Butter: store it cold or room temp?

[Chuckanut]

It's time to address a pressing question on an issue that actually affects our lives. And unlike interest rates and global warming it's something we can directly control. Should butter be stored in the refrigerator or at normal room temperatures?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-ba...-enough-is-enough-771177fd?mod=hp_featst_pos5

“Enough is enough,” said Ms. Mertzel, who lives in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles. “I want to eliminate confusion about putting butter on the counter.”

Food-safety scientists say butter usually doesn’t require constant cold. Butter made from pasteurized cream is safe to store at room temperature for a stretch because of its high fat content and low moisture, among other reasons. Salted butter tends to stay fresh longer.

Sara Moulton, who fields culinary questions from listeners on Milk Street’s podcast with Mr. Kimball, sides largely with the cold camp. If left unrefrigerated for too long, she said, butter isn’t “going to kill you. It’s just not going to taste good, and why would you want to do that to yourself?”

Personally, I keep my butter on the counter for about a week. In the summer when it gets too warm and the butter get to soft, I will place it in the fridge overnight or for a few hours in the day. Otherwise, it turns into a paste. But, 9 months out of the year the butter sits on the counter for a week or so until it is consumed.

FWIW, I highly recommend the movie Butter. It's about a butter carving contest in a mid-west town with a very interesting cast of characters who participate in the competition. Very entertaining.

 

[Gumby]

We usually have one stick in the butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. No stick lasts more than a week, so I think we're okay. We also occasionally churn our own butter from cream.

 

[braumeister]

In the frig mostly, taken out a little before being needed.

But in the past I've used a butter bell (stores it under water) on the counter and that works very well provided you don't let it go too long (maybe about a week was the limit as I recall).

 

[aja8888]

I'm a tub butter guy. Plus, cooking is not my strong suit.

DW used to keep the real butter in the fridge and pull it out a while before use.

 

[pb4uski]

We usually have one stick in the butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. No stick lasts more than a week, so I think we're okay. ...

+1. One stick in the butter dish so it is softer for easier spreading on toast, use cooking or whatever, some in the fridge, and if we have stocked up then the remainder in the freezer.

 

[Rianne]

In the fridge. When we make toast I pop it in the microwave for 8 seconds or so. Comes out soft.

 

[MarieIG]

I keep it in the fridge and pull it out, and slice off a piece for use.

 

[swakyaby]

I buy the Costco 4-pound quantities of stick butter, place it in my garage freezer, and have a carton in my refrigerator. Take a stick out a half hour at room temperature before use, particularly in the summer.

 

[W2R]

Ever tasted rancid butter? I keep it in the fridge.

Actually, I don't even use real butter any more. This year I switched to "Ican'tbelieveitsnotbutter". I keep that in the fridge, too.

 

[braumeister]

I should also comment here that if you have never tried Kerrygold butter (from Ireland) you are missing a most wonderful product. Costco carries it at an excellent price and we have used nothing else for years. It's so good we will sometimes just cut off a piece and eat it plain.

 

[Winemaker]

We usually have one stick in the butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. No stick lasts more than a week, so I think we're okay. We also occasionally churn our own butter from cream.

+1

 

[MichaelB]

Well, I’m pleased we finally get to a topic that is relevant and really matters.

We usually have one stick in the butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. No stick lasts more than a week, so I think we're okay

+3 We do this as well.

I should also comment here that if you have never tried Kerrygold butter (from Ireland) you are missing a most wonderful product. Costco carries it at an excellent price and we have used nothing else for years. It's so good we will sometimes just cut off a piece and eat it plain.

+1 Kerrygold is the best.

 

[swakyaby]

I should also comment here that if you have never tried Kerrygold butter (from Ireland) you are missing a most wonderful product.

I will definitely try that next. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[RunningBum]

Butter in the fridge. I use spreadable tub butter for toast.

I tried Kerrygold. I couldn't taste enough difference to make it worth the cost. I really like butter and I wanted to love this but it didn't do it for me.

 

[Walt34]

DW consumes most of the butter here and keeps it in the refrigerator, then warms it up in the microwave for a few seconds to make it soft. It never, ever, sits on the counter unrefrigerated. The sticks we're going to use in the very near future are in the top freezer of the refrigerator and there's more in the downstairs freezer.

I'd never heard of leaving it on the counter for days at a time and always thought it would go rancid quickly. Who knew?

 

[lemming]

Well I'm not dead yet and I always leave the butter dish out. I don't even have a cover for the dish anymore. Summertime does create problems so August may have its own rules.
I liked the idea of a butter bell but feel like the microbes that could grow in that water would be more likely to turn deadly quicker than the butter.
Butter in the fridge tends to pick up tastes of mystery dishes.

 

[audreyh1]

I don’t spread butter on anything. I cook with it often enough, and it’s easier to keep in the refrigerator. Besides the butter dishes are too small for the larger blocks (like Kerrygold) I use.

The Netherlands is butter heaven IMO.

 

[statsman]

In the frig mostly, taken out a little before being needed.

That's pretty much us. Most of the reason is from a practical standpoint and not food safety.

Honestly, if we left our butter out on the counter/table, it would be a disaster. We have had cats, particularly our oldest now, who like to lick butter, and we're not home all of the time.

 

[Kings over Queens]

Kerrygold in a butter bell on the counter, and regular stick butter in the fridge. We hardly ever use the stick butter.

I like to bake bread and will leave the fresh loaf on the cutting board next to the butter and serrated bread knife. It's a bit of sadistic torture to my family that brings me great joy.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Kerrygold unsalted in the fridge. The ghee I make goes in a ceramic mug and I keep it in the cupboard.

 

[Texas Proud]

stick butter on the counter... and it stays there all the time...


Never has gone rancid... at first DW did not like it but she leaves out almost everything else when things should be put in the fridge.. (note, not forever, but if it should be in the fridge she might leave it out for a couple of hours more than is required.)

 

[N02L84ER]

In the fridge until a half hour before needed.

 

[NW-Bound]

Unrefrigerated butter here in the SW where it's 120F outside in the summer, and perhaps more than 80F inside in many homes even with AC?

Never try that, but outside of a fridge I suspect it's better be kept in a bowl, then when needed, to be scooped out with a spoon. Yeah, you don't spread butter on your toast when it all melts from the heat, you will have to ladle it on.

 

[lemming]

Now if you plan to twirl your fresh corn on the cob directly on the butterstick then it has to be a little more solid than room temp. - Runs and hinds from my Mom-

 

[mpeirce]

I buy the Costco 4-pound quantities of stick butter, place it in my garage freezer, and have a carton in my refrigerator. [-]Take a stick out a half hour at room temperature before use, particularly in the summer.[/-]

Same here, except we do leave a stick in the butter dish on the counter. Easier to use. We go through a lot, so it’s never gone bad.

We get both salted and unsalted (for cooking) at Costco.

Aside: I grew up with margarine in a tub. Easy to spread. When I went to college my roommates wondered why I bought that stuff. “Here, try butter”, they said. So much better! And no nasty transfats.