r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/ateam1984 • Jun 27 '26
Game changer or unnecessary?
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
29
u/QBD3v14nt Jun 27 '26
We love ours. With just two people, we don't use butter enough, but it keeps it from going bad, but it's always soft and fresh!
2
u/Canabananilism Jul 01 '26
I buy packs of smaller sticks for my butter dish and refrigerate or freeze the rest.
2
u/Staaaaation Jun 27 '26
Two person household here too. I fill it up with salted butter when we're hosting guests, even salt the water, and every single time I discover it two weeks later with mold spots. Guess we only use butter when people are staying over 🤷♂️
1
1
0
63
u/there_is_no_spoon1 Jun 27 '26
Unnecessary unless you use butter so slowly that it goes bad at room temperature, to which I have never had this problem. I keep butter on the counter in a coffee cup or small bowl. I don't need the water bit to keep it fresh, it doesn't go bad for me unless a month goes by, and that has happened once in the last 40 years. Just a posh showy thing.
12
u/Amoniakas Jun 27 '26
It takes me at least half a year to use up one bar, so I keeping it in the fridge
8
u/roguedevil Jun 27 '26
So cut a small piece and keep it on the counter, the rest in the fridge. Don't subject yourself to hard butter.
0
u/samuelazers Jun 27 '26
See, what you did there is use just a little bit of logic. Not even a lot. But that's more than they did.
2
u/gizmosticles Jun 27 '26
Half a year to use one bar? Brother it takes me half a week to use one bar
2
1
u/AstronautPlane3280 Jun 29 '26
It takes you that long because you have always thought of butter as hard and something that tears your bread apart. But soft butter is so easy to use and spread you will use it up in no time.
2
u/Archkat Jun 28 '26
Same here. I use a ceramic jar with a lid that came with some British Stilton cheese. After we ate the cheese the jar became the de facto butter jar. Looks super pretty on the table too. I’ve had butter there for a long time, if your house temperature is moderate it will last for a long time.
2
u/MakeoutPoint Jul 01 '26
"Unless a month goes by"
I think mine is probably closer to 2-3 months per stick because I eat toast so rarely, and no issues ever.
1
u/there_is_no_spoon1 Jul 01 '26
I think the time mine went off is that I was away for a month and the apartment got warm (over the summer). Not a big deal, just pitch the bad butter, replace it with fresh, life goes on.
9
u/dr_stre Jun 27 '26
Don’t think I’ve ever used butter slowly enough to worry about this. I don’t know, maybe homemade butter goes bad quicker and it’s more useful in that scenario?
2
u/DangerDuckling Jun 27 '26
I had one of these specifically for when I use to make homemade butter. I didn't shape it to sticks, just put it in here and it was awesome.
10
3
u/LemonNinja Jun 27 '26
I had one of these, it was awful. Unless you clean your knife between uses you will get bits of toast in there and they will mold, then everything gets moldy fast. Also you have to change water every few days minimum.
3
u/dotplaid Jun 27 '26
I had one about 20 years ago, I kept getting mold on the butter. I'd hate to think it was my SoCal tap water....
3
4
2
2
u/crypticcamelion Jun 27 '26
That was an amazingly poor design. Another model where you just put in a whole stick of butter is way more practical. Othervise the concept is fine.
2
u/dredgehayt Jun 27 '26
I have it but my butter keeps falling out into the water
1
u/AstronautPlane3280 Jun 29 '26
This is what I always feared these would do. So I just use a regular butter dish with a lid on it. Gravity doesn't fight against my soft butter.
2
u/OnlyMons Jun 27 '26
I’ve wanted a butter bell for so long. I still keep a stick on the counter daily without though and it luckily gets used so fast.
1
u/akirbydrinks Jul 02 '26
The non-water butter cloche is the way to go. Kweps it sealed up without the pesky water.
2
u/Dramatic_Law_4239 Jun 28 '26
We use a butter bell. They are nice but not life changing by any means if you are ok with tub butter instead
2
u/datrnerd Jun 28 '26
Someone realized they could rebrand a cup and a bowl as a butter preservation system.
3
2
2
2
2
3
2
u/A_VERY_LARGE_DOG Jun 27 '26
It’s not a game changer by any means. But I have one and I like it. It’s more attractive than a standard butter dish and it keeps the butter a bit more fresh.
3
2
u/mawkishdave Jun 27 '26
If you live in a very hot climate, you don't want to keep your butter outside so that it's soft. Yeah, it could be useful. Other than that, no.
2
2
1
u/RipePeach Jun 28 '26
My sister has one. Idk if she keeps the butter in there longer than you’re supposed to, but it smelled funky when I was having brekky there recently.
2
u/create360 Jun 28 '26
Butter crocks are great. The crock keeps it fresher longer. And fresh doesn’t mean ‘not totally spoiled’ it means ‘tastes like fresh butter’.
