Butter keeper What's up with that?

I thought about getting one, but I read that in warm rooms the butter can fall out. I only have a window unit in the kitchen and it gets about 80 in there some days. I've been happy with my pewter covered butter dish left at room temp.
I fill it with a 1/2 stick at a time and that lasts most of the week.

Never heard of a Butter Keeper until now. I only use butter for baking and sometimes cooking so I keep it in the refrigerator. It's a great idea for those who use butter often.

I stand corrected! Have read otherwise, but must have been mislead. My butter and water often kiss...thank goodness there have been no casualties!

I think you are right cv.

Phil, I love my butter keeper. I've never had a problem with mold - I just change the water every couple of days, and with 3-4 people in residence, we easily go through the stick or so it holds before anything has a chance to grow. I typically fill it with unsalted butter. It's of course easy to take the regular butter dish out of the fridge a little ahead of time, - but I find it really nice and convenient to have it at the perfect spreading temp in a lovely looking container. (Simple luxuries!)
I also have my grandmother's old stoneware lidded butter dish, which she kept on the counter, so it feels kind of homey and natural to me.

Hi there Phil! I'm so happy you asked. The advantage to using a butter keeper is what you've always needed (of course): perfect room temperature, spreadable butter always at your ready. No more torn toasts! It's a classic design that's quite simple and works well with either sweet cream or salted butter. I use unsalted and top my toasts with Maldon salt flakes 'cause I like it fancy.

These keep your butter for a while and, if i'm being honest, I've not tested the exact time because I run through butter in my kitchen quite frequently. There are a few items I will mention here when it comes to maintaining these bad boys: you'll want to make sure you're changing the water frequently. This helps keep your butter fresh-er longer. You should do this 2-3 times a week. Some folks like to use a bit of salt in the butter keeper's water which supposedly helps to ward off mold growth but, I've not done a test on this. Additionally, you'll want to make sure that you're using enough water & butter so as to create that tight seal between both (again, to keep your precious butter fresh!). Finally, because you're leaving the item out, try to keep it away from direct heat sources (oven, stove, toaster). This will help prevent the butter from slipping out of the bell and into the water below.

I can also confidently say that almost every Food52 employee owns one of these and uses it with some frequency. :)

The secondary benefit of a butter keeper is that it isolates the butter. In the fridge, uncovered butter is sensitive to picking up other scents.

The primary advantage of using a butter keeper is that the butter isn't refrigerator-hard. It's usable right away.

People use both salted or sweet butter. Some salt their water to inhibit mold growth so for them, they should opt for sweet butter.

The butter keeps probably close to a week. Remember, in the old days (and even today in many other countries), many left butter on a counter, not in the fridge. Regarding a butter keeper, if you don't use lots of butter, you should probably load up as much as you might use in 3-5 days to maintain optimal freshness.

I don't own one myself, I find that I can wait a few minutes to let refrigerated butter warm up. Admittedly, I'm not one who would category myself as one of those "instant gratification" people.

But that's just me...