# Butter



## devoted8864 (Oct 13, 2013)

Is it ok to leave butter out of the fridge so it stays soft for spreading ?


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## PrincessFiona60 (Oct 13, 2013)

yes...unless it's too warm and turns into melted butter.  It also depends on how fast you eat it up, I wouldn't leave a stick of butter for longer than three days and make sure it is covered.


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## Kitchen Barbarian (Oct 13, 2013)

As long as it doesn't start smelling off or growing fuzzy little black spots, it's good.  I leave butter out for considerably longer than 3 days and it is fine.  If it goes bad, there won't be any doubt about it.  

It will keep longer in a cooler environment - in India, I'd turn it into ghee if I wanted to leave it out in more than a day, LOL!  (Due to rolling blackouts throughout the country, you can't count on AC there to help you out)


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## GotGarlic (Oct 13, 2013)

I leave it out almost all the time (unless, as mentioned, it's too warm in the house), in a covered butter dish, and have never had a problem with it. I have found, though, that using a vegetable peeler to scrape thin slices of cold butter works well for spreading, especially if the food you are spreading it on is warm.


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## Hoot (Oct 13, 2013)

From the time I was old enough to notice such things...i.e. a looong time ago, there was always butter in a dish on the kitchen table.


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## pacanis (Oct 13, 2013)

Hoot said:


> From the time I was old enough to notice such things...i.e. a looong time ago, there was always butter in a dish on the kitchen table.


 
That must have saved you a lot of looking around when you wanted to butter something


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## Whiskadoodle (Oct 13, 2013)

I keep butter in a covered dish in a cupboard above where the toater is located.  Doesn't "match" with the rest of the cupboard's contents or for non toasting uses, otherwise it seems logical to me.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Oct 13, 2013)

I said 3 days because I have never lived in Florida and don't know how fast butter would go over there, in their weather.  There are very few days when my butter melts in the dish I leave out.  Many times it's like I kept it in the fridge.


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## Whiskadoodle (Oct 13, 2013)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I said 3 days because I have never lived in Florida and don't know how fast butter would go over there, in their weather. There are very few days when my butter melts in the dish I leave out. *Many times it's like I kept it in the fridge.[/*QUOTE]
> 
> That's so true PF.  In my old and very uninsulated house,  the cupboards act as a buffer.  When I open the doors in winter it seems like it's 20 degrees cooler.  And probably that's why it's the reverse in summer, now that I think about it.  I Have to keep the butter in the frig in the summer unless I want melted butter.


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## Katie H (Oct 13, 2013)

I've always kept butter out, even in my old house that wasn't air-conditioned.  However, I do cheat and have used a butter bell/butter keeper to store butter for well over 20 years.  I have always made sure to keep the water changed frequently and have NEVER had a problem with butter spoiling or molding.  I would be lost if my butter bell ever got broken.

It's handy and holds a full stick of butter.  I just let the stick of butter sit out on the counter until it's barely soft, peel the wrapper off, stand the stick in the "bell" and smoosh it down with the palm of my hand using the wrapper to keep from getting butter on my hand.  This way I am certain I've pushed the butter securely into it's space and it doesn't slip out.  It never has, but I suppose that's a possibility.


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## Addie (Oct 13, 2013)

I too have a butter bell and I love it. Would be lost without it. I change the water every day. Everyone should have one.


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## Katie H (Oct 13, 2013)

Addie said:


> I too have a butter bell and I love it. Would be lost without it. I change the water every day. Everyone should have one.



Yes, Addie!  Aren't they wonderful inventions?  They seem almost too good to be true.  But you and I know how great they are.


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## Addie (Oct 13, 2013)

Katie H said:


> Yes, Addie!  Aren't they wonderful inventions?  They seem almost too good to be true.  But you and I know how great they are.




I love mine. Mine is the one with butter in French on it and has flowers. Like you, I have had mine for eons. I can't remember when I got it.  