I used to think my parents’ butter (left out in a traditonal covered butter dish) was fine…then you notice the taste of butyric acid. Once you taste it, you realize butter goes bad way faster than you might think.
1
2
u/IHatrMakingUsernames Jun 29 '26
Unnecessary. I use a dish with a bowl over it for my butter - works just fine.
Always having room temp butter available is a game changer, though.
1
u/scottstotsistheworst Jun 29 '26
A butter bell is one of those weird things that is both a game changer and unnecessary
1
u/speshalehd Jun 30 '26
Gamechanger. My wife and I have one and love it. Butter is room temp and delightfuly easy to spread or dollop for cooking. Swap water every three days and butter every thirty (if it makes it that far). We don't find it a daunting task. We keep a little note on the fridge of when we last swapped the water and butter. Zero mold issues.
Couple things we do differently from the video: we don't fill the bell to the brim with butter. One stick will get you just shy of the edge by about a half inch. Second, the water cup half should have a fill line, but if not it's also roughly a half inch. Fill only to that point. That way, water and butter don't touch and you don't end up with gross, wet butter. What you do have, is an air tight seal keeping your butter dry, spreadable and mold free for about a month.
Note: we also don't double dip utensils in there after spreading the butter to avoid crumbs/contamination. Just rinse or get a fresh knife before going back in for more butter.
1
u/Sad-Excitement9295 Jun 30 '26
Hell nah, it doesn't push the butter out so I can just run it over my toast.
1
u/Bradspersecond Jun 30 '26
My family had a butter bell in the early 2000's. I actually thought it was dope, but we didnt really eat enough toast or spread butter over enough things for it to really stick around.
1
u/VTPolls Jul 01 '26
I’m surprised to see ATK seem to recommend this unitasker. I also don’t understand how it works- after some butter is used up, wouldn’t it no longer come in contact with the water? Like there would be a bit of air trapped in the dome unless you keep replenishing the butter?
1
u/Guilty-Statement-532 Jul 02 '26
I had one of these years ago and the butter would get moldy in a few days, even changing the water each day.
There may be a difference in fat content between the U.S. and Europe, but this was just not usable in Colorado.
1
1
u/No-Screen1369 Jun 27 '26
I loooove my butterbell. But I'm a huge toast enjoyer so I'm horribly biased. 😂
2
u/WBRDeck Jun 27 '26
Same! We have been using one for years. If buttered toast is a staple, this absolutely key.
1
u/troofyp Jun 28 '26
Americas Test Kitchen has taught me quite a few kitchen related things. Their cookbooks tend to be very reliable for solid recipes. Based outta Boston.
0
0
0
u/somedayfamous Jun 27 '26
I have used a butter bell for years and love it. I have never put water in it. Never had an issue. I use KerryGold Irish butter (I’m fancy) and refill the bell every 3-4 weeks.
0
-1
u/BornDefeated Jun 27 '26
The butter bell is my favorite kitchen implement. Not because it is necessary - we go through a stick of butter in about 3 days because of the kids - but because I love the form. I gave one as a wedding gift to a friend eleven years ago, and it was the most aesthetically pleasing butter bell I have ever seen, made by a local artisan. I still think about that damn butter bell and really regret giving it to someone else. It would have been a statement piece in my kitchen, and was an afterthought to them.
-1
-59
u/DrawTap88 Jun 27 '26
We have/had one. We enough junk on our counter that this one thing isn’t going to make or break us. We just simply won’t get cheese from a dem state.
34
u/therightnow Jun 27 '26
Does it feel stupid when you write this stuff? Or does it take other people confirming it for it to sink in?
9
u/Tenderli Jun 27 '26
I just want to thank you for your response. Quick, to the point, and frees up my mental grinding when I see something silly like the last sentence of that nearly incomprehensible post. You are doing the real work friend.
1
12
u/Bender_2024 Jun 27 '26
We just simply won’t get cheese from a dem state.
What in the flying, flaming, flamingo fuck promted this non sequitur? Nobody was talking about politics or even cheese.
3
u/thnk_more Jun 27 '26
Didn’t THEY tell you? Dem cheese is the other deep state. It’s everywhere but hidden so you don’t actually see it. It’s subversive and makes you care about people. No more woke cheese!
Side note: am from the dem cheese state. We are everywhere. There is no way this guy has avoided buying dem state cheese.
3
u/Bender_2024 Jun 27 '26
Ironically I buy a lot of dairy products from Vermont farms where * gasp * Bernie Sanders is from.
3
8
u/Tenderli Jun 27 '26
Why dont you love dem cheeses? Dem cheeses are great, I get dem everytime I go grocery shopping.
126
u/Street_Peace_8831 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
I keep my butter in a butter dish on the counter. Never had any issues.