358557 Tue Jan 09 16:29:20 -0800 2007 51 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 2169268 Anyone else out there leave their butter out (in a covered dish) for days or weeks at a time? I started doing this after talking to a coworker who does it, and it makes perfect sense. Nothing I hate more than trying to spread ROCK hard butter on something. I know it's a dairy product, but my coworker and I both do this regularly. Are we courting potential disaster? Tue Jan 09 16:29:20 -0800 2007 46024 allegro805 1 2169274 always. I also HATE rock hard butter Tue Jan 09 16:30:35 -0800 2007 2169268 15747 djohnson22 1 2169293 No. I recently found a foil wrapped hunk of President french butter in my pantry closet, in a bag along with some flour. It had been there for more than a month, and was perfectly fine and solid. Of course, this was a low-moisture product - american butters mostly have more water in them, and could, I guess be more prone to spoiling at room temp, given exposure to heat and humidity but I think it would take a while and you would know. Tue Jan 09 16:34:38 -0800 2007 2169268 11130 jen kalb 1 2169295 I've got to tell you, this hits on a huge pet peeve of mine at restaurants. Don't bring me hard butter. How hard is it to just let the dishes sit out at room temp or quick heat them in an oven? Tue Jan 09 16:34:55 -0800 2007 2169268 49180 jpschust 2 2169546 Unfortunately, in many jurisdictions, health codes do not allow restaurants to keep butter at room temperature. Health codes can be really stupid sometimes. Where I work, one time the health inspector was visiting while some stock wqas simmering on the stove and she told the owner that he had to keep a lid on all pots at all times. Anyway, we really don't want to serve you rock hard butter, but if the health inspector is around, we have to. Tue Jan 09 17:34:56 -0800 2007 2169295 23908 hilltowner 3 2170401 I always wondered the same thing......Now I know. (Thanks.) Tue Jan 09 20:48:49 -0800 2007 2169546 26699 cackalackie 3 2170422 Speaking of stupid health inspectors, a few years ago health inspectors started forbidding makers of fresh mozzerella from leaving their product unrefridgerated...of course you can't refridg fresh mozz, it spoils the texture. So to be sure the mozz that they found was not sold to the public, they poured bleach into the water (or is it whey) it was being held in. Nice! This happened in an italian neighborhood in brooklyn. But hey, they are still getting away with it somehow, thank goodness. Tue Jan 09 20:52:20 -0800 2007 2169546 18154 prunefeet 4 4913463 Fiore's in Hoboken (on Adams between 4th and 5th) makes and sells fresh, hand-made, moz. It is heaven. And it doe NOT sit in a refrigerator. It is sold at room temp., and they advise you not to ruin it by refrigerating it. And I have been leaving my butter at room temp. all of my life. Mon Aug 03 10:58:44 -0700 2009 2170422 124339 bnemes3343 3 2171002 I used to work in the pastry shop of a luxury hotel, and we always kept a working quantity of butter (about 30 1-lb. blocks) out at room temperature--this way it was always at a workable consistency when we needed it. (and no, no one ever got sick from our stuff, and the butter never tasted 'off'). The only time we ever kept all our butter refrigerated was when the health inspectors were on their way! Tue Jan 09 23:03:11 -0800 2007 2169546 19120 Piglet 4 2171268 Piglet, I bake, and we keep out butter (1 lb blocks) submerged in a hotel pan of cool(50F)water. It satisfies the health dept regulations, and yet it is soft enough to cream properly. I leave the butter on the counter/table during the hottest summer in a butter bell. Wed Jan 10 00:26:40 -0800 2007 2171002 22220 Kelli2006 1 2169304 No, I leave my butter out in a butter boat all the time (without the water receptacle below the actual butter holder in the winter). The ONLY time I put it in the fridge is in the summer, when the butter boat doesn't keep it firm enough. Tue Jan 09 16:36:24 -0800 2007 2169268 10532 LindaWhit 1 2169515 Use a butter boat in the summer, not in the winter no need to. Keep the butter in the fridge for baking. Tue Jan 09 17:26:10 -0800 2007 2169268 50431 chef chicklet 2 4913436 Only butter in my fridge is for baking and cooking purposes. I have never gotten sick from butter. Mon Aug 03 10:51:32 -0700 2009 2169515 729068 cookieluvntasha 1 2169566 Never put butter in the fridge -- never have, never will. I