part that tastes like fridge! I find that storing it in the original foil or paper (and I only buy Land o' Lakes, though the pricier Irish or Danish butter is good, too---oh, and the sour cream butter from Vermont Cheese Co. is to die for). Anyway--original paper/foil wrapper inside a heavy duty zip-loc is enough to keep it tasting fresh until served or until packed into the butter bell.

There is nothing better than good, fresh butter on good, fresh bread. If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it'd be bread and butter.

I have a butter bell -I didn't know it had a name. It's out all the time because DH is a tomato freak. In the tomato season he lives on butter and tomato sandwiches on good bread or matzoh. Soon homegrown tomato season will be over and he will be so sad.
I put a little crushed ice in the container and I do change it every 2 or 3 days.

Mine's in here :). I always have some at room temp near the toaster.

A few years ago DH decided he wanted to keep butter on the counter. My response was that the container had to be pretty. We ended up with a beautiful handmade pottery butter bell (link below).

The water is actually supposed to touch the butter to create a water tight seal. Salting the water can help with mold, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: French Butter Dish

I was raised on margarine. My mom said she uses it because it's spreadable.

Well, a friend introduced me to butter bells and my life was forever changed. I love butter from our butter bell! Margarine tastes awful to me now.

Am I the only one that keeps it in the fridge? I love butter, and I love soft butter, but we are only two people and just don't eat enough butter fast enough to have it on the counter top. I tried this in the past and it went rancid. Anyone have a mini butter holder they use? Or do you just use a regular size holder and put a smaller amount in it?

P.S. When I make toast I just swipe the cold butter stick directly onto it and it actually spreads pretty well if the toast is just out of the toaster.

Alex, I agree that the first Limoge is much prettier. I am a big fan of beautiful china. Thanks for posting!

ChristyMcK, it's only me in my household and I don't eat enough butter to keep it out most of the time, so yeah---it's refrigerated. And I don't mind spreading cold-ish butter. But do try a butter bell, it seals out air which is what causes rancidity.

I think 'they' should make a mini butter bell for the small households of the world. The ones I've looked at are so big!

I read Texas_Gem's tip. I kept meaning to go make sure the butter was packed in. But I didn't go back until hours later...and it'd fallen into the water. :)

Hopefully it's packed tight enough now.

MIne came included with a pressed glass set with creamer and sugar container.

I just remembered this Kickstarter campaign for a butter grater/knife. My husband showed me because the video is very funny! However, the product looks like a perfect solution.

Apparently many people have this butter issue; they've raised over $360,000. It's worth checking out if you have time...

Here is a link that might be useful: The Stupendous Splendiferous ButterUp

I kept thinking "in the freezer" as I read the title of this thread and finally had to look in and see what y'all were saying. :)

I have a Le Creuset butter dish which was a gift, but it's big and I'm always scared it'll get broken, so it only comes out for company. I have a cut glass butter dish which I grew up with and my mother shed. It doesn't go with my things, though, so it comes out for company.

For table I only use cultured butter, or pasture butter if I can't get it. For baking I use unsalted. For cooking (e.g., eggs) I use salted.

If butter stays on my counter, no matter how insulated the container, after a few hours it's disgusting moosh not spreadable delight. It goes in the fridge. But I agree about the fridge odors (not that there are many in my fridge, but who wants kale scented butter?).

Opened butter goes in Ziploc bags. There's table butter in the main fridge and cooking butter in the prep area fridge drawer. In bags. :) And the extra stays in the freezer.

I almost cried last week when the lid to my glass butter box from Williams Sonoma fell on the ground. Thankfully it did not break. (I have had it over 25 years, it is a glass box with a cow on the lid)

I keep a stick of butter on the counter.

Margarine is good for removing tar from your feet after you go to the beach. But it is a great way to ruin cookies or a slice of toast.

Another vote for butter on the counter!

We have a saying around here---"everything's better with butter"!

