No. I have never even considered that. If I try it, I’ll let you know how it worked.
I keep mine at room temp, which is about 74 during the summer and the winter, and it does seem that the butter has become less spreadable over the last five months. I mean, it seems so enough that I instantly opened this thread to see if there was a reason for it. Now, the butter dish is somewhat close to an exterior window. Placing my hand near the butter dish, it doesn’t seem to be much, if any, temperature difference with room temperature, but maybe a couple degrees can make a big difference in spreadability.
The difference in spreadability is not a subtle thing. It is like cream cheese versus cheddar. My house is temperature controlled and it isn’t the few degrees of difference, in my view.
Where are you storing your butter, pre-spreading? We find that if we have the butter dish in a kitchen cupboard against the outdoor wall, it’s always hard to spread. We moved it to a kitchen cupboard against an interior wall, and easy-peasy spreading.
It’s on the counter, maybe I will try moving it. It’s not particularly close to anything outside.
Could you buy a 100% grass-fed butter, instead?
Probably buying better butter would be less bitter.
Butter is way over-rated in my opinion.
Give me a good tub of ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ and I can be happy.
Unless…a recipe clearly states it needs real butter.
BTW: don’t buy the huge tub of fake butter. It does pick up other tastes from the fridge.
I don’t much like the taste of “I can’t believe it’s not butter”.
But I love the incredulousness.
Ah, well, there’s the problem. Your butter bell is like a newborn baby, and it must be treated as such.
When you adopt a butter bell baby into your home you must forget about sleeping through the night, taking vacations, “me” time and so on and so forth.
If you care for your butter bell baby correctly, you will be rewarded with fresh, soft butter to be proud of and brag to your friends about.
…until it runs off with the garlic press.
On a more serious note, I find changing the water ~once/week keeps the butter bell mold-free.
Even the BBC is reporting on Buttergate now.
(I use canola oil margarine, personally. More money for my farming relatives and less money in the pockets of the Big Dairy cartel.)
I use ghee. Big jar of it on the counter at all times. Quality is primarily dependent on brand.
NPR has jumped on the news too.
Oh, Canada . . .
Gotta check with my daughter in BC, make sure she’s ok.
The Guardian suggested Canadians were furious at the change. That’s a bit dramatic, but I’d prefer my butter to spread than the alternative. I bought some garlic butter which did soften. I might have to resort to the half butter stuff which spreads like margarine.
These are tough and unprecedented times.
I’ve never had that problem with the butterbell - but the water can’t touch the butter. ever. if it does, the butter will mold.
Cheese grating butter is just a PITA. (I’ll do it for pie crusts, but not worth it for bread.)
And the New York Times