Kitchen

[house cat]

I once knew a woman who never refrigerated her butter. She left it in a butter dish on the counter.

I always have several packages in my freezer in addition to the one I'm using that's in the fridge. However, it seems that so many recipes call for 'room temp' butter. It feels like forever waiting for that when I want to bake.

Is it okay to leave one package out in the pantry? My sensibilities tell me "no".

[Minneygirl]

It's OK to leave it out at room temperature for 7-10 days...after that it can turn rancid. My mother always left a stick or two out, but then again, we probably consumed it before it turned bad.

I like the half-sticks that are sometimes available and always have a small amount on my counter in a butter dish, but I wouldn't store butter in a pantry.

[DiAnne]

I always leave one cube in butter dish on counter - how else do you spread it on toast, etc? The only time I do not do that is if we get a hot spell which is just a few days in the summer.

[PinkyPetunia]

I'm not comfortable leaving butter unrefrigerated 24/7. I might hazard leaving one stick in a butter dish out in the cold winter months but I don't use much butter so I don't bother. Yes, it's a pain to have ice cold butter when you are struck with the urge to bake something, but there are methods of quick softening butter using the microwave, or covering the butter with a hot bowl. Google for ideas.

[GCR18]

Over the years my mother gravitated to leaving the butter out because my father liked it soft. She's never had an issue. Logically I know it's okay, but I won't do it.

[TootyJane]

I always leave butter in a covered butter dish out on the counter. My mother did it as did my grandmother. Never had it go bad. There are five of us living here so the butter doesn't sit there unused. We very rarely have "hot" days but if we do that's the only time I'll put it in the refrigerator. As DiAnne said "How else do you spread it on toast, etc.?"

[chickenbutt]

On 2/23/2014 DiAnne said:

I always leave one cube in butter dish on counter - how else do you spread it on toast, etc? The only time I do not do that is if we get a hot spell which is just a few days in the summer.

I do the same thing. I always have one cube of butter in a Lock & Lock container that is just the right size, that I use upside down (butter on inside of seal and thecontainer is the dome. That's just because I'm kind of neurotic about having things sealed up. Fortunately, my kitchen is pretty much always cool.

I would not, however, have all my butter out of the refrigerator. As somebody else said, it will go rancid. I usually buy two lbs at a time, when the brands I like are on sale, and I have a Lock & Lock container that is the size to fit them in. They are kept in the refrigerator that way. I don't freeze mine, though. I tried it once and I didn't like it after having been frozen.

Maybe back then they went through it quicker, so it didn't have time to go bad.

[chrystaltree]

My grandmother never refrigerated butter, it was always in a covered butter dish on her kitchen table. I don't remember why but when I was in middle school I whined and whined and finally convinced my mom that butter and ketchup and mustard should be refrigerated. My grandmother didn't refrigerated fruit either.

[rudy]

You might want to check out a French butter dish; they keep butter fresh without refrigeration. Go to Wikipedia, search French Butter Dish to see how they work. You can find them for sale at many places, but also at frenchbutterdish dot com

[Snow Kitten]

False. Butter does spoil, but much more slowly than fresh (unfermented) milk products, such as, well, milk. The reason? “Most butter contains added salt, which impedes the growth of spoilage bacteria,” says John Bruhn, a dairy-foods processing specialist at the University of California at Davis. Today’s salted butter, in normal usage, will rarely spoil, even if you leave it unrefrigerated all the time. Unsalted butter might spoil in about a week, but it contains enough natural salt to slow the growth of bacteria that cause spoiling. So you don’t have to worry if you forget to put the butter away after dinner.

via

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/cooking-myths-debunked-1000000103861...