bought a perfectly lovely covered butter dish on eBay to keep the cats from helping themselves but being in San Francisco, our temperature is moderate enough that I don't even have to worry about it in the summer! Tue Jan 09 17:39:24 -0800 2007 2169268 16933 Carrie 218 1 2169605 Hard butter is lousy, rancid butter is worse. DW and I had this exact discussion this weekend on why people leave butter on the counter. I have yet to see an article telling me this practice is safe, other than in water. Could someone who keeps their butter on the counter tell me why the butter does not go rancid. It just scares me why so many want to take the chance on rancid. Thanks Tue Jan 09 17:48:24 -0800 2007 2169268 11290 jfood 2 2169812 Because I use it up faster than it would go rancid. Here's some info on butter bells that help prevent rancidity: http://webexhibits.org/butter/crocks.html Tue Jan 09 18:36:12 -0800 2007 2169605 10532 LindaWhit 3 2170349 no prob from jfood w a butter bell, its w/o that is troubling. How often do you change the water in the bell? Tue Jan 09 20:38:11 -0800 2007 2169812 11290 jfood 4 2170778 I actually don't use a butter bell - I use a butter boat, which doesn't have the butter touching water. I think they suggest changing butter bell water every 3 days or so. Here's something similar to what I use - looks like a covered butter dish with the water going in the lower part. http://www.cookstreetinc.com/welcome.php And I've kept butter out of the fridge for at least the last 15 years, and haven't died yet. ;-) Tue Jan 09 22:06:06 -0800 2007 2170349 10532 LindaWhit 5 2220248 I actually have this butter boat. It's great. Tue Jan 23 20:59:39 -0800 2007 2170778 27319 brattenheimer 2 2169918 JFood, I'm with LindaWhit -- it actually takes a relatively long time for butter to go rancid (several weeks, I believe). I am the only butter user in my household and I tend to go through one stick every 10 days or so without ever having tasted it as rancid. I have an idea -- conduct an experiment for yourself; put a stick of butter out and taste it every day for a month. You should be able to discern when it starts tasting "different" without getting ill or sick. But I've never had any problem and I've been doing it for almost 40 years. Tue Jan 09 18:59:47 -0800 2007 2169605 16933 Carrie 218 3 2170351 Do you use a bell or just leave it out? Tue Jan 09 20:38:32 -0800 2007 2169918 11290 jfood 4 2172185 When I lived in the Midwest I used to leave it out routinely, no butter bell (never heard of such a thing!) -- it was just in the cabinet with the flour and sugar. Wed Jan 10 05:58:06 -0800 2007 2170351 10811 Das Ubergeek 5 2173202 But all that changed when you moved to SoCal? Wed Jan 10 16:28:44 -0800 2007 2172185 46024 allegro805 6 2173318 I don't leave it out during summer anymore, no... it melts even in the air conditioning. Now I put it in the wine fridge. Wed Jan 10 16:58:24 -0800 2007 2173202 10811 Das Ubergeek 7 4914471 One of the advantages of having an old 2-story house here in SoCal is that the ground floor stays pretty cool unless the temperatures have been 90+ for a week or more... and if your upstairs has AC, downstairs stays nice. So the butter does not melt. Couldn't do that in Tennessee, though - it'd start getting moldy before it went rancid, especially if the bell top had not been scrubbed thoroughly. Mon Aug 03 16:03:02 -0700 2009 2173318 11478 Will Owen 5 4908641 Also in the Midwest and we leave ours out except during the very hot summer weeks when it starts to melt. No "bell" or "boat," I've never heard of those either. My mother and grandmother always left theirs out as well, several generations here of people who are just fine, no rancid butter. Sat Aug 01 07:40:02 -0700 2009 2172185 19518 rockandroller1 2 4908692 I have never ever ever put the butter in the fridge, I have a covered butter dish which sits on the counter, we go through about half a pound of butter in a week or 2 and it is never rancid and I live in South Fl these days but from London before that. Beats me why anyone would want hard butter. Do you think butter was refridgerated many moons ago? No. It was kept in the meat safe along with meat and cheese which was as cool as possible. Sat Aug 01 08:08:08 -0700 2009 2169605 22559 smartie 1 2169709 Yes, I do it, and it can go bad eventually. Just check before using ... I can tell by looking whether something's wrong. Try doing just half a stick at a