Giveaway: French Butter Dish
April 20th, 2011 | 
Author: 
I first heard about the French butter dish through my friend and Pear Tree contributor Darcie Hossack. There was a pottery studio in Peachland, B.C., that used to make them and, after falling in love with hers, I headed straight there to get one of my own.
An admirable blend of quirky and clever, the French butter dish is a tall bowl with a cylindrical lid. The butter is packed into the lid, while a few centimetres of water sits on the bottom of the bowl. It’s a natural way to keep your butter fresh without refrigerating, which keeps it soft and spreadable.
Right around the time that I broke mine, the Okanagan Pottery Studio disappeared. If it has since reopened in a new location I have not heard about it, and their former web address no longer works. And no other potters I have come across in the ensuing years have heard of, never mind made, this wonderful pottery.
(That said, since posting this I got a message from potter Jock Munroe that The Gallery in Peachland has French Butter dishes. It sounds like they took over the space where the Okanagan Pottery Studio used to be, on Hwy. 97. After they opened they had so many requests for French butter dishes that they added them to their line-up. The gallery openes on Saturday.)
Recently, a secret source (okay, it was my mum) unearthed a stash of these dishes somewhere, and picked up three of them for me. I am a butter fan (and, ahem, a bit clumsy, it’s true), but that’s more than enough for the Pear Tree House. So I’m going to share one butter dish with an interested reader!
Just leave a comment below, telling me what you like real butter on, and I’ll randomly pick a name on Friday at noon PST. You can get extra entries by blogging, tweeting or Facebooking the contest – just leave a separate comment for each one you do.
Good luck, and check back Friday!
P.S. I’m linking up with Sarah from A Beach Cottage for her Good Life Wednesdays blog party.
- Words and photos by Lori-Anne Poirier
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Giveaway Winner Announced!
The randomly-drawn winner of the French butter dish was Elaine M. Philips! Congratulations! We will be in touch with you shortly to arrange getting your butter dish to you. For everyone else, watch for more fun giveaways down the road.
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Oh, I can hardly believe my good fortune–this is the third time in a row I’ve won something (after years of not winning so much as a Tim Horton’s coffee). Thank you, Lori-Anne (et al).
There is nothing I don’t love more with butter on it…maybe if someone would butter my neighbour’s dog, I’d like it better too
also known as a butter bell
Butter and olive oil for frying is the best of both worlds, and of course the very best is fresh baked scones with butter and raspberry jam…yummm!
Loving your blog. Thanks for stopping by Beach Cottage Good Life Wednesdays and adding your link!
Butter on acorn squash. On freshly picked asparagus. Butter on bread fresh from the oven. Butter on corn on the cob. Butter in buttertarts we make at Christmas. The french butter-dish is lovely !
Butter tarts, butter soup, butter eggs and rice, butter ice cream, butter pudding, butter me up- the world is better with butter!
English muffins (with those nooks and crannies). I admit I have a French butter dish but I also admit that I’m a bit of a butter-fingers (no pun intended) and it never hurts to have a spare in my house
Freshly blogged:
http://correspondencequarter.blogspot.com/2011/04/pear-tree-giveaway-french-butter-dish.html
EMP
I’m with Elisa and Kati: butter on summer-sweet corn. Hmmn. And fresh bread. I stopped buying marg years ago for various reasons, and now I keep a small dish of butter left unrefrigerated to keep it user-friendly. The butter dish sounds simply marvellous. {Enjoy, everyone!}
EMP
http://correspondencequarter.blogspot.com/
I only use butter. Perfect on everything.
The best butter dish for an Okanagan Summer.
Love mine! Have given away two as gifts, all 3 bought at the Kelowna farmer’s market. I like to cook my scrambled eggs in real butter, nothing else will do.
Growing up we would mostly only use margarine (I guess more affordable at the time) but now I only use butter cause “butter is better!”…on everything!
Especially on plain rice or noodles with a little salt!.
Food as a vehicle for butter. An eater after my own heart
I love butter on fresh baked bread and corn. Yummy!
By the way, the potters who made them retired from pottery… sorry to break it to you.
Mmmm! Fresh butter on any kind of bread I bake in our pizza oven!
There are foods that I only eat because they are a vehicle for butter: steamed asparagus, corn, toast. I only fry pierogies and eggs in butter even though it means making two separate pans of food for the more belly-conscious members of my family.
I love butter on everything!
(Especially popcorn with a lot of nutritional yeast, too!)
Yummy blog!
Jennifer