How do I start a new thread on this forum?

[maddy123]

I feel dumb asking but here goes
I have never seen a stick of butter!
what is it equivalant to?
please stop laughing!
I live in Saskatchewan ok

 

[whiteyteresa]

8 Tablespoons

or

1/2 Cup

:chef:

 

[scottcooks]

a stick is 1/4 of a lb of butter, or 1/2 cup, or 8 tablespoons.On the East coast, sticks are long and skinny, about 1 inch by 1 inch by 5 inches.
On the West coast, they are shorter and fatter, about 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch by 4 inches.

 

[caraighan]

a stick is 1/4 of a lb of butter, or 1/2 cup, or 8 tablespoons.

On the East coast, sticks are long and skinny, about 1 inch by 1 inch by 5 inches.
On the West coast, they are shorter and fatter, about 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch by 4 inches.

I didn't know that!!! I thought they were the same all around!!! Never been to the West coast! Furthest I've been west is Kansas!
Learn something new everyday!!!

 

[chefann]

And they're a different shape still in Europe. My sister lived in Germany for a few years and has china that she bought there. American butter doesn't fit on the butter dish in the set.

 

[maddy123]

Thanks everyone, I keep seeing it in recipes and had no clue!

 

[Ann F]

Don't leave us hanging! What does your butter look like up there?

 

[maddy123]

lol, Ann
we get our butter in a pound block and our margarine in tubs.
I had always ignored recipes that said a stick of butter because I never knew
how much it would be.

 

[rennea]

Don't leave us hanging! What does your butter look like up there?

I'm from BC and we have sticks of butter!!!

 

[Dina Atnip]

So how did the recipe turn out?

 

[Melissa78]

OMG - I never knew butter came in different sizes based upon West/East coast! Who would have thunk? I have been to Europe, South America, Canada etc but have never been to the West Coast so I will keep my eyes open when I get there someday.

 

[baychef]

Ummm....do you not feel so stupid now for asking the question? I too did not know that sticks of butter came in different sizes.

Growing up on a farm I did know that brown milk did NOT come from brown cows but until I was older...I did think that they liked to go for "piggy back rides" on each other: It was only until I knew where little cows came from did I realize that this was more than just a game cows played!!!:yuck::blushing:

 

[mrshamel3808]

a stick is 1/4 of a lb of butter, or 1/2 cup, or 8 tablespoons.

On the East coast, sticks are long and skinny, about 1 inch by 1 inch by 5 inches.
On the West coast, they are shorter and fatter, about 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch by 4 inches.

A few weeks ago I was working on an event at my church and the sticks of butter someone bought were East Coast size (not that I knew that then). I thought it was weird since I'd never seen sticks of butter skinny like that. I had to double check to make sure it was still the 1/2 c. So maybe we have both?

 

[cookie325]

Wow! I never knew sticks of butter came in different sizes, either. I'm in the midwest, so I wonder if our butter is a cross between east coast and west coast butter!

 

[scottcooks]

I'm trying to butter you all up, so I got this info together:

In the United States, butter sticks are usually produced and sold in 4-ounce sticks, wrapped in wax paper and sold four to a carton. This practice is believed to have originated in 1907 when Swift and Company began packaging butter in this manner for mass distribution.

Due to historical variances in butter printers, these sticks are commonly produced in two differing shapes:

* The dominant shape east of the Rocky Mountains is the Elgin, or Eastern-pack shape. This shape was originally developed by the Elgin Butter Tub Company, founded in 1882 in Elgin, Illinois, and Rock Falls, Illinois. The sticks are 4¾ inches long and 1¼ inches (121 mm × 32 mm) wide, and are usually sold in somewhat cubical boxes stacked two by two. Among the early butter printers to use this shape was the Elgin Butter Cutter.

* West of the Rocky Mountains, butter printers standardized on a different shape that is now referred to as the Western-pack shape. These butter sticks are 3¼ inches long and 1½ inches wide (80 mm × 38 mm) and are typically sold packed side-by-side in a rectangular container.

Both sticks contain the same amount of butter, although most butter dishes are designed for Elgin-style butter sticks.

The stick's wrapper is usually marked off as eight tablespoons (120 ml/4.2 imp fl oz; 4.1 US fl oz); the actual volume of one stick is approximately nine tablespoons (130 ml/4.6 imp fl oz; 4.4 US fl oz).

West Coast "cube" pictured first.
Both side by side pictured second.
East Coast stick pictured third.
Some kind of cutting tool pictured fourth - shows how a Tablespoon of East is longer than a Tablespoon of West.

 

[jbdowd0798]

Uh Scott am I missing something or are you??? I don't see any info.

 

[scottcooks]

I was editing, Becky!

 

[maddy123]

wow, turned out to be very educational.
awesome!!

 

[cookie325]

Huh...so here in KS, we have east coast butter. Cool!

 

[babywings76]

I discovered this difference when I went out to college. I grew up in New Jersey, so we had sticks of butter. In Utah, the first time I bought butter and brought it home for a recipe I was all thrown off. I thought I bought the wrong thing at first. Asked my roommates and they were baffled at my question. They were west coasters and so cubes of butter were the norm for them. It's funny how I got teased so bad for my Jersey accent and lots of other expressions or whatever. But I loved that I could tease them and say that sticks were the normal way, not cubes...cause afterall, the butter dishes are made to suit sticks! Cubes kind of are too wide and short. But there are other differences in East and West coast products that we have in common. Well the product is actually the same, it's just the brand name is different: Edys vs. Dreyers, Hellmans vs. Best Foods. I'm sure there are others, too.

 

[baychef]

Thanks, Scott! That was great! Well, butter my biscuits, I never knew that!

So finally something from the West Coast that is short and fat!

 

[byrd1956]

This is why I love:love: this site! Just as a question and you learn so much!

 

[Curlyone]

I think that I have the most stupidiest question . . . how do you start a new thread? :cry: I have to look up things like HTH in the yahoo search under text lingo (hope that helps ???). And I can't for the life of me see where to start a new thread. So please be gentle with your comments, I am sure that it is just right in front of my face and I thank whoever started this thread, because my question fits it to a tee. And yes, I still send texts to my teenage sons with ALL the words spelled out. It takes me forever, but they understand what I am saying. (HA HA)

Connie

 

[Nanisu]

Scott, you are amazing. I butter learn my dairy products....

 

[ChefPaulaB]

I think that I have the most stupidiest question . . . how do you start a new thread? :cry: I have to look up things like HTH in the yahoo search under text lingo (hope that helps ???). And I can't for the life of me see where to start a new thread. So please be gentle with your comments, I am sure that it is just right in front of my face and I thank whoever started this thread, because my question fits it to a tee. And yes, I still send texts to my teenage sons with ALL the words spelled out. It takes me forever, but they understand what I am saying. (HA HA)

Connie

First you click on the the subject like Recipes, Products, whichever one you want to put your thread in and then at the top left (I believe) it says "New Thread" with a yellow check mark thing next to it, you click on that and then it'll take you the place where you put in your subject and everything else. HTH!! Good Luck!!!