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Butter Measurements

Mama Mangia

Mama Mangia

Super Moderator
Butter Measurements


1/4 stick = 1/16 lb = 1/8 cup=2 tbsp = 6 tsp = 28 grams

1/2 stick = 1/8 lb = 1/4 cup = 4 tbsp = 12 tsp =57 grams

1 stick = 1/4 lb = 1/2 cup = 8 tbsp = 24 tsp = 113 grams

2 sticks = 1/2 lb = 1 cup = 16 tbsp = 48 tsp = 227 grams

3 sticks = 3/4 lb = 1-1/2 cups = 24 tbsp = 72 tsp = 340 grams

4 sticks = 1 lb = 2 cups = 32 tbsp = 96 tsp = 454 grams
 
I also believe that 1/3 cup of butter is 5 1/3 tablespoons.
 
lb is the shortened version of pound. Its used frequently in the US, although I was confused about it too until I put 2 and 2 together... There was an ad in the paper for 10 lbs of potatoes for $1.99 (this was a few years ago, I think) and the bag said 10 pounds.
 
Mama Mangia said:
Butter Measurements


1/4 stick = 1/16 lb = 1/8 cup=2 tbsp = 6 tsp = 28 grams

1/2 stick = 1/8 lb = 1/4 cup = 4 tbsp = 12 tsp =57 grams

1 stick = 1/4 lb = 1/2 cup = 8 tbsp = 24 tsp = 113 grams

2 sticks = 1/2 lb = 1 cup = 16 tbsp = 48 tsp = 227 grams

3 sticks = 3/4 lb = 1-1/2 cups = 24 tbsp = 72 tsp = 340 grams

4 sticks = 1 lb = 2 cups = 32 tbsp = 96 tsp = 454 grams
Click to expand...


Thanks for this conversion Mama Mangia. Now I know what to do when I encounter the term "stick". Shame with me but I don't really know this kind of measurement.
 
Fortunately there's usually markers on the sticks of butter that tell you where to cut for a certain amount. Thanks for all the measurements.
 
A "stick" is a quarter pound by industry packaging convention. If you are using tub butter, you can use the trick my mother taught me:
Take a measuring cup which will hold more than the amount you want to measure.
If you want a half cup of butter, use a 1 cup or larger measure.
Put cold water into the measure in a determined amount, like a half cup. Add butter until the level of the water is at the level of the amount of butter you need plus the amount of water you started with.
This works with sticks or tubs, or even one blob pounds which is also represented as lb. or #.
 
In the Philippines a bar of butter is usually 225 grams and this is equivalent to 1 cup. We use the metric system here and are not familiar with lbs and oz. The package has markers printed at the back, so if you need 1/2 cup of butter you just cut the bar in half, if you need 1/4 cup then divide the bar into four and so forth and so on. This bar is also equivalent to 1/2 lb. If you need to convert from oz to grams, 1 oz = 28.35 grams, therefore 1 lb (16 oz) = 454 grams.
 
Anyone ever heard of a "pat" of butter. From what I've been able to find, it's about a pound in round form (old school terminology)? Not to be confused with a tblsp worth of butter!
 
Yeah, me too G.

Keltin's usage might date back to the old days, when people mostly made their own butter. On fancy tables it was made in molds. But in most households it was just patted into a round shape.

On average, a churn yielded a pound of butter at a time. So a "pat" could have come into usage to describe the final product.

Outside of the U.S., butter is always packaged, sold, and used by weight. But that applies to a lot of things we do by volume.
 
It’s definitely an old school term dating back to when people made their own butter. Here is a site that talks about making butter and uses the term.

Link is here.
What was left was made into nice round pats, crossed on top with the butter pat, and this was used for our table.

And here is another site talking about a butter mold, and they mention the “pat size” (the molds are at the bottom of the page).

Link is here.
The third, fourth and fifth molds are fancy carved butter molds. The first is a one pound, the second a half pound and the last one was a pat size

I had never heard this term before until I went into a local country store and they had a sign up selling “pats” of butter which were round, 1/2 pound blocks wrapped in paper. It seems to be a rather loose term as I can’t find many references to it.
 
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Hmmmm. Not a bad guess on my part. Reckon I need a pat on the back. (sorry about that).

Keltin, did you pick up on this in your first link:

>To wash it, it was worked with a wooden pat and clean water. Salt was added<

I'm reading that to mean they referred to the butter spade as a pat, cuz it was used to pat the butter into shape. Later on they talk about using it on the left-over to make pats of butter for their own table.

So maybe it had multiple meanings, and was applied both to the end product and the tools used to make it?
 
KYHeirloomer said:
Hmmmm. Not a bad guess on my part. Reckon I need a pat on the back. (sorry about that).

Keltin, did you pick up on this in your first link:

>To wash it, it was worked with a wooden pat and clean water. Salt was added<

I'm reading that to mean they referred to the butter spade as a pat, cuz it was used to pat the butter into shape. Later on they talk about using it on the left-over to make pats of butter for their own table.

So maybe it had multiple meanings, and was applied both to the end product and the tools used to make it?
Click to expand...

I was guessing they called it a pat of butter because, as you mentioned previously, they used a butter pat (that wooden spoon) to mold it in round shapes or to press it into the mold? When I first bumped into a “pat of butter” for sale, I immediately thought of those little square packages you can get at a restaurant, and was surprised to see instead the 1/2lb round bundles.

After some research, I discovered there is a tool called a butter pat that they used back in the day. I’m still not sure why they called the round bundles of butter a pat of butter....but my best guess is like you said, they used a pat to mold it into shape? Or maybe that was the amount they could fit onto a butter pat before they molded it?

However, it could also have something to do with the dish that is known as a “butter pat”? It was a small dish that held a “pat of butter”......but that leads me to the “chicken or the egg” question of which one got the name first, the butter or the dish? :)

It’s not a very common term, and I’ve only found about 5 references to it on the net, and all of those are very old, and one was from colonial times.

They sell a machine that makes “pats of butter”, so somebody, somewhere is still using the term?

But yes, you do deserve a pat on the back for putting this together!:D
 
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Anyone know how many tablespoons 2/3 cup of butter would be?
 
For me, I have encountered those terms but not "pat" they called. Anyways, nowadays
depends on either grams, tablespoons, lbs, kgs, etc.. Most important is, that you know how
to convert all measurements on your own measurements. :D
 
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