OT: French Butter Keeper

CTMike

I mentioned in a previous thread about my uncle being a ceramic artist out near Portland, OR. Anyhow, he recently fired the Anagama kiln for their soup bowl fund raiser, and he made me a French Butter Keeper. 

The water (salted if storing unsalted butter) provides a seal that keeps air out. Change out the water once a week or so, and your butter will be at room temperature and kept from going rancid for a month or so. 

ColbyLang

Correct. They’re awesome. Called a butter bell

Ozzie_Isaac

My mom used a butter bell, but hers is not near as cool as that! Curious if he is your uncle by blood, because you all
are some serious artists!

Curious why you salt the water for unsalted butter?  I could see salting for salted butter.

CTMike

Ozzie_Isaac said:

My mom used a butter bell, but hers is not near as cool as that! Curious if he is your uncle by blood, because you all
are some serious artists!

Curious why you salt the water for unsalted butter?  I could see salting for salted butter.

He is actually my Uncle by marriage - my Dad’s sister. 

From my reading the salt in the water helps keep unsalted butter from going rancid faster. 

caliking

That's a nice, very functional gift. I use a shot of vodka in ours. Have never had the butter go rancid before we finished what was in it. 

Ozzie_Isaac

caliking said:

That's a nice, very functional gift. I use a shot of vodka in ours. Have never had the butter go rancid before we finished what was in it. 

In our house we can leave a pound on the counter and it will be gone in a day or two.

Ozzie_Isaac

Btw, Costco Kerry Gold is $3 off right now.

CTMike

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Btw, Costco Kerry Gold is $3 off right now.

Thanks for that, what I loaded in to the keeper was the last of my KG. 

paqman

Beautiful!

paqman

CTMike said:

show previous quotes

Ozzie_Isaac said:

My mom used a butter bell, but hers is not near as cool as that! Curious if he is your uncle by blood, because you all
are some serious artists!

Curious why you salt the water for unsalted butter?  I could see salting for salted butter.

He is actually my Uncle by marriage - my Dad’s sister. 

From my reading the salt in the water helps keep unsalted butter from going rancid faster. 

The salt is to help prevent mold.  If you don’t add salt to the water when keeping unsalted butter, you will most likely end up with black nasty mold within days.

Legume

We used one of these for years, I really don't know why we stopped, I think it was just when we moved we lost track of it.  Your uncle does great work, that one is beautiful.

zaphod

yep, been using a bell on the counter for year. absolutely the best way to keep butter ready to use.

CMH88

Maybe it’s user error here but the butter gets moldy within a week or so in my butter bell…

Ozzie_Isaac

CMH88 said:

Maybe it’s user error here but the butter gets moldy within a week or so in my butter bell…

I just learned from this thread, if you are using unsalted butter, add salt to the water. (Thanks @paqman for the explanation and what goes wrong without it)

Canugghead

Thanks for sharing, never heard of butter bell until now. Started digging more into it...

it's fine when butter is bulging out of the cup, what happens when the butter level goes down, won't you have an air space between the water and butter? what am I missing?

I am overthinking this, my experiment failed because the bottom piece is too shallow?

CTMike

Canugghead said:

Thanks for sharing, never heard of butter bell until now. Started digging more into it...

it's fine when butter is bulging out of the cup, what happens when the butter level goes down, won't you have an air space between the water and butter? what am I missing?

I am overthinking this, my experiment failed because the bottom piece is too shallow?

If you notice in your diagram, the rim on the lid prevents it from touching the bottom of the crock. Although I don’t see why your setup wouldn’t work. 

Legume

You probably don't want the water exposed to the air the whole time, you want it somewhat sealed off.

I suspect there is an air pocket whenever the butter isn't full, but we never had an issue with butter oxidizing like it does in the fridge when exposed to air.

Canugghead

Yes I noticed the 'rim' at the bottom of the butter cup that prevents the cup rim from touching the bottom. My picture is not clear, as indicated in this annotated version there is a pocket of trapped air. Unless the base is wide enough for the butter cup to be immersed on its side and then flipped upside down, I fail to see how air can be eliminated whether the inverted cup is touching the bottom or not, if the butter is not 'bulging' at the brim. From what I've read the butter surface should be in contact with the water with no trapped air, some instructions even say to cover top of butter with parchment paper and press to squeeze out air pockets initially.

I'm thinking of just using a short wide-mouth mason jar and top off the butter with water after each use. 

Someone please tell me I'm way out to lunch and point me in the right direction.