Classic Handpainted Raised Floral Butter Bell Crock by L. Tremain at Butter Bell® Store


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## PrincessFiona60 (Oct 13, 2013)

I have a butter bell, Shrek hates it.  I guess I have to wait to use it when he no longer can care about it.


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## Oldvine (Oct 13, 2013)

At our house, the "in-use" cube of butter is usually on the counter in a covered dish.  In the rare event that it went bad, no big deal, out it went.  I can't even remember the last time that happened.
Adding:  In a bell or in a butter dish, it seems to all be the same here.  It might be the granite counter tops since the feel cool all the them.


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## taxlady (Oct 13, 2013)

We always have butter in a dish, not in the fridge. Once in a blue moon, if we haven't been using much butter, the outside will oxidize and turn darker yellow. I just scrape that off.


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## Somebunny (Oct 14, 2013)

Whiskadoodle said:


> I keep butter in a covered dish in a cupboard above where the toater is located.  Doesn't "match" with the rest of the cupboard's contents or for non toasting uses, otherwise it seems logical to me.



+1......same here Whisk....in the cupboard above the toaster an it is logical


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## Cooking Goddess (Oct 14, 2013)

Katie H said:


> I've always kept butter out, even in my old house that wasn't air-conditioned.  However, I do cheat and have used a butter bell/butter keeper to store butter for well over 20 years.....


Looove my butter bell, even though I haven't had it 20 years.  Maybe 6-7 (?) when I first found out about them.  Mine is smaller, maybe almost 1/2 stick worth.  We use it just for spreading so I would rather put fresh in more frequently than be able to keep a lot in there.


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## CWS4322 (Oct 14, 2013)

I love my butter bell, it is small--perfect for one person. My friend from Poland is appalled that in NA people keep butter out--it is a dairy product. I take butter out when I know I need it to soften it, otherwise, it is in the fridge. Since I no longer eat bread, I don't need "soft" butter for spreading.


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## taxlady (Oct 14, 2013)

CWS4322 said:


> I love my butter bell, it is small--perfect for one person. My friend from Poland is appalled that in NA people keep butter out--it is a dairy product. I take butter out when I know I need it to soften it, otherwise, it is in the fridge. Since I no longer eat bread, I don't need "soft" butter for spreading.


We didn't leave the butter out when we were doing Atkins (low carb) and weren't eating bread.


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## Kitchen Barbarian (Oct 14, 2013)

When I was working on my doctorate, one of my cohort (all of whom were young enough to be my children, some were actually younger than my actual child) got all hysterical over my leaving some butter out of the grad student fridge (MY butter, mind you) so it would soften up enough to spread on my roll for lunch.  She went and complained to somebody in the office about me leaving food out "to rot".  (I was NOT kidding when I used the word "hysterical")

I was flabbergasted. I have since heard similar opinions re the "rottability" of butter from more recent generations of human beings in this country. Younger folks these days seem to have some odd ideas about food safety.


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## devoted8864 (Oct 14, 2013)

Kitchen Barbarian said:


> When I was working on my doctorate, one of my cohort (all of whom were young enough to be my children, some were actually younger than my actual child) got all hysterical over my leaving some butter out of the grad student fridge (MY butter, mind you) so it would soften up enough to spread on my roll for lunch.  She went and complained to somebody in the office about me leaving food out "to rot".  (I was NOT kidding when I used the word "hysterical")
> 
> I was flabbergasted. I have since heard similar opinions re the "rottability" of butter from more recent generations of human beings in this country. Younger folks these days seem to have some odd ideas about food safety.



I know what you mean. I left it out as long as I can remember but my husband & his family never have so thinks Im out of mind & everyone will get sick. So I tell my husband he can keep his the fridge & spread his own & I'll use the "soft" butter....agh such little things !!!!


