Do you refrigerate butter?
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Alatariel75 wrote: »Wikipedia says "Butter remains a solid when refrigerated, but softens to a spreadable consistency at room temperature, and melts to a thin liquid consistency at 32–35 °C (90–95 °F)."
It's never that warm in my house unless the AC is broken. We have hot summers, Oklahoma USA.
Y'all really live and sleep in temps hot enough to melt butter?
A huge number of houses in Australia don't have AC at all, or have room by room reverse cycle systems (like mine) which are only turned on when someone is home. Because we don't get the freezing winters, by and large, whole house climate control is actually in the minority, particularly in older homes. I've never even been in an Australian house that has a furnace, for instance.Wikipedia says "Butter remains a solid when refrigerated, but softens to a spreadable consistency at room temperature, and melts to a thin liquid consistency at 32–35 °C (90–95 °F)."
It's never that warm in my house unless the AC is broken. We have hot summers, Oklahoma USA.
Y'all really live and sleep in temps hot enough to melt butter?
My place can get around 80 degrees in the daytime in July and August. The butter isn't a liquid but it is very soft and goes bad much more quickly than the winter when I keep the place 68-70 degrees.
Thanks for the insight!0 -
I just always assumed that since butter is dairy, it should be refrigerated. And it was always in the fridge growing up.
I learned something in the Debate Forum!!!
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When I buy real butter it stays out on the counter in a butter dish (glass container with lid). Margarine goes into the fridge though.0
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Butter doesn't stay in my house long enough to worry about it. We go through about a box (real butter) every 7-10 days.
oops, refrigerated. Used for cooking though, so consistency doesn't really matter.1 -
I've always kept a portion of butter for daily use on the counter (covered butter dish). So did my mother, and her mother... Never developed mold. Unopened sticks kept in the fridge, however.
ETA: winter time, of course, it's cool in the house. Summers back in my childhood, we had no AC (Wisconsin can and does have brutal, humid summers). Maybe we didn't keep the butter out then. Or never more than a day.0 -
Oh, and Google "butter boat." It's a low-tech way to keep butter out, but cool enough to stay fresh. I'd bet our ancestors used these before ice boxes and fridges. I should ask my grandma.0
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French_Peasant wrote: »Nope, especially not in the winter as our house hovers around 63 degrees. When it gets hot in the summer I am more inclined to refrigerate it, and of course all the not-in-use butter is either in the fridge or the freezer.
I have never in my life seen a stick of moldy butter. Under what conditions does this happen?
I had moldy butter after it was sitting unopened in the fridge for 6 months. Peeled back the foil wrapping and green.
I only use butter for baking shortbread or other cookies that require butter. Otherwise I use margarine. I have Becel and Parkay spreadable margarines for sammiches and toast. I always keep it in the fridge.1 -
The sticks not in use go in the fridge. Once the stick goes in the butter dish, no more fridge.0
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We keep it in the fridge. I find it tastes weird if it stays on the counter.1
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Alatariel75 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »Nope, especially not in the winter as our house hovers around 63 degrees. When it gets hot in the summer I am more inclined to refrigerate it, and of course all the not-in-use butter is either in the fridge or the freezer.
I have never in my life seen a stick of moldy butter. Under what conditions does this happen?
Generally it's stuff like crumbs in the butter which go mouldy. Pure butter is far more at risk of going rancid (and even that takes a while).
Personally, I've come home after a summers day at work to find candles in liquid form, so butter doesn't have any hope!
*crosses Australia off my list of places to visit*
Anyway, OP, yes I do keep it in the fridge0 -
French_Peasant wrote: »Nope, especially not in the winter as our house hovers around 63 degrees. When it gets hot in the summer I am more inclined to refrigerate it, and of course all the not-in-use butter is either in the fridge or the freezer.
I have never in my life seen a stick of moldy butter. Under what conditions does this happen?
I had moldy butter after it was sitting unopened in the fridge for 6 months. Peeled back the foil wrapping and green.
I only use butter for baking shortbread or other cookies that require butter. Otherwise I use margarine. I have Becel and Parkay spreadable margarines for sammiches and toast. I always keep it in the fridge.
I too have learned something new and exciting on the debate thread.
I have had many an item go fuzzy in the fridge but never butter. Duly noted! 0 -
French_Peasant wrote: »Nope, especially not in the winter as our house hovers around 63 degrees. When it gets hot in the summer I am more inclined to refrigerate it, and of course all the not-in-use butter is either in the fridge or the freezer.
I have never in my life seen a stick of moldy butter. Under what conditions does this happen?
I had moldy butter after it was sitting unopened in the fridge for 6 months. Peeled back the foil wrapping and green.
I only use butter for baking shortbread or other cookies that require butter. Otherwise I use margarine. I have Becel and Parkay spreadable margarines for sammiches and toast. I always keep it in the fridge.
