Pardon me if this is a dumb question: I took out a cold tub of butter. I scraped the top with a butter knife to make the butter soft. What is making it soft?

Question

Is it heat? Is scraping the butter with the knife making the butter softer to spread because it’s getting warmer? i’m drunk right now and just had buttered toast. thank you

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Scraping the top gets you a thin ribbon of butter. The thin ribbon is more easily warmed by warm air or toast.

You’re adding a little heat when you scrape, but not much compared to the toast.

Bon appetit!

Answer 2

yah the knife is warmer than the butter! warming a butter knife slightly before buttering is an excellent way to turn cold hard fridge butter into yummy

Answer 3

You’re separating the bonds holding the fat together and filling the gap it with air.

Kind of like the difference between bending a piece of wood 1 inch thick and bending a stack of 100 paper sheets.