If you’re only using butter on your toast, you’re tapping just a fraction of its potential! Here are some amazing uses for butter around the house.
1. Use butter to keep mold off cheese
Why waste good cheese by letting the cut edges get hard or moldy? Give semi-hard cheeses a light coat of butter to keep them fresh and free of mold. Each time you use the cheese, coat the cut edge with butter before you rewrap it and put it back in the fridge.
2. Remove sap from the skin using butter
You’ve just gotten home from a pleasant walk in the woods, but your hand is still covered with sticky tree sap that feels like it will never come off. Don’t worry. Just rub butter on your hand and the gunky black sap will wash right off with soap and water.
3. Zap ink stains on a doll’s face
Uh-oh, one of the kids used a pen to draw a new smile on that favorite doll’s face. Try eliminating the marks by rubbing butter on them and leaving the doll face-up in the sun for a few days. Wash it off with soap and water.
4. Cut sticky foods with ease
Rub butter on your knife or scissor blades before cutting sticky foods like dates, figs, or marshmallows. The butter will act as a lubricant and keep the food from sticking to the blades. Brilliant!
5. Prevent pots from boiling over
You take your eye off the pasta for two seconds, and the next thing you know, the pot is boiling over onto the stovetop. Keep the boiling water in the pot next time by adding half a tablespoon of butter or rubbing the butter around the top of the pot.
6. Help the medicine go down
If you have a hard time swallowing pills, especially large ones, coat them lightly with butter first. This should help the pill slide down your throat.
7. Fix a squeaky door
Butter makes a surprising but effective substitute for WD-40 when you’re looking to take the squeak out of a noisy door. Simply rub the butter on the door hinge. This lubricates the metal to stop the squeak.
8. Get gum out of hair
You’ve undoubtedly heard that peanut butter can get sticky gum out of hair, but its peanut-less cousin can work the same magic. Rub the butter over the gum, letting it absorb into the hair before trying to slide the gum out.
9. Use butter to treat dry hair
If your hair has turned dry and brittle, a small amount of butter can return it to its glossy shine. Massage the butter into your hair, then cover your hair with a shower cap for about a half-hour. Shampoo as usual, and rinse all the butter out.
10. Make ghee
Ghee is butter that has been clarified, so only the pure butterfat remains. Since the milk solids have been removed, you don’t need to refrigerate them. Try this recipe for ghee, and you can use it as a butter substitute in slow-cooking recipes and high-heat dishes since it has a higher smoke point than regular butter or cooking oils. (You’ll find more brilliant cooking shortcuts here.)
11. Upgrade your coffee
Odd as it may sound, some coffee drinkers add butter to their coffee instead of milk or cream. It’s particularly popular with people on the keto diet, which stresses high-fat, low-carb meals. Some nutritionists are skeptical, but others say the fats in the butter can actually help keep you fuller longer.
12. Get rid of a fishy smell
Your fishing trip may have been a big success, but you don’t want to be reminded of it by the smell of fish on your hands. Just rub some butter on your hands, wash them with warm water and soap, and you’ll smell clean and fresh again.
13. Make the cat feel at home
Is the family feline freaked out by your move to a new home? Moving is often traumatic for pets as well as family members. Here’s a unique use for butter and a good way to help an adult cat adjust to a new house or apartment. Just spread a bit of butter on the top of one of its front paws. Cats love the taste of butter so much they’ll keep coming back for more.
14. Use butter to soothe aching feet
The DIY applications for butter are seemingly endless! To soothe foot pain, massage feet with butter, wrap in a damp, hot towel, then sit back and relax for 10 minutes. Your feet will feel revitalized!
15. Remove stubborn rings with butter
Whether your fingers have swelled up from the heat or you just wanted to wear a cute ring that you know doesn’t quite fit, you’re now stuck—literally—with a ring that won’t budge. Cover the ring with butter before carefully sliding it off your finger.