15 brilliant butter hacks you’ll wish you knew sooner

Why waste good cheese by letting the cut edges get hard or mouldy? Give semi-hard cheeses a light coat of butter to keep them fresh and free of mould. Each time you use the cheese, coat the cut edge with butter before you rewrap it and put it back in the fridge.

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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.

Uh-oh, one of the kids used a pen to draw a new smile on that favourite 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.

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!

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

Read on for some stylist-approved tricks for having the shiniest hair ever.

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 it. 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. Try this recipe for ghee.