time ... Tue Jan 09 18:10:22 -0800 2007 2169268 19108 foiegras 1 2169752 I keep 1/4 lb. or less in my covered butter dish on the counter - the rest of the lb. goes in the fridge. Except for the time I went on vacation for 3 weeks in the summer and forgot to empty the butter dish (bleah), the room temperature butter has never been anything but fine. If I don't use that bit within a week, I'll just use it in cooking, wash the dish and put out a fresh chunk. You can taste and smell rancid - if it were rancid, you'd know at first sniff. Tue Jan 09 18:25:33 -0800 2007 2169268 12383 Nyleve 1 2169775 In a covered butter dish at room temp. is what I do. I keep my home at about 70F year 'round so it stays just right for spreading. Tue Jan 09 18:29:10 -0800 2007 2169268 10285 Candy 1 2170328 I leave my butter out on the counter too, in a covered butter dish. It can go rancid if you leave it for long enough so I cut off a week's worth of butter at a time and leave the rest in the fridge. Tue Jan 09 20:33:45 -0800 2007 2169268 45908 orangewasabi 1 2170419 I have yet to have my room temp. butter go off--and I live alone! (what can I say--I love toast) I don't use a bell, just a dish. I have a cold kitchen in winter, but sometimes in summer I have to put it in the fridge because without AC it can actually get melty and messy. Rancidity is just another term for oxidation--the butter isn't unsafe, just different tasting. Like most fats, it's actually pretty good as a preservation device. I tend to use salted butter--it may be different for sweet butter. Tue Jan 09 20:52:07 -0800 2007 2169268 42915 dct 1 2170667 So glad to hear so many do it. I don't use a bell, and I don't find any rancid taste at all up to at least 3-4 weeks, easily. Usually temps here in coastal Calif are about 65-70 degrees. Oh, and of course I only keep one stick out at a time -- the rest of the pound goes in the fridge. Tue Jan 09 21:45:25 -0800 2007 2169268 46024 allegro805 1 2170947 I use a bell year round in Phoenix. This time of year you really don't need the bell...my kitchen has been pretty cook since early Dec but without a bell you gotta keep it in the fridge here during the summer months. Tue Jan 09 22:48:18 -0800 2007 2169268 16406 ziggylu 1 2170966 My butter stays out from the time I unwrap a stick till it's gone. In the winter I still sometimes have to nuke it to get it soft enough to spread. In summer it occasionally gets too soft. But I've never had any go bad. Tue Jan 09 22:53:40 -0800 2007 2169268 32586 revsharkie 1 2171029 Unless I am trying to cut back a bit (which given the holiday season just passed, is now), my butter always stays out at room temperature. It's the only way to keep it as it always will be a at a spreadable consistency. It's not in one of those cute butter bells but instead is just in a covered dish. Tue Jan 09 23:12:50 -0800 2007 2169268 33941 rosielucchesini 1 2171492 I leave it out too. Actually, I have this great butter boat that I purchased online that allows me to warm or cool the butter. The butter dish sits inside a ceramic "boat" that you fill with either a little bit of cool water. It helps keep your butter from getting too soft during warmer months, and it helps it stay softer during cooler months. It's AWESOME. I got it on QVC.com (shocking!). Type in item #: K74491 It comes in several patterns, though I stuck with plain white. Wed Jan 10 01:35:19 -0800 2007 2169268 27319 brattenheimer 1 2171509 I keep the big block in the fridge, and cut off a chunk every few days to leave out to soften. I don't bake, so I don't usually need large amounts of softened butter - it's just for my bread and cooking. It'll be gone in a few days, and a 'fresh' chunk will come out. Wed Jan 10 01:40:41 -0800 2007 2169268 15482 NovoCuisine 1 2173750 Count me among the butterbell users -- I hate hard butter! Even if the butter is rancid, it won't make you sick -- it just tastes bad. Under certain conditions butter will get moldy, but again, that won't make you sick. Butter was around for thousands of years before there was refrigeration! Wed Jan 10 18:30:46 -0800 2007 2169268 10159 Ruth Lafler 1 2174416 Butter is an ancient way of preserving buttercream in temperate climates. It needs no refrigeration as such, but refrigeration (or even better, freezing) slows the maturing process down. Butter gets softer around 20C (68F), so in US summers it makes sense to refrigerate it more unless you have a