Porter posted about butter at the exact same time I was thinking of posting about butter. WHAT A SMALL WORLD.
I don’t want to give the impression that I think about butter all the time (although some may argue otherwise) but her post was timely because I recently made a butter-related discovery that has vastly improved our daily lives and I wanted to share it with you.
I bought a butter bell at Winner’s. It’s a pretty old concept. I gather it was invented before the advent of refrigeration. I’ve wanted to buy one for some time. If it worked for the pioneers, surely it would work for us!
First, allow me to indulge in some personal butter backstory.
Growing up, the butter was kept in the fridge. We also used margarine, the bright and yellow kind valued for its spreadable consistency. But butter was not the only sandwich spread in our house, nay, we also used goose lard. And a lot of rye.
When I first met Mark I was surprised to learn that he left his butter out on the counter. I secretly wondered if he was off his rocker, because butter goes bad, doesn’t it?
I realized that if a small amount (I’m talking any amount under a pound) won’t go bad right away if unrefrigerated. But I do believe its lifespan is compromised the longer it sits out, and as soon as it hits the counter it begins a downward slide towards the town of Rancid. The salt in the butter acts as a preservative and stretches out its lifespan somewhat, but here’s the rub, we buy unsalted butter. It’s better for recipes (I’ve had professional chefs recommend this to me) and I prefer the taste of it and if I have a salt craving I add a little sprinkle to the top on my toast. Unsalted butter, however, doesn’t stay as fresh as its saltier counterpart if it is kept out of the fridge.
It’s six of one, half dozen of the other. This is one of life’s big questions! Do you leave your butter in the fridge, therefore forcing you to slice off great big squares of it? Or do you leave it on the counter to soften, therefore (erm, hopefully) using less of it because it’s so easily spread on your bread?
IÂ found that if we left our butter out it would be soft and spreadable, sure, but it would also turn rancid, and that in between part, this slow changing of its molecular structure greatly affected the taste. This was especially true in the summer months when our kitchen heated up.
As for margarine? We buy Olivina, which is non-hydrogenated, but I’d rather eat the butter. (Have you ever read anything by Michael Pollan? He recommends basing your diet on foods your grandmother would recognize as being food. Sounds good to me!)
So, back to the butter bell. We’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now. It has kept its promises. It really does keep the butter soft, and rather miraculously, it keeps its fresh flavour. It has to do with the water creating a seal, but the scientific aspect is less important to me. What’s important here is that the butter is spreadable and ready, whenever I want it. :)
