French butter dish

Open pottery French butter dish. The cup/lid on the right is filled with butter, then inverted and placed in the water-containing base on the left.

A French butter dish is a cylindrical container used to maintain the freshness and spreadable consistency of butter without refrigeration. Butter is kept in what appears to be the lid, inverted, and submerged in water held in the base. ^[1]

This late 19th-century French-designed pottery crock has two parts: a base that holds water, and a cup to hold the packed butter which also serves as a lid. The cup containing butter is placed into the base, where water creates an airtight seal that keeps the air (and thus oxygen) away from the butter so that refrigeration is not needed, and the butter can be used in its soft form. This method will keep butter for around a month provided it is kept at temperatures below 80 °F (27 °C) and the water is changed regularly.^{[ citation needed ]}

History

In the 1970s and 1980s, craft potters began producing and marketing the French butter dish throughout the United States at craft fairs and in art boutiques. "French butter dish" became the preferred name in the US around that time, and was later adopted by potters in Europe. By the end of the 20th century, French butter dishes became popular enough for manufactured versions to appear.

References

1. Hopper, Robin (1986). Functional pottery: Form and aesthetic in pots of purpose. Radnor, Pennsylvania: Chilton Book Co. pp. 171–172. ISBN   0801974518.

External links

• WebExhibits: Butter
• French Butter Dishes Archived 2010-01-04 at the Wayback Machine
• History of French Butter Dish