Poll: Do you keep butter out all day?

[BatmansWife]

When I was a kid, my mom kept butter in a covered butter dish and kept it out all day (possibly all night too, I'm not sure). I usually keep butter sticks in the butter compartment in the refrigerator. When we want to use butter we put one in the microwave and hit the soften button (if the stick is less than a full stick you need to remember to not microwave it on soften for the full amount of time....or you'll have a pool of butter in the microwave). The other day the butter was out. I was about to put it away but remembered I'd want it in a couple more hours for lunch. So, I just kept it out. I just wonder if there's any reason to *not* leave it out. It was sure convenient to not have to microwave it. I'm wondering now if I want to do as my mom did...and just leave it out. But, then again....she would thaw frozen meat all day in the sink. So, her ideas aren't always the recommended way of doing things.

Edited November 20, 2011 by ~AprilMay~

[K&Rs Mom]

We keep it out, in a butter dish with snap-on lid. It's easier to use that way. I will put it in the fridge when the house gets too hot in the summer, usually just a few days at a time (75+ daytime indoor temps). My dh grew up with butter just kept on an open plate, but I think that's icky.

[LauraGB]

Cold butter stinks. One stick out all the time.

[Daisy]

There is nothing wrong with leaving it out especially in the winter and if your family will go through it fairly quickly. Unsalted butter that is left out for a long time is more likely to go rancid so if you don't go through butter fast enough, just buy the salted kind.

 

I put the butter out in the morning and leave it out all day. Before bed, I sometimes stick it in the fridge and sometimes I don't.

[Munchkins_mama]

We are butter people. I leave it out in its pretty glass dish all day and night.

[duckens]

We leave the butter out all day and all night.

 

We have not had any butter go rancid, but we have had butter become contaminated with mold on two or three occasions over the past five years. This is probably because of the knife being reused for butter after being used to spread jelly...and then the butter sitting out for a week after that.

 

If your family goes through butter quickly, it may not be an issue for you.

[JudoMom]

I keep butter out at all times. If you'r worried about it going bad, you can get a butter bell.

[ereks mom]

We use butter sometimes and margarine sometimes. We usually refrigerate both, but sometimes we leave them out unintentionally. When that happens, we just use them anyway. I like my butter spreadable but not too soft, so I usually just take it out of the refrigerator a few minutes before I'm going to use it. But sometimes for a recipe, I'll leave it out for several hours so it blends more easily with the other ingredients.

[kitten18]

We keep a stick of butter in a covered container in the pantry.

[tammyw]

Wow - I never thought butter could be kept out! I hate hard butter so I always soften in the microwave before use. I might be changing how we do butter.

[lionfamily1999]

I voted other, because (like so many other posters) it depends on the temperature of the house. As long as it's not hot the butter stays out all the time. If it's hot then the butter goes back in the fridge once it starts melting.

[Kalypso]

We leave it out and covered, but we do go through it pretty quickly.

[Puma Mom]

Other. I use a butter bell which helps keep the butter fresh and soft. In the winter, I usually keep it filled. In the summer, it varies because I have to keep a closer eye on it to keep the water from getting too old to keep the butter fresh.

[TrixieB]

I leave the butter out in a covered tupperware butter dish. I've done this for years, and never had a problem with the butter spoiling, even in summer. However, I only put out about 1/4 stick at a time, which is usually used up within a few days max.

[Stratford]

We keep our butter out in a covered butter dish.....and sometimes the cover is left off. Freaks my DH out as he came from a strictly refrigerated butter family, but he's getting used to it.

[Spy Car]

I like sweet (unsalted) butter and think any butter goes "off" tasting quickly, so I prefer it kept very well wrapped and frozen until needed. Then refrigerated.

 

Bill

[sparrow]

Other. I use a butter bell which helps keep the butter fresh and soft. In the winter, I usually keep it filled. In the summer, it varies because I have to keep a closer eye on it to keep the water from getting too old to keep the butter fresh.

 

:iagree:

[Joyofsixreboot]

Out all the time in a butter dish.

[tadbhoward]

Our butter stays out in a butter bell.

[Denise in Florida]

sometimes during the high heat of summer I will keep it in the fridgerator, but only when it turns to liquid in the butter dish. yeck

[GailV]

In the winter we leave it out. We go through it at a brisk pace, so it's fine.

 

It usually goes in the refrigerator in the summer. Sometimes in the summer I switch to ghee (clarified butter), but my kids think it's an abomination. Then again, we don't use so much butter in the summer anyway, so it doesn't much matter.

 

I have an extreme aversion to the taste of rancid food (I refrigerate dry oatmeal because it goes "off" so quickly, and don't get me started on rancid nuts in stuff:ack2:), but the brands of sweet butter we get, consumed at the pace we use it, has been okay for non-rancid-butter so far. Maybe it's because we get cultured butter?

[ErinE]

It depends upon your climate. If you use butter often and you're further north, you can keep the butter out for a few days. If you're in the south, the butter goes rancid fast. Since I've lived in the sub-tropical South most of my life, my butter goes in the fridge. I've found the spreadable butter (with a neutral tasting oil to make it spread faster) to be a great substitute for room temperature butter.

[Ellie]

If you use it up quickly, I guess you could leave it out all day. But it's a dairy product; it will go bad if it isn't used.

 

In our house, it would go bad.

 

I use Plugra butter. Even right out of the fridge, it isn't as hard as other butters. I don't know why. I usually remember to take it out soon enough for it to soften on its own if I'm baking with it; if not, I use a trick I learned...somewhere...it goes in a ziplock bag and I beat it with the handle of knife. Works like a champ, lol.

