leaving butter out

[inchworm]

I have heard various angles about leaving butter out on the counter. Can you leave it out so it stays soft and spreadable? Some do over a dish of water. Some do if covered. Some do out in the open. And most keep it in the fridge.

What do you do?

Inchy

 

[patandchickens]

I've done pretty much all of the above at one time or another. Now keep it in the fridge, as much to prevent DH from slathering huge amounts all over his daily lunch sandwich as anything

Using the 'keepers' where it ends up upside-down with a water seal *does* seem to keep it fresher a bit longer at room temp than just leaving it out in a butter dish. Still, it doesn't keep near as long that way as in the fridge or freezer (I'd say maybe 10 days in a butter dish or several weeks in the water-sealed bell thingamajig) before starting to taste a little rancid, and I am sure that if it tastes unfresh it is probably nutritionally unfresh too. Also when I've had it at r.t. for too long, like a month or six weeks, I not infrequently get a weird black mildewy type stuff growing in places on it.

So now I keep about half or quarter lb in the fridge at any one time, and a pound or several pounds (depending if it was on sale ) in the freezer.


Pat

 

[PamsPride]

I leave mine out in a tupperware butter dish....with the lid that just sits on it, it does not seal. I like my butter to be soft. But, we go through a stick a day so it does not really sit very long.

 

[hoosier girl]

I keep it in the fridge. Maybe no need to, but just seems to me to be a safer option. Many of my relatives leave it sitting out on the table.

 

[roosmom]

I think if it is warm outside, the butter will go rancid faster. I leave mine on the counter in the winter and in the fridge during the summer.

 

[Cassandra]

I have kept mine out on the counter in a rubbermaid (sealed) container for weeks. Yes, it will eventually get fuzzy black mildew at which point, I throw it away. LOL but it rarely lasts that long.

I bought a butter bell at the thrift store for a couple of dollars. I need to find the instructions so I can use it.

Cassandra

 

[reinbeau]

Mine is in a butter dish and it's always on the counter. I have never had it go rancid. I much prefer spreadability over worrying about it going bad.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Mine is in an uncovered dish on the counter. It never lasts more than a few days so freshness isn't a problem. Although at 64 degrees spreadablity can be questionable!

 

[FarmerChick]

yea a butter bell is a good option and they are pretty too!

but I do the fridge. I don't use butter hardly ever...maybe to cook. We don't have toast and all that. If I need it more spreadable, like when I do pancakes for Tony, then I just take it out first and let it soften.

 

[2dream]

Mine stays in the fridge most of the time. I mostly use it for cooking and it would spoil before we finished it.