Canugghead

Legume said:

You probably don't want the water exposed to the air the whole time, you want it somewhat sealed off.

I suspect there is an air pocket whenever the butter isn't full, but we never had an issue with butter oxidizing like it does in the fridge when exposed to air.

FWIW, most if not all the butter bell pictures/ads I've seen are not air tight, are you thinking of minimising evaporation or contamination?

fishlessman

how many pounds goes in the bell, i just use a dish with a glass top and leave it out and never a problem.... i do go thru 1 to 2 pounds a long weekend though and leave it out the rest of the week on the counter. just use salted butter here even if a recipe says unsalted.  like that butter bell though

Legume

Canugghead said:

show previous quotes

Legume said:

You probably don't want the water exposed to the air the whole time, you want it somewhat sealed off.

I suspect there is an air pocket whenever the butter isn't full, but we never had an issue with butter oxidizing like it does in the fridge when exposed to air.

FWIW, most if not all the butter bell pictures/ads I've seen are not air tight, are you thinking of minimising evaporation or contamination?

No, I can't imagine it needs to be airtight, but yours is wide open around the butter bowl, the real butter bells the water is loosely covered from evap, things falling in it, etc.

If you left a glass of water uncovered on the counter for a week or more, you're gonna toss it and get fresh water to drink.

hoosier_egger

I like @caliking suggestion of using a little vodka in it. That has to inhibit bacteria growth. 

OhioEgger

ColtsFan said:

I like @caliking suggestion of using a little vodka in it. That has to inhibit bacteria growth. 

I like that idea also. We used a butter bell for many years, but once we started low-carbing our diet, our bread consumption fell to almost nothing and the need for this went away. I still have it stored away somewhere.

Canugghead

Legume said:

show previous quotes

Canugghead said:

Legume said:

You probably don't want the water exposed to the air the whole time, you want it somewhat sealed off.

I suspect there is an air pocket whenever the butter isn't full, but we never had an issue with butter oxidizing like it does in the fridge when exposed to air.

FWIW, most if not all the butter bell pictures/ads I've seen are not air tight, are you thinking of minimising evaporation or contamination?

No, I can't imagine it needs to be airtight, but yours is wide open around the butter bowl, the real butter bells the water is loosely covered from evap, things falling in it, etc.

If you left a glass of water uncovered on the counter for a week or more, you're gonna toss it and get fresh water to drink.

Makes sense. The experiment was simply to satisfy my curiosity re air pocket, not going to use it like that. Considering that it's practically not possible to eliminate the air pocket most of the time maybe it's not a bad thing; otherwise there wouldn't be so many happy users all these years. Like I said in my first post, I'm overthinking this 

Anyhow, I'm going to try the single mason jar with water top up and lid on to see what happens.

Edit: Apology to @CTMike for threadjacking.

caliking

Canugghead said:

Thanks for sharing, never heard of butter bell until now. Started digging more into it...

it's fine when butter is bulging out of the cup, what happens when the butter level goes down, won't you have an air space between the water and butter? what am I missing?

I am overthinking this, my experiment failed because the bottom piece is too shallow?
...

the key feature of a butter bell, is the water seal around the cup part holding the butter. That, and the handle/knob at the end, which makes it easy to handle the part holding the butter. 

Don't worry about the air pocket in the cup as butter is used. No need for parchment, or keeping it full enough to bulge over the rim, etc. Just make sure there is enough water in the crock to maintain the seal. Or, vodka.

Also, make sure you pack in the butter when filling the cup, even if you don't fill it all the way. When it gets warmer here, the butter occasionally falls out of the cup if it isn't packed in well. 
 

caliking

BTW, @CTMike - any chance your uncle is selling butter bells? I may be interested. 

Canugghead

@caliking Thanks for the great tutorial, I was definitely overthinking. Guess I naively believed some of the interwebz sources that say butter must be in contact with water. To minimise the chance of butter falling out I think letting it soften a bit and  pressing it down firmly with parchment when loading would help.

Legume

Still overthinking, just a little.

Get one, they're great. 

@CTMike I'm interested as well if he's making and selling.

fishlessman

So a hot buttered rum with vodka butter.

Would like to be on the list for one of these....

OhioEgger

Same here. It's a beauty and I would gladly buy one.

CTMike

caliking said:

BTW, @CTMike - any chance your uncle is selling butter bells? I may be interested. 

I’ll reach out to him and see if he can include one in the next quarterly firing or the anagama, and what the price might be.