A burning question I’ve been pondering for 10 years has not yet been answered, but someone else was curious too and wrote to the Seattle Weekly’s Ask Master about it (second item). Why does butter in California come in shorter, chunkier sticks then in other states? Arizona, Oregon, and Washington butter is also in this form. My best shot at an answer is that these states are hotter and a chubby stick with less surface area is better. Let’s forget the fact that the temperatures in the other states are often higher in the summer months. The actual answer may be as mundane as learning it was the shape of the first west coast dairy farmer’s wife’s butter crock. But we may never know. Most people, upon hearing of my curiosity about this subject, shrug it off. They are saner people than I. (via Alt-log)