Source: Atlas Obscura
Even before artists began carving life-sized cows from enormous blocks of butter, 18th- and 19th-century dairy farmers were expressing their creativity through creamery. Butter molds, usually carved from wood, were a way for farmers to add panache to their product while also offering their customers a way to identify it, especially important as dairy began to be sold at the market and not directly from the farm.
Archaeologists have unearthed molds for shaping foods that date as far back as ancient Babylon. Molding butter for table centerpieces became especially popular during the Renaissance, when butter sculptures graced regal banquet tables, but these tended to be sculpted by hand. Around the 19th century in northern Europe, known for its dairy culture and its cooler climes, farmers used large wooden butter molds, called smørstaup. Around the…
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