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Home » Kitchenware » Cloths » Butter Muslin

Butter Muslin

Butter muslin lining a metal bowl

Butter muslin. Rebecca Siegel / flickr / 2010 / CC BY 2.0

Butter muslin is a finely-woven cloth used as a cooking tool.

It is similar to cheesecloth in usage, but not the same. It has a finer weave, like that of a pillow case. The cloth is usually unbleached.

Its purpose is to drain butter; cheesecloth’s purpose is to drain whey off the curds.

Butter muslin can be used:

    • to strain liquids such as stock, or honey;
    • to wrap boned poultry in to prevent its falling apart while cooking;
    • to drain soft cheeses that would otherwise just pass right through regular cheese cloth with its coarser weave;
    • to drain buttermilk from milk.

You can wash it and re-use it.

Butter muslin being used to drain

Butter muslin being used to drain. Rebecca Siegel / flickr / 2010 / CC BY 2.0

Substitutes

A cheesecloth with a very tight weave, coffee filter, a clean cotton cloth, store-bought cheesecloth folded into several layers.

History Notes

Butter muslin was used in Great Britain during the Second World War as material for dresses and as a lining for clothes, owing to shortages of other materials.

Language Notes

In English-speaking countries, what “muslin” means varies. In the UK, some may refer to “butter muslin” as “calico” (this is not the same as American “calico” which has a printed pattern on it.)

Butter muslin lining a wooden bowl

Butter muslin. Rebecca Siegel / flickr / 2010 / CC BY 2.0

This page first published: May 19, 2005 · Updated: Jan 17, 2022.

This web site generates income from affiliated links and ads at no cost to you to fund continued research · Information on this site is Copyright © 2023· Feel free to cite correctly, but copying whole pages for your website is content theft and will be DCMA'd.

Tagged With: Butter, Cloth, Cooking Tools

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