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## Addie (Oct 14, 2013)

As I child, there were no plastic containers for every food need. Just glass. Every home I ever went into had a square dish with a glass cover dish along with the S*P shakers and a napkin holder sitting on back of the table all the time. Butter (or oleomargarine) was sold as tubs. Not in quarters. Just a full square of solid spread. That square dish was designed specifically for a 'tub' of butter. It often was cut glass and had a little knob for a handle on the lid. If you find one of them today in an antique shop, you pay dearly for it. Yet it was an item you picked up at Woolworth's for a dime or so. The only time that dish went into the fridge, was on a very hot summer's day. But it came out in time for the butter to be soft for the evening meal. The softer it was, the less you needed to spread on your bread. Frugal thinking.


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## GotGarlic (Oct 14, 2013)

CWS4322 said:


> I love my butter bell, it is small--perfect for one person. My friend from Poland is appalled that in NA people keep butter out--it is a dairy product. I take butter out when I know I need it to soften it, otherwise, it is in the fridge. Since I no longer eat bread, I don't need "soft" butter for spreading.



I was appalled when we were visiting our German exchange student's parents and he took leftover grilled sausages and potato salad in the car with us from their home to his in Berlin - several hours with no refrigeration. Just in a bag - no cooler or ice.

I have never seen butter go bad. Ever. From childhood till today. It's a dairy product, but it's a preserved product, like cheese. Who here throws away cheese with a little mold on it? If you do, you're throwing money away. Cut it off and proceed as usual


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## Addie (Oct 14, 2013)

GotGarlic said:


> I was appalled when we were visiting our German exchange student's parents and he took leftover grilled sausages and potato salad in the car with us from their home to his in Berlin - several hours with no refrigeration. Just in a bag - no cooler or ice.
> 
> I have never seen butter go bad. Ever. From childhood till today. It's a dairy product, but it's a preserved product, like cheese. Who here throws away cheese with a little mold on it? If you do, you're throwing money away. Cut it off and proceed as usual



Most European recipes for potato salad contain vinegar, which in of itself is a preservative. So that wouldn't surprise me. But the sausages, unless they are smoked, would give me cause to raise my eyebrows.


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## pacanis (Oct 14, 2013)

It's a wonder the people of Germany are still alive. lol


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## Kitchen Barbarian (Oct 14, 2013)

If you can kill it, chop it up, and stuff it in a casing - Germans will eat it.  Only the Poles are in the same class when it comes to sausage-fiendery.

Honestly I don't worry that much about a few hours in a car.  I once lived in a place where the nearest affordable grocery shopping was an hour away (one way) and I routinely brought my purchases back in the car, with only frozen stuff going into a cheap styrofoam cooler.  It clearly didn't kill me, LOL!


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## Cooking Goddess (Oct 14, 2013)

I haven't decided if the problem these days is that food just Wdoesn't "keep" as well as it once did, or are the food safely experts a bit over-the-top with their doomsday mentality.  Don't eat this!   You must put food away like that!  All these cautions and warnings get me so conflicted because they change direction so frequently!

In my parents' days and earlier, holiday food was left out for hours and hours so you could graze all day and it was right there when drop-in company showed up.  Veggies from the garden often ended up in the spare 'fridge just shaken clean and wrapped in paper, not really cleaned off until you were going to use it.  And I honestly don't remember people getting sick from food like they do today.  AND they lived longer a lot of times.  Who out there has family that lived well into their 80s? (raises hand)  How about 90s?  Two aunts and untold great aunts and uncles, Himself still has two aunts in their 90s, one still living just fine on her own.  I even had one great-aunt hit 102.  She got tired of living someplace after a few years and would move on, sometimes from relative to relative.  My Mom always side she lived to 102 because God and the Devil argued about who had to take her first...


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## Andy M. (Oct 14, 2013)

SO always carries a couple of insulated bags with ice packs to transport our perishables from the grocery store to our home 15 minutes away.  She doesn't want to hear me tell her she doesn't need them.