I also have a fat butter container I brought home from Germany. Perfect for keeping the Kerrygold in....

I like to keep a quarter stick on counter on a tiny lidless plate. I don`t like to have to lift the lid when I have the toast in one hand and the knife in the other. The rest of butter is always in the fridge. I use unsalted butter and it can go off sooner.

This is hilarious. I never would have expected such a heated debate on GW over butter! Mine lives partially wrapped on an old Frankoma butter dish.

My husband came with a butter bell but I was never able to make it work without getting moldy. It never gets moldy when its just sitting out on the counter. Maybe I'll dig it out and give it another shot.

Mine is in a plastic container in the covered section of my refrigerator door. Temps are warm enough around here most of the year that I would have mooshy runny butter if left out on the counter (unless I ran our air conditioning constantly while we are at work - not happening). I take it out to soften up a bit when I know I'm going to cook, and way ahead of time if I'm baking something that needs it very soft. For things I just need a little bit for spreading, I have a tub of the spreadable butter. Since it's just 2 of us, and DH almost never uses it except at meals, it works fine for us.

I keep mine on counter next to toaster.

Funny I'm reading this thread today. They just uncrated our new fridige - 42" GE Side by Side Monogram - and included in the box was a rectangular clear glass butter dish by Anchor. Until seeing what you all do, I thought butter had to be kept in the refrigerator. I learn so much from Garden Web! We use butter tubs for every day use and just take it out of the fridge a little early to soften. I use sticks for cooking and keep them in their wrap (or now in my new butter dish :).

It sounds like a lot of your are actually using your butter bells incorrectly. To have an airtight seal, the butter does need to be touching the water. That's why many old butter bells had a hole in them, to let the air out when placing it down into the water. The hole also reduced suction when lifting the butter out of the water. That suction could be why some of you are losing your butter into the water.

If your bell doesn't have an air release hole, you should keep the butter as full as possible, to minimize the amount of air trapped. You also want to make sure you don't have any air pockets when packing the bell. Oh, and a pinch of salt in the water should help those of you who are having mold issues.

ChristyMcK, they do make a small sort-of-bell. I got this at Linens-n-Things, IIRC. The lid is a dome that fits over the raised bottom ring. Mine broke when it fell through one of the several large gaps in the upper rack of my Frigidaire dishwasher . The container portion is about 2.25" diameter.

I use very little butter or spread; since I am a toast addict I try to stay on the wagon! And I bake very infrequently. So a pound of butter seems to last for ever, and it is kept in the freezer. I use EVOO almost exclusively on veggies and in cooking.

Amazing, I never heard of a butter bell before, water? Suction? Mold if it doesn't touch the sides? I have been in the dark too long. Thanks to GW I learn something new almost every day. My aunt and uncle used to have dairy cows and they would always have a soup size shallow bowl of butter sitting out. Maybe that bowl was a butter bellâ¦.

haha, since nobody else posted it...

The first thing that came to my mind when I read the title of the post "Where's your butter", was

"on my hips".

I have a small collection of Moon & Stars pattern dishes, and I think the butter dish is the prettiest piece in the collection. I have three butter dishes in blue, green and amberina, which I alternate.
Yes, I leave it out on the counter; we go through butter pretty fast.

Wow, what an interesting topic. I have always thought that leaving butter out for any length of time would be unsafe, but then it hit me that I have never refrigerated leftover cake... cake which is frosted with butter and milk. What a revelation! So, I immediately got on Amazon and ordered a butter bell! Now, after reading Errants comment, I hope the one I ordered has a hole so that it gets an air tight seal. Mmm, soft butter...what a concept!

Here's mine. Its tiny and fits my tiny kitchen. I love it. Not quite a full 1/4lb fits. Keep it for the infrequent toast we eat. I got it at a gift shop in Vermont this summer.

