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French Butter Dish: How They Keep Butter Fresh & Spreadable for Weeks Without Refrigeration

Editor's Note: This post was updated on April 10, 2020, with new links to the correct product.

I love the consistency of smooth butter. Nothing burns my biscuits more than trying to spread cold, rock-hard butter on my biscuits! My trick to making butter spreadable is to set it on my stovetop as I cook. (It gets the cold butter a bit warm.) Well, it turns out that hack isn't needed anymore, thanks to French butter dishes.

If you're Paula Deen with the butter, a French butter dish will change your life. A French butter keeper is not your typical butter dish. Thanks to the water tray on the French dish, you won't need to refrigerate your butter. That's right, you can finally have soft butter on your dining table, available for every meal.

How Does a French Butter Dish Work?

After you put your butter into the butter dish, you need to insert it into the well (upside down). The water acts as an airtight seal, which keeps oxygen from reaching your butter, keeping it nice and fresh. No, your butter will not be submerged in the water.

The rim will. You can use cold water or room temperature water in the well. Be sure to change the water every three days.

Butter Bell - The Original Butter Bell Crock

  • Inverted bell-shaped lid
  • Keeps butter fresh and spreadable for weeks without refrigeration
  • Under $27

Butter keepers are inexpensive dinnerware pieces. This butter keeper is under $27, and nearly 5,000 Amazon customers love it. This French butter crock is dishwasher safe and is four inches tall. It's the perfect size for countertops and small dining tables. After using a French butter dish, I don't think you'll ever go back to a regular ceramic butter dish.

If it doesn't have a well, you won't be able to retain freshness as long as a French butter keeper. Get your unsalted butter, a stick of butter, or homemade butter in a Butter Bell soon, y'all.

This will be the only way we eat spreadable butter from now on.

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This post was originally published in April 2020.