I think may people overreact to safety warnings and do things "just to be on the safe side."


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## Addie (Oct 14, 2013)

Andy M. said:


> SO always carries a couple of insulated bags with ice packs to transport our perishables from the grocery store to our home 15 minutes away. * She doesn't want to hear me tell her she doesn't need them.*
> I think may people overreact to safety warnings and do things "just to be on the safe side."



As the saying goes, "You pick your arguments."


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## GotGarlic (Oct 14, 2013)

Addie said:


> Most European recipes for potato salad contain vinegar, which in of itself is a preservative. So that wouldn't surprise me. But the sausages, unless they are smoked, would give me cause to raise my eyebrows.



I don't remember exactly how this one was made. I do remember being surprised that it wasn't the "German" potato salad we're used to having here, with bacon and vinegar. That's a Bavarian dish and our student wasn't from that part of Germany.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Oct 14, 2013)

I have an insulated bag:  for summer I add ice and refrigerated/frozen items go in the bag, my shopping trips can be hours long and several stores.  In the winter I use the same bag, no ice and use it for things like greens etc. that cannot handle the cold.  Works for me.


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## taxlady (Oct 14, 2013)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I have an insulated bag:  for summer I add ice and refrigerated/frozen items go in the bag, my shopping trips can be hours long and several stores.  In the winter I use the same bag, no ice and use it for things like greens etc. that cannot handle the cold.  Works for me.


I learned the hard way that potatoes can't take too much cold. When I lived in the country, we made a trip to the nearest town to do some grocery shopping. It was close to 20 km and half an hour away. We ran into friends and went for pizza. It was something like -30C. The next day, my potatoes were little bags of mush.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Oct 14, 2013)

taxlady said:


> I learned the hard way that potatoes can't take too much cold. When I lived in the country, we made a trip to the nearest town to do some grocery shopping. It was close to 20 km and half an hour away. We ran into friends and went for pizza. It was something like -30C. The next day, my potatoes were little bags of mush.



I've hauled fresh herbs and lettuce home in the bag in the middle of winter, they make it home just fine.  And this is after hours in the back of the car, when I'm shopping the sales.


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## GotGarlic (Oct 14, 2013)

taxlady said:


> I learned the hard way that potatoes can't take too much cold. When I lived in the country, we made a trip to the nearest town to do some grocery shopping. It was close to 20 km and half an hour away. We ran into friends and went for pizza. It was something like -30C. The next day, my potatoes were little bags of mush.



That's not just "cold." That's way below freezing. I took care of a friend's indoor plants over winter break in college once, bringing them from her dorm to my apartment. It was -20F. They died instantly from being exposed to that level of cold. Very cold temperatures change the chemical composition of foods, similarly to the way heat does.


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## Mad Cook (Oct 15, 2013)

GotGarlic said:


> I leave it out almost all the time (unless, as mentioned, it's too warm in the house), in a covered butter dish, and have never had a problem with it. I have found, though, that using a vegetable peeler to scrape thin slices of cold butter works well for spreading, especially if the food you are spreading it on is warm.


What a brilliant idea! Why has it never occurred to me. Thanks, GG.


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## Mad Cook (Oct 15, 2013)

Addie said:


> I too have a butter bell and I love it. Would be lost without it. I change the water every day. Everyone should have one.


I hadn't heard of the Butter Bell until I read this thread. Sounds like a good idea. 

I have a butter dish that has a glazed terracotta saucer with a domed lid made of terracotta, glazed only on the inside. You soak the lid in cold water and place your butter on the saucer with the lid on it. Keeps the butter fresh for ages as long as you keep the lid soaked. I suppose it works on the evaporation principal

I inherited it from an aunt so I don't know its age or where she got it from.


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## taxlady (Oct 15, 2013)

Mad Cook said:


> What a brilliant idea! Why has it never occurred to me. Thanks, GG.


I use a cheese plane.


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