I keep my butter on the counter, all the time. It's hot in Az. and I have never had butter go bad. I have a glass dish made by Pyrex, with lid. No need for water. I believe it's the glass container, it does not permit air to get in. These type of dishes were popular in the 50's, they came with a large square dish, an oblong dish, and 2 small dishes, so they stacked up. They were called "refridgerator dishes". It holds 2 sticks, and takes a month for me to use it up, and has never gone bad. Lucky me. I picked it up at a yard or estate sale.

Love butter - wouldn't trade it for any imposters!! Mine sits out on the island in a very pretty covered butter dish. I love to cook and bake and use it often.
Diane

I love this topic. After reading about leaving the butter out on the counter I asked DH to get his DGM's butter dish out of the cupboard for me. He said there isn't a butter dish here, there is a something here but no butter dish. I told him to bring it to me anyway of course it WAS the butter dish. He thought it had to be in the shape of a butter stick. This is the reason I have all but banned him from the kitchen. SMH.

enduring, I love the sweet little butter holder. Too cute!

Cal_quail, I know, isn't it? The picture is sideways. The dish seems a little bigger than the image depicts. Picked it up in Middlebury VT, I think at a shop called Sweet Cecil's.

I have a little crystal dish too! It holds half of a stick of butter. But I've changed shelves and shelf decor since. : ) I really like yours enduring.

Cal_quail - I love the blue color of your butter bell! Can you please provide the name of who makes it?

Edit: Never mind, I think found it on Amazon! It's by Emile Henry, is that right? I have a couple of baking dishes from Emile Henry that I love - and I like that they are still being made in France.

This post was edited by Mrs_Nyefnyef on Tue, Oct 7, 14 at 22:17

Thanks schoolhouse ;) yours is fab too.

Mrs Nyefnyef, Cal_quail's does look like Emile Henry. I ordered a yellow one from Amazon after I read this thread, but unfortunately, it has a flaw on the lid so I have to return it and wait for a replacement. I can't wait to use it.

Your butter dishes are all so pretty! In full disclosure, here is mine,,the one in back with a cracked cover. You can see why I get acrylic and the like, this butter dish lives in the counter just an oops away from a ceramic tile floor and this thing is lucky to survive at all, if a bit maimed. Once there was a wee black knob on top, too. For DS and his roomies, I saw an OXO one in the link and it has butter bumpers! I like OXO, I might get one for me, too.

I have a lovely crystal one for dinner company, so we're not total rubes lol! Someone posted about using a cheese crock for butter...I have one of those, I think I'll try it,,going for a more French farmhouse look.

Here is a link that might be useful: OXO butter dish

In ma belly. All of it. I ran out.

Reviving because you all got me interested in using something other than the wrapper it comes in!

I tried a couple of thrift stores, but nothing. I've had a bad couple of days (weeks) and decided to occupy my brain with something fun yesterday and went to my favorite antique mall. Found this for $12, which was more than I wanted to spend, but even plain glass was $8. My mom has goblets like this, so it makes me smile. I think it will fit my Kerrygold bricks as it's good sized.
Also found replacements for french white corningware that we broke years ago, but kept the lids. Love that stuff!

Very nice dish Alex9179. It will be easy to grasp at the handle. That was a complaint I had with a smooth sided glass dish that I had - I couldn't grasp the sides very well to lift the lid, without it slipping from my fingers. The one I show above is very easy, but not large like yours. It only holds about 1/8lb of butter.

Oh, Alex, what a delightful find! Not only is it pretty, with a handle, but when you lift the lid, you can lay it on its side (somehow there is always a bit of butter on the edge of my lid) and still reach the handle to pick it up again.

AND you replaced some Corning French white...I like mine, too.

I think it's perfect :) Glad you have such a pleasant and productive day!

You both hit the nail on the head with how easy it is to deal with the lid. That was one of the winning points. When trying out the other options, they weren't as comfortable/easy. My children are excited for the opportunity to butter something! They crack me up.

Alex, and your children will have the opportunity to handle something elegant and learn how to be careful ;) Treating things with care is a wonderful thing.