You know what...I bet you are using unsalted butter, which does go funky quickly. I remember on a bread thread you were lamenting your lost love of bread due to the salt. Definitely fridge!1 -
I live in the Caribbean and have always kept butter in the fridge. My wife grew up in England and never did. Most amazing thing to see that when I went up there!!
Quick Google lookup shows our current temperature is 74 F at 10:00pm, while the temperature right now in her old home is 38 F. (That's 23 C and 3 C in metric.) I guess you can see the difference for that butter on the counter top.2 -
We keep a stick in the covered butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. Never had a problem with it going bad. We also don't refrigerate eggs if we only buy a dozen (we go through a dozen every 4 days of so).2
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We keep a stick in the covered butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. Never had a problem with it going bad. We also don't refrigerate eggs if we only buy a dozen (we go through a dozen every 4 days of so).
We had chickens a few years back. Ya no reason to refrigerate them. Think I read some where that we in the US refrigerate them, but many places don't.
Whaddya say OP? Interested in refrigerated eggs?
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Most of the time I keep the butter in the fridge, because I don't go through it fast enough to keep it from going rancid at room temperature (unless I'm using it in baking, and then I bring it out if it needs to be softened for the recipe). Mostly I use it when I fry eggs, and it works fine from the refrigerator for that purpose. I'll put it on potatoes and winter squash, but the veggies are hot when the butter goes on, so once again, it works fine from the refrigerator.
When I bake a loaf of bread, I'll leave a stick of butter out until the loaf is finished off. Sometimes I'll buy butter & olive oil combo spread, that's somewhat soft even straight from the refrigerator, and softens faster than straight butter when you take it out. I keep meaning to try making my own butter & olive oil spread.
When I was growing up we ate margarine (affordability + supposed health benefits, before we knew about the evils of trans fats), and we always had a stick of butter out of the refrigerator -- but it was a large family, and toast was a pretty regular part of breakfast, and bread was served with most dinners, so I doubt a stick lasted more than three days. I'm pretty sure my mother bought a pound of margarine most weeks.
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We keep a stick in the covered butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. Never had a problem with it going bad. We also don't refrigerate eggs if we only buy a dozen (we go through a dozen every 4 days of so).
We had chickens a few years back. Ya no reason to refrigerate them. Think I read some where that we in the US refrigerate them, but many places don't.
Whaddya say OP? Interested in refrigerated eggs?
Even the supermarkets don't tend to refrigerate there over here.1 -
I have always kept butter in the fridge. If i'm planning on having a sandwich i just take it out 30 minutes before so i don't rip my bread to pieces trying to spread it.
It's summer here now, if i left it out it would be in puddle form by the end of the day.1 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »We keep a stick in the covered butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. Never had a problem with it going bad. We also don't refrigerate eggs if we only buy a dozen (we go through a dozen every 4 days of so).
We had chickens a few years back. Ya no reason to refrigerate them. Think I read some where that we in the US refrigerate them, but many places don't.
Whaddya say OP? Interested in refrigerated eggs?
Even the supermarkets don't tend to refrigerate there over here.
I saw a documentary about eggs. The US requires that the exterior of eggs are cleaned/treated in such a way that a protective coating is removed from the egg and refrigeration is legally mandated. Other countries don't require that treatment and it's sometimes legally mandated that companies don't refrigerate them. It all depends upon where you live.
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Yes and no. We have a bit out in a covered container and the rest is refrigerated until needed. We have out the amount we will use in a couple of days. Our kitchen is warm enough for it to be soft enough to spread but not melty. I've never had a problem with it going bad or getting moldy in that time period.
Yup. This.
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Alatariel75 wrote: »We keep a stick in the covered butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. Never had a problem with it going bad. We also don't refrigerate eggs if we only buy a dozen (we go through a dozen every 4 days of so).
We had chickens a few years back. Ya no reason to refrigerate them. Think I read some where that we in the US refrigerate them, but many places don't.
Whaddya say OP? Interested in refrigerated eggs?
Even the supermarkets don't tend to refrigerate there over here.
I saw a documentary about eggs. The US requires that the exterior of eggs are cleaned/treated in such a way that a protective coating is removed from the egg and refrigeration is legally mandated. Other countries don't require that treatment and it's sometimes legally mandated that companies don't refrigerate them. It all depends upon where you live.
Huh, that's interesting! I've wondered. The place I get my eggs from, they often still have some poop on the shell so I'm guessing they're not removing much!!0 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »We keep a stick in the covered butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. Never had a problem with it going bad. We also don't refrigerate eggs if we only buy a dozen (we go through a dozen every 4 days of so).
We had chickens a few years back. Ya no reason to refrigerate them. Think I read some where that we in the US refrigerate them, but many places don't.
Whaddya say OP? Interested in refrigerated eggs?
Even the supermarkets don't tend to refrigerate there over here.