[gardenmom5]

butter doesn't last long enough around here to go rancid. our temperatures aren't that high either, and in summer, the house has A/C.

 

my friends mother can taste the difference between butter that has been out at all, vs immediately used in cooking after taken from the refridgerator. she is unusual.

[SunD]

We leave it out, but a stick never lasts more than two days and often not even one, so there's zero chance of it going bad.

[Murphy101]

We easily go through a pound a day but I still keep it in a butter bell in the fridge. In a separate drawer/shelf thingie of the frig. to avoid it absorbing the taste/odor of other stuff. I don't own a microwave anymore. This hasn't been a problem.

[jenL]

I grew up with butter kept out in a butter dish with a cover - it was a yellow Tupperware one, actually. I am also leaving the butter out at my home as an adult, minus the Tupperware holder. :)

[justamouse]

During the winter I can leave it out in a butter dish, in the summer I use a butter bell.

 

For cooking I use regular butter, and on bread and biscuits, we use Kerrygold. I try and get a few pats of kerrygold into my kids every day. They are skinny as rails. :glare:

[Mrs Mungo]

I put half off a stick of sweet butter in a prep bowl with a lid and squish it around to soften it. I take it out of the fridge before I start breakfast, I put it back in the fridge after dinner.

[beaners]

I don't leave our butter out, but wouldn't object to doing so. It's just too hard to keep something like that away from the animals. (And children!) In my grandparent's house, they always had a stick of margarine on the counter.

[Parrothead]

It stays out. I thaw meat in the sink, too.

[usetoschool]

We always keep a stick in a butter dish in the cupboard with the bread. I think if we kept it in the fridge we might be less tempted to snack on bread and butter during the day :001_smile:

[justLisa]

considering we use a stick of butter before it could think of going bad.....I never put it away

[DarlaS]

It stays out. I thaw meat in the sink, too.

 

Same here--on both counts (For chicken though, once it softens noticeably, I put it in the fridge.)

 

Haven't killed anyone yet. :tongue_smilie:

 

I put out about 1/2 stick at a time and it doesn't last the day. I use a small plate, and just switch it out for a clean one whenever I notice it's empty. I gave up on a covered dish long ago as I was always the only one putting the lid back on, butter would get squished on the lid. It was an aggravation.

[chrissymama]

I voted "other." I usually keep ours in the fridge- we have 4 cats who get on the counters when we aren't around. I would rather leave it out though. If we are having bread with dinner (or any meal), I will take the butter out while I am cooking, so it has time to soften.

[Susan in TN]

Well, this thread is revolutionizing my whole life. I've always thought you had to keep it refrigerated (and we usually go through a stick a day at least).

 

Now I just need a pretty butter dish. What's a butter bell?

[jewellsmommy]

I keep butter out at all times. If you'r worried about it going bad, you can get a butter bell.

 

 

This is what I was going to suggest. :iagree:

 

:glare: My butter bell broke, and I have just been leaving my butter out in a tupperware like container.

[jewellsmommy]

Well, this thread is revolutionizing my whole life. I've always thought you had to keep it refrigerated (and we usually go through a stick a day at least).

 

Now I just need a pretty butter dish. What's a butter bell?

 

 

A butter bell looks like a cup that goes upside down into another container. You put the butter in the cup part and water into the container part. Then the cup flips upside down and goes into the water. This seals out any air. I'm not really explaining this well. :lol: You may just want to google one.

[livingnlearning]

It stays out. I thaw meat in the sink, too.

 

 

:iagree:

[Bluegoat]

Well, this thread is revolutionizing my whole life. I've always thought you had to keep it refrigerated (and we usually go through a stick a day at least).

 

Now I just need a pretty butter dish. What's a butter bell?

 

 

[Cindy in FL.]

It stays out. I thaw meat in the sink, too.

 

This is what I do, too.

 

Cindy

[danybug]

I was surprised to see the results and replies to this thread. I can not ever remember seeing anyone leave the butter out in their home. I understand it, but it would never cross my mind.

[Spy Car]

Light and air are absolute enemies of fresh butter taste. The fact that many people are wrong in their butter keeping habits doesn't change that.

 

Butter should be kept well-sealed in darkness and refrigerated or (preferably) frozen until need.

 

Otherwise it oxidizes rapidly on it's way to going rancid.

 

Bill

[JennyD]

Always in the fridge. I have thought about getting a butter bell, but then I would most certainly eat more butter, and that would be bad.

[Veritaserum]

I keep butter out at all times. If you'r worried about it going bad, you can get a butter bell.

 

And now I know what I want for Christmas! :D

 

We leave our butter out all the time and go through a stick every 2-3 days.

[Impish]

I'm thinking of switching solely to butter...where did you guys get your butter dishes? I can't remember ever seeing them for sale, but that might be just b/c I haven't specifically looked for them...

[justamouse]

I'm thinking of switching solely to butter...where did you guys get your butter dishes? I can't remember ever seeing them for sale, but that might be just b/c I haven't specifically looked for them...

 

check the thrift stores. I see them there all the time.

[keptwoman]

We use a plastic idea dish with a small amount of butter in it, it's uncovered but kept in a drawer, for easy access and no flies or dogs can get at it.

[sparrow]

This is the butter bell we've used for years:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-284-Stoneware-Butter-Keeper/dp/B0000VLURQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321845217&sr=8-1

[TKDmom]

I've started to buy the Land O' Lakes butter that is mixed with canola oil. It comes in a tub and is pretty soft straight out of the fridge. I keep telling myself that I will mix some butter up with canola oil myself to save money, but never get around to it.

 

If I run out of butter spread, I do leave a stick of real butter out all the time (night and day). If I put it away at night it wouldn't be soft for toast in the morning... :D