climate controlled kitchen year-round.... Wed Jan 10 20:35:44 -0800 2007 2169268 13819 Karl S 1 2174574 We use a butter bell with about half a stick of butter at a time, and it never goes rancid. Every now and then, *somebody* will leave bread crumbs in it, which will then go fuzzy and green, but that's not the butter's fault. Wed Jan 10 21:08:23 -0800 2007 2169268 13700 ricepad 1 2220273 I actually prefer the taste of butter on bread when it's slightly cool. Not fridge-stiff, but out of the fridge for an hour or so. For everyday use, I leave it out on the counter in a covered bowl filled with water. Stays nice for at least a week (it seldom lasts longer because I use a lot of butter in cooking and baking). Tue Jan 23 21:12:44 -0800 2007 2169268 60322 spades 1 3136600 I like cold butter for some reason... But, I did use a butter bell (got it at Sur La Table) and after a week or two the butter had turned green on the surface (color of ripe avocado flesh). I figured it was bacteria so I washed it all out. This was during the summer and I had a small amount of purified water in the bell to form a wet seal. Am I using it wrong? Sun Nov 18 14:58:16 -0800 2007 2169268 113372 tonicart 2 3138487 When the butter in my butter bell acquires color or fuzz, it originates on a bread crumb that was stuck in the butter. Could that have been the case for you? Mon Nov 19 09:06:51 -0800 2007 3136600 13700 ricepad 3 4911522 Since a friend kept butter in a regular rectangular covered butter dish, I adopted the habit. Mine is unsalted, though, and I probably do get a crumb or two on it on occasion. Regardless, it often developed a blue cheese flavor before it was finished. So, clearly, mold spores found their way into it via crumb or air. I went back to keeping it in the fridge because I now reserve it for cooking/baking and use Smart Balance, which is spreadable when cold, on bread. Sun Aug 02 16:28:56 -0700 2009 3138487 159317 greygarious 2 4913184 You are using it right. Mine says to put 1/3 a cup of cool water in it. Mon Aug 03 09:37:57 -0700 2009 3136600 15908 masha bousha 1 4908490 My grandfather owned his own creamery, and kept his butter in in a covered dish on the counter (1-2 sticks at a time). He and my grandmother both lived to 93+, so that's enough evidence for me to know that it's safe! Sat Aug 01 06:03:12 -0700 2009 2169268 117865 kpsd 1 4908706 As long as the knife you use is clean and the dish is covered tightly, there shouldn't be a problem. (if you're not against it, though, you could always buy the "spreadable" butter stuff. I've never looked at it closely, so I don't know if it's real butter or butter with crap added in it) Takat Writing away about my latest 3 week adventure through China at http://katacomb.blogspot.com Sat Aug 01 08:14:12 -0700 2009 2169268 1098138 Takat 2 4908781 The spreadable "butter" is heavily mixed with oil. Getting breakfast ready at a friend's place last year, I took the "butter" out (Land o' Lakes in this case) and went on with other preparations. By the time breakfast was ready, the "butter" was now Liquid! Ugh. Gimme soft, REAL Butter any old day, even hard butter, than that junk. Sat Aug 01 09:03:59 -0700 2009 4908706 95137 mcsheridan 1 4909996 Seems to me the more fat that is present in a product the longer it lasts.. My friend and I discussed this today for instance skim milk goes bad faster than whole milk??? I never refrigerator my butter also salted butter would technically last even longer that non-salted Sat Aug 01 21:13:09 -0700 2009 2169268 274698 pikiliz 2 4912225 In that case, I may last forever! Sun Aug 02 22:52:38 -0700 2009 4909996 13700 ricepad 1 4912083 I like it soft (ohhh, the temptation ... there's that good bread and there's the honey and the butter's soft...) HOWEVER I can't seem to keep my family from leaving it a bit too close to the stove, and once it's melted at room temperature it's "use it or lose it" time. Sun Aug 02 21:06:15 -0700 2009 2169268 14479 wayne keyser 1 4913182 Get a Butter Saver or Butter crock. I got one on amazon.com for $9.99 I think and it's an easy way to have fresh butter at room temp without it getting funky. I've been telling everyone I know about it cause it's a neat invention that most folks would use. http://www.amazon.com/Pinzon-White-Ceramic-Butter-Keeper/dp/B001CGJ0OS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1249317371&sr=8-1 Mon Aug 03 09:36:50 -0700 2009 2169268 15908 masha bousha