Posted: 9/27/2006 7:42:08 PM EDT
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OK so me and a buddy of mine are in this big debate about where to store butter. I say store it in the fridge where it will last longer and stay cool. My buddy says that you should store it on the counter where it will stay warm and soft. I think this is asking for some horable bacteria mold to grow on it. Who is right? -JIM- |
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not from me.... ----------------------------------------------------- Storing butter Because of its high fat content, butter contains many calories and should be used sparingly in the diet. Storing butter properly lengthens its shelf-life so it can be used over a longer period of time. Butter in one-pound blocks can be cut into smaller portions, repackaged and frozen for future use. To prevent a type of spoilage called rancidity, protect butter from heat, light and air. Rancid butter has an unpleasant taste and smell. To prevent rancidity, never store butter at room temperature. For ease in spreading, remove butter from the refrigerator 10 to 15 minutes before using it. Butter absorbs odors from other foods rapidly. To prevent flavor changes, keep butter wrapped in moisture, vapor-proof material or in tightly covered containers. For refrigerator storage, leave butter in its original wrapper. It can be stored one to two weeks at refrigerator temperature (below 40 degrees F). Higher temperatures cause off-flavors and unpleasant odors to develop. Opened portions of butter should be refrigerated in a covered dish. Butter should not be stored in a butter keeper longer than two days. For holding longer than two weeks, butter should be frozen. To store butter in the freezer, use moisture, vapor-proof freezer packaging material to keep butter from absorbing odors from other foods and to prevent freezer burn. Butter in its original carton can be over-wrapped. One-pound blocks can be cut into smaller portions that can be used in a short time. Wrap tightly in moisture, vapor-proof wrap, label and freeze. If properly wrapped and held at 0 degrees F or lower, butter will keep well in the freezer for 6 to 9 months. Thaw butter in the refrigerator. |
HA!  Thanks man! |
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Should be in the fridge. I'll take it out if I'll need soft butter in an hour or so. Usually I keep the stick on a microwave safe dish, and when I need to butter toast or whetever, I'll toss the plate in the micro for 15 seconds to soften it. Now growing up, my folks left butter out. I never got sick from it or anything, I just think it's better off in the fridge, all things considered. At the very least, keep it covered! 
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I take it you guys have never seen/used a butter crock? You store butter in it at room temp, but it is inverted in water that keeps it fresh. Works great. As long as you actually use the butter, rather let it set for days or weeks at a time, you won't have spoiled butter. |
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I'm gonna buy some whipped butter, I like that stuff. I have never noticed spoiled/rancid butter?  Either I ate it oblivious to the fact, or I just go through butter faster than it spoils. I dunno.Butter crocks lead to two thoughts. First, it's possible the butter would sit for a week, maybe even two. I don't eat toast but on weekends usually. And second, around here, I bet I'd have water spillage. Doesn't seem very practical for me. |
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Being from Wisconsin I know and love butter--along with all other udder products. We buy whipped Land O' Lakes butter in the half pound tubs--and store them in the freezer. We keep them on the counter for use--and they surely don't last long enough to go rancid (yuck!). Butter is a gift from God and cows so it should be relished--and spread thick.  Oh, we buy normal one pound sticks for baking and frying. Fried chicken, squirrel, rabbits, quail, fish, morel mushrooms, etc. can only be properly prepared in real butter. Wesson oil, Crisco, etc. are an abomination and invention of da debil. 
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God's greatest gifts emanate from an udder. Can you tell I am the first generation on both sides of my family not raised on a dairy farm? I just thought of something--BRB. Edit: I lost my first uncle in July and this pic was taken July 4 at the cemetary, just outside of Elroy, Wisconsin. Note the natural butter containers in the right background. He farmed just a few miles from there, but had sold the farm a number of years ago. 
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 +1 They work great. James |
+1 I saw this and was like WTF, but ever since I've actually had occasion to use it, it works great. Works even better if you keep it someplace out of direct sunlight and somewhat cool. |
I voted counter, but in the arfcom tradition I do both. I didn't know you called it a "butter bell" but that's what I keep the in use GOB (Gods' Own Butter) in. I get it in 4 quarter pound sticks per box. The others are in the frige. Wife uses margarine so I came up with GOB for the grocery list to make sure she gets the real deal. |
Damn, we keep ours on the counter... Back home we kept it in the fridge. In the five years I've been married to my wife and subsequently kept butter on the counter, I've never seen it taste or go bad. ~Dg84 |
 Maybe if you are a fatass single. For a family of 5 or more, eating like normal human beings, go through a stick of butter inside of 2 days. A stick will last a week out on the counter. Butter isn't bad for you anyway. Margerine is nasty stuff, that was supposed to be the 'healthy' alternative, but isn't. |
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I worked in a butter factory in WI in college & worked in the dairy industry for many years after that. There are guys out there who know more than I do about butter, but OTOH, there isn't a whole lot more to know than mentioned by some above. The correct way to store butter is in the refrigerator, especially if it will be used in relatively short time, say a week or so. The above post about it picking up odors & tastes in the refrigerator is correct so it's best kept in a covered butter dish. Keep the refrigerator about 38 degrees F. For long term storage it's acceptable to freeze it, but keep it well apart from anything that gives off an odor or taste. It can be thawed in the refrigerator. As far as rancidity, my Dad used to say that city people didn't know what good butter tastes like. His point was that the butter is handled so poorly in grocery warehouses that it might be frozen on a dock in the winter, partially thawed by sunlight on that same dock the next day & then stored next to a leaky steam pipe in the cooler when it was finally put away. He said that most of the butter that you buy is rancid by the time that it gets to you & that most people got used to it that way & didn't know any better. If you've ever had any freshly churned butter you would agree with him. Butter is 80% butterfat according to it's standard of identity. I believe that the poster above who mentioned that fat doesn't support bacterial growth is correct, but I'm not positive. I've never seen moldy butter. The reason that whipped butter is spreadable right out of the refrigerator is that it is whipped to add air, just like ice cream. In the ice cream industry that's called "overrun." The rule of thumb for plain jane ice cream is 100% overrun. That means that, if you buy a gallon of ice cream, you would get 1/2 gallon of product when it melts. I've never tried it, but I suspect that it would be difficult to get ALL of the air out just by melting it, so, if you try it you could wind up with more. Premium ice creams will have less overrun & better ingredients & somewhat higher fat content. Anyway, sorry for the thread hijack about ice cream, but DON'T leave your butter out unless you like rancid butter.
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