I saw a documentary about eggs. The US requires that the exterior of eggs are cleaned/treated in such a way that a protective coating is removed from the egg and refrigeration is legally mandated. Other countries don't require that treatment and it's sometimes legally mandated that companies don't refrigerate them. It all depends upon where you live.
Huh, that's interesting! I've wondered. The place I get my eggs from, they often still have some poop on the shell so I'm guessing they're not removing much!!
All the eggs in the supermarkets here are in the fridge section. I buy mine fresh from the farm and they store theirs in a fridge too.1 -
Thanks for the insights. I grew up with refrigerated margarine, because butter was the devil in the 80'/90's, then switched to butter as an adult and never even considered leaving it out of the fridge. Like an earlier comment, it's dairy so of course it's refrigerated or it will spoil.
Then a few years ago I heard somewhere that butter didn't need refrigerated and decided to give it a try. I lived in Las Vegas at the time and experienced the too soft butter problem. It is normal in that climate to set the AC 78-85 F to save energy. When I left butter out to soften I had to stick a thermometer with an alarm in it to make sure I didn't end up with runny cookies.
I live somewhere cooler now. My thermostat is currently set between 60-66 F and our winters are long. I've had a stick of butter in a sealed glass dish all day and it is still pretty hard, but softer than from the fridge. I buy 4 lbs of butter at a time from Costco, so I will try the leave leave the wrapped butter in the fridge and the open butter on the counter method. My husband likes to snack on bread and butter and I frequently cook and bake with it, so I think we will be able to go through that pound in a couple of weeks. If it spoils I'll try cutting off a smaller chunk to leave out.We keep a stick in the covered butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. Never had a problem with it going bad. We also don't refrigerate eggs if we only buy a dozen (we go through a dozen every 4 days of so).
We had chickens a few years back. Ya no reason to refrigerate them. Think I read some where that we in the US refrigerate them, but many places don't.
Whaddya say OP? Interested in refrigerated eggs?
Do feel free to start a refrigerated egg thread. I'm sure it will be just as interesting as this one, and hopefully as wonderfully civil as well.1 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »We keep a stick in the covered butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. Never had a problem with it going bad. We also don't refrigerate eggs if we only buy a dozen (we go through a dozen every 4 days of so).
We had chickens a few years back. Ya no reason to refrigerate them. Think I read some where that we in the US refrigerate them, but many places don't.
Whaddya say OP? Interested in refrigerated eggs?
Even the supermarkets don't tend to refrigerate there over here.
I saw a documentary about eggs. The US requires that the exterior of eggs are cleaned/treated in such a way that a protective coating is removed from the egg and refrigeration is legally mandated. Other countries don't require that treatment and it's sometimes legally mandated that companies don't refrigerate them. It all depends upon where you live.
I dearly love that you watched a documentary about eggs.
For other lovers of all things egg, here is a clip on egg preservation by a fella who owns a business outfitting historic reenactors and teaching them old timey skills.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yUYgguMz1qI 1 -
Fridge for three reasons - I grew up with it always in the fridge, I don't use it that much so it would go bad, and if I left it out on the counter, even covered, the cats would knock it down and eat it (because on holidays when I have put it out to be soft for dinner they have done that - like knocked the whole butter dish off the counter- I now hide it in the microwave until we actually are sitting down to dinner).1
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Alatariel75 wrote: »We keep a stick in the covered butter dish on the counter and the rest in the fridge. Never had a problem with it going bad. We also don't refrigerate eggs if we only buy a dozen (we go through a dozen every 4 days of so).
We had chickens a few years back. Ya no reason to refrigerate them. Think I read some where that we in the US refrigerate them, but many places don't.
Whaddya say OP? Interested in refrigerated eggs?
Even the supermarkets don't tend to refrigerate there over here.
I saw a documentary about eggs. The US requires that the exterior of eggs are cleaned/treated in such a way that a protective coating is removed from the egg and refrigeration is legally mandated. Other countries don't require that treatment and it's sometimes legally mandated that companies don't refrigerate them. It all depends upon where you live.
This is what I have heard as well. If I get eggs from a friend they don't need to be refrigerated, but the grocery store eggs are required to be washed because all commercial chicken products in the US are considered to be contaminated by salmonella. Other countries may not have to wash their eggs because salmonella is not universal in their chicken populations.0 -
Butter does not need to be refrigerated. I have always kept the butter dish in the cupboard and have never had it go bad. I've had it melt when we lost ac and the temp in the house got up over 95, but otherwise it's fine. And I had chickens for years and the eggs (unwashed) could be kept in the pantry for months. Once washed they went into the fridge.0
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Me too. Look at the temperatures we had in Calgary this week. Not a problem keeping butter cold!No, I live in Canada stays pretty firm on the counter
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Certainly do. It's a pretty mild day today at 33c, but we had a few days around 40c last week and the butter would be disgusting in minutes. In winter I probably could leave it out - we don't have much in the way of heating so it would probably be OK, but even then, I don't see the need.0
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