Refrigerating Butter

[nanat]

I use only real butter for everything. I've heard that I can leave sticks in a butter dish or crock on the counter top and do not have to put in the frig. Some say being salted or unsalted has something to do with it also. What do you think?

 

[justplainbill]

If butter need not be refrigerated one would imagine food stores would not be doing so. During WW2 canned butter was common in our military.

 

[Andy M.]

I have known a number of families that leave butter out at room temp all the time. It has not been a problem for them. I believe salted butter would hold up better.

 

[sparrowgrass]

I put a stick in a pint wide mouth canning jar and leave it on the counter til I use it up--sometimes that takes me weeks--and I never have any problem with spoilage, not even in the summer.

I use the canning jar because it has a lid--don't want my butter full of dust and dog hair!

Butter, like cheese, is an ancient invention, developed to keep milk edible in the days before refrigeration.

 

[bigdaddy3k]

If butter need not be refrigerated one would imagine food stores would not be doing so. During WW2 canned butter was common in our military.

Originally butter was delivered by wagon in jacketed cans. A jacketed can is sort of like a modern thermos. Its a container inside of a container but there is water in the outside container to provide insulation for the butter as cool butter stays firmer and easier to measure.

The weight was estimated by the driver and the customers had to provide their own container to transport the butter to their homes (see Fiddler On The Roof).

Of course as businesses grew and the drivers of the carts became employees rather than the dual role of the owner, favoritism started to show. Someone's cup got a little more butter and someone else's got a little less but both people were charged the same thing. Solutions? there mere many but it seemed that with each system there was someone with a way to cheat it. Pre-measuring and portioning became the norm.

Dairy collectives also formed around this time. With each dairy farmer contributing all of their dairy product into a shared processing plant (more of a series of shacks rather than a plant but you get the drift).

Now came the cost of these sturdy metal containers for butter delivery. They weren't always getting them all back and some of the ones they did get back, well, no one would want to eat something out of again. They started to wrap the pre-measured butter in wax paper.

They cut the butter into block form so they could stack it in a wagon box. the problem is that without the jacketed can and the hard sided measuring can, the butter stacked on the bottom got very soft and the weight of the butter stacked on top caused it to collapse and a huge mess was made of the butter at the bottom.

Jacketing the wagon box (and eventually the entire wagon) solved some of the problem but the butter at the bottom still got misshapened by the weight of the butter above. The cardboard box comes into play here.

The gist of all this is that butter is refrigerated to make it easier to ship store and handle, NOT because it is required to prevent spoilage.

 

[Wyogal]

I store butter in the fridge, but have a stick on a butter dish that I keep in a cupboard.

 

[jennifer75]

I have known a number of families that leave butter out at room temp all the time. It has not been a problem for them. I believe salted butter would hold up better.

Once I saw what my mothers cat did to butter left on the counter, I fridge all my butter/marg.

 

[Andy M.]

Once I saw what my mothers cat did to butter left on the counter, I fridge all my butter/marg.

Yet another reason to not have a cat.

 

[jennifer75]

Yet another reason to not have a cat.

Sometimes, SOMETIMES, I'll leave a stick out to soften, but even without a cat to devour it, I prefer it cold, but spreadable. So, I use Blue Bonnet tub or sticks. TASTY. If I'm baking, I use Imperial sticks.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Regardless of your preferences, butter STILL can go rancid. And once you've smelled or tasted rancid butter or oil, you'll never forget it. And will probably keep your butter in the fridge from then on.

 

[GB]

I tired leaving my butter out once. We do not go through butter very fast at my house so we had issues leaving it out. The first stick we went through fast enough, but the second time we tried it we got mold. I even had the butter in a foodsaver container so there was next to no air in contact with the butter.

Many people use butter crocks though with great success. Google butter crock and you will find all the info you could want.

 

[Russellkhan]

We have a crock, one of the ones that suspends the butter into water. We use it in the winter and spring but in the summer and fall it gets too warm in the kitchen and butter tends to fall out into the water. During the warmer seasons we keep a stick of butter in a butter dish. for table use/leaving out on the counter we use salted butter. Never had a problem with rancidity.

 

[apple*tart]

I actually store my (unsalted) butter in the freezer, transferring one stick at a time to the fridge as I need it. I think it keeps the butter tasting freshest.

 

[JMediger]

We keep ours on the counter in a covered butter dish (a stick at a time - the remaining sticks are in the fridge till we need them). I hate hard butter! We go through a stick every 9 or 10 days so we haven't had any problems with it going bad.

 

[GrillingFool]

According to the Wisconsin Dairy Council, they say refrigerate.
Of course, they are subject to huge lawsuits from sue-happy people
if they get sick from unrefrigerated butter, too.

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

i cant be the only one wondering what cats do to butter - someone fill me in

my wife's family leaves their butter in the cupboard - we dont really use butter in my house, but its so much easier to use when we visit her family

 

[GB]

i cant be the only one wondering what cats do to butter - someone fill me in

They lick it.

 

[BreezyCooking]

And leave little kitty footprints in it. . . . (please don't ask how I know this)

 

[CharlieD]

I guess in Europe, France in particular they do not refrigerate butter. They keep it in special dishes. But French butter is by far the best butter ever. At least the best one I ever had. So I do not know how it would work here. But you can check on line for those dishes and try see how long it will less for you.

 

[bigdaddy3k]

i cant be the only one wondering what cats do to butter - someone fill me in

my wife's family leaves their butter in the cupboard - we dont really use butter in my house, but its so much easier to use when we visit her family

They eat it in a messy manner. Often licking the butter, dish and all, off the edge of the table.