That’s right, candles. People are melting and reshaping butter into your favorite home accessory and putting it on their tables to serve with bread, or steak, or anything you may use butter for, really. They’re melting it with ingredients like garlic and rosemary or simply rolling a regular stick into a candle shape and adding a “wick.” Absolutely crazy, right? Well, the idea is so random that we’re unsure if this is actually a good idea to put on your holiday tables or if it’s just for the views and likes. So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of these trending butter candles and figure out if they can be on your holiday table by Christmas.
What is a butter candle?
Pretty much what it sounds like, a butter candle is a candle made out of butter, rather than the wax candles we all know and love. Including the wick, a butter candle is meant to be lit and melted, so you can dip in your bread or whatever other food item you decide to serve with it. The point of this unusual candle is using it as a substitute for some of your other table candles, creating the lighting for your candlelit dinner, but you then get to use the edible candle in your meal. It’s multi-functional and if you do it right, full of flavor. The butter candles on TikTok vary in how they are made and shaped and used. There are instructions for a regular stick of butter shaped into a candle and a wick added into the middle for a quick and easy creation. There are also more well-curated homemade candles made from melted butter mixed with herbs and seasonings that then reform into solid butter after some time in the refrigerator. Either way you go about the butter candle, it seems to be a fan favorite at the dinner table come time to light it up.
When did it start trending?
It seems like they have been around for a while, but didn’t start picking up in popularity until recently. TikTok creator @sooziethefoodie, known as Suzy, made one back in December 2020 and it seemed to get a lot of mixed reviews. From commenters writing things like, “I don’t know how to feel about this,” to people really backing her up by saying, “Fancy restaurants literally serve this as an entree. It’s super fun way to mix up basic bread and butter.” While reactions have been mixed, the trend took off from there and people have been showing off their variations of butter candles ever since. Other TikTok creators like Nigel Kabvina, known as @sxmplyni, have taken on the butter candle and bumped it up a notch by adding extra flavors to the butter. Kabvina has made the butter candle in countless videos over the past year, either as the star of the show or as a background character, using it for cooking as well as serving. In one of his videos, he uses it as melted butter for a simple breakfast recipe for his toast. In another, it’s the candle part of the “candlelit dinner” he made. He finally made a video devoted just to the butter candle showing all the herbs and seasonings he uses.
How do you make a butter candle?
The steps of making your butter candle depends on how simple or complex you want it to be. The main objective is to be able to form your butter into a candle-like shape, such as a cylinder, and adding an edible wick to the center, per every other candle you’ve seen.
How do you make edible wicks?
It’s important to note here that the wick should not be a regular wick with candle wax since you are probably going to ingest the butter. It’s better to use a wick that would be considered “edible” like a beeswax wick or hemp wick like Suzy uses. As long as it’s food safe, it should be okay. In order to make the more simplistic butter candle, you can start by getting your stick of butter to a little bit cooler than room temperature. You want to be able to shape it without it just melting in your hands. Then you can place the stick on a piece of cling wrap and start forming the shape you want for your candle. You can either use the whole stick or break the stick in half if you want two candles. Before you’re done rolling the candle, place the wick in the center and roll it into its final form. Then place it in the refrigerator to chill it, letting it stay in that form. Then serve it with bread at your table. For the more complex version of the butter candle, you want to start by melting your butter in a pot on medium-low heat. Add in as much crushed garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, and any other seasonings or herbs you would prefer and cook the butter in these flavorings for a little. Be sure to not burn your butter, taking it off the heat before it starts to brown. Then you want to strain the butter into its own bowl, leaving the garlic and herbs behind. You want to have just the butter in its mold, no excess ingredients are necessary. Set your wick in the melted butter and let it sit in the fridge until chilled. Light the candle and let it melt away, delivering mounds of yummy flavors to your bread.
Can they actually work?
This is the question boggling everyone’s minds: Do these butter candles actually work? There’s some talk on TikTok about whether they are real or just for looks and fun. One TikToker @earlypete, who does a series called “Stunt Food or Good Food,” dueted one of these butter candle videos and said this butter candle is trying to imitate a “beef tallow candle” made from beef drippings. He calls the butter candle a “stupid lazy pale imitation” and names it a stunt food. However, there is another TikTok creator known for his scientific explanations about all things trending that answered whether or not these actually work. Hank Green stitched Suzy’s butter candle video to share that before candles we used oil lamps and a lot of the time olive oil was the oil used in those lamps. He goes on to describe different fat molecules and how they allow a flame to keep burning similar to that of a regular wax candle. He concludes that because they share similar molecule properties “Yeah, you can make a butter candle, but I don’t know why you would because it’s kind of a waste of butter.”
What’s the final consensus on butter candles?
The final conclusion to this butter candle journey seems to be that you can indeed make a butter candle and use it for all your bread and butter needs. So while you may turn your nose up to the idea, it can be a fun and decorative item to have at your fancy dinner or easy and quick breakfast. Melt the butter candle to cook, use it to dip your bread in, or simply have it out as a conversation starter this holiday season. Whatever you decide to do with this new candle in your life, remember to do it safely, but have a little fun—it is a candle made out of butter after all. Up next: What a Butter Shortage Could Mean for Holiday Baking
