Butter Molds and Butter Stamps
The main objective in keeping cows was to supply the needs of the family for milk and butter. Butter was produced as an essential in the diet of most people, the art of making butter, therefore, originating in the home. Not until well into the 19th century was butter commercially produced by large dairies.
Prior to modern eras, butter churned by the dairymaids and kitchen staff was pressed into wooden moulds, or molds, and cooled in special larders until firm. Simple box-type butter molds, such as the one to the right, were filled with the butter and then pressed with the plunger into a tight, perfect shape. The carved designs inside the mold or on the lid presented a pretty picture when the hardened butter was released from the mold and served on a fancy silver platter.
Butter-moulds, or wooden stamps for moulding fresh butter, are much used, and are made in a variety of forms and shapes. In using them, let them be kept scrupulously clean, and before the butter is pressed in, the interior should be well wetted with cold water; the butter must then be pressed in, the mould opened, and the perfect shape taken out. The butter may be then dished, and garnished with a wreath of parsley, if for a cheese course; if for breakfast, put it into an ornamental butter-dish, with a little water at the bottom, should the weather be very warm.
~Isabella Beeton, Book of Household Management, 1861
Wealthy, upper-class Europeans and Americans impressed their guests with elaborate table settings, including butter sculpted into a bas-relief or decorative shape (two examples below). Designs varied widely, were handmade by skilled artisans, and extremely intricate. Butter molds and butter stamps were always made of wood for a reason. Before adding the butter, the wood would be soaked with cold water until thoroughly saturated. After hours chilling, the wood would dry, the butter then able to slide out easily. Other butter molds, like the one in the middle of the top row above, had screws and hinges to aid in removing the molded butter.
Sorry to have sent this twice, the link did show after all.
Hi Sharon,
You have some beautiful butter moulds. We live in France and have found an unusual one and I would like to know if you have ever seen one like it before. I can’t seem to send you a link to one that I have found on the internet, but the seller says that it is Italian and from the Alps. If you search Cylindrical butter mold Italian, you will see it. I would love to know how it is used.
Thank you.
All the best, Caroline
Hi Sharon, We live in France and there are some wonderful butter molds here. We found one that is quite unusual, and I can only find one reference when searching a photo if it with Google lens: https://www.proantic.com/en/1391724-cylindrical-butter-mold-richly-engraved-italian-alps.html
Ours looks very like the one shown on this site.
Do you have any idea how it might have been used?
Thank you for your time.
All the best,
Caroline
Is there a name for the Scandinavian hinged butter molds that formed the butter into the shape of a house?
Had no idea there were ever butter molds! They are very decorative and would be nice to display.
This was a new one for me too, when I stumbled across them. So many odd devices from the past that we no longer need. I love it!
As a child a local shop used to sell loose butter to order, they used ridged butter pats to shape it. As a teenager at school I had a Saturday and holiday job at the Swizzels sweet factory and one job I had was cutting and weighing massive blocks of butter for the sweets, alas as lon as the weight was right appearance didn’t matter so no fancy moulds for me!
How cool you have that memory. I can’t think of anything like this, other than dim memories of some restaurants that would serve butter slices with a fancy emblem printed on it. I’ve never seen one of these in an antique store, yet… but if I do, I will have to buy one!