do you leave butter on the counter?

[bellebud]

I'm just blown away by how many of you use real butter! The last person I knew that used butter was my late MIL twenty years ago (and she died of a coronary occlusion from high cholesterol)!

My whipped low-fat margarine stays soft in the refrigerator.

we once had a nutritionist tell us to never, ever use margarine.

 

[Gigi22]

Depends. Mainly the butter--real, unsalted butter--lives in the refrigerator, as does the margerine. If I need hard butter for cooking--think pastry or scones, I am good to go. If I need soft butter for cookies or cake, and I am in a hurry, I sometimes cheat and give it a couple of seconds in the microwave.

 

[lsyorke]

Another counter person here. I hate cold butter! Been doing it this way for decades and never had to throw out butter for being rancid.

 

[EMom]

Only real butter in our house. My family raised cows and we often made our own butter. Soooooooo good. But I leave it in the fridge these days, as I am obsessed with avoiding food poisoning. I'm a butter only person because (1) I think margarine tastes nasty and (2) I went to law school with some people who had attended a college that was next to a margarine factory. They told awful stories about that place and NONE of them would ever touch margarine after living next to the plant.

On a side note, DH and I were in Paris and went into one of their many lovely cheese shops to buy several varieties of cheese for lunch. We told the owner he ought to open a shop where we lived because a shop like his would do well in our town. (This was in 1997, before you got so much imported cheese here.) He said he had looked into opening shops in the US, but couldn't because his cheeses were not pasteurized. Then he said with all the contempt he could muster, "Pasteurized cheese....pleh!" The "pleh" is my attempt at trying to convey him pretending to spit.

As we left, DH (a white bread suburban boy) looked at me and asked if the unpasteurized cheese was safe to eat. I replied that since I grew up drinking unpasteurized milk and eating various unpasteurized dairy products from our cows, I figured if I had been going to fall ill from it, I'd have done it ages ago. I'd take my chances on the tasty cheese, but he had to make his own decision. The lure of the cheese won. He ate it up and was fine.

 

[Wall-E1]

Until reading this thread, I never heard of this. I've always refrigerated my butter. I assumed that since it is sold in the refrigerated section that it needs to be refrigerated. I guess I learned something new today. I'll probably keep refrigerating it. I like it cold.

 

[denisem]

I'm from an old farm-family in MI, so a stick of butter in a covered butter dish on the counter was the norm most of my life.

However, it didn't work for 2 people in FL with a sky-light in the kitchen. Luckily, I discovered "butter boats" on QVC - similar to the french butter bell someone mentioned earlier but the butter does not come in direct contact with the water/ice. Keeps it fresh and spreadable. Unfortunately QVC discontinued them, but they're still available from other vendors if you Google.

 

[Pig Pen]

We leave ours on the counter in a covered butter dish.

THIS! I will stick in fridge if we are going away for a day or two, if we are expecting non-dinner company, or if it gets too hot inside.

And we don't use margarine either...my DH heard the 1 molecule rumor and has not allowed it in the house since (but he WILL go to McDonald's three times a week).

 

[rie'smom]

We leave ours on the counter in a covered butter dish.

We do too. It's great for spreading on toast because the bread doesn't rip apart.

 

[PaulaSB12]

On the counter with a cover on the butter, because if not covered the cats get it first.

 

[Heyanthony]

We have a butter dish my MIL got us. It has two parts. One part is kind of a hollowed out pyramid shape, you press room temp butter into this, being careful to make a seal between the wall and the butter. They other part of the dish, you put about 1/2 inch of cold water into. Invert the top half to fit into the bottom half (this has the water ) and change the water every 2-3 days. The butter stays fresh, no bugs or "stuff" can get in, and I don't have to listen to hubby gripe about holes in his bread. lol

 

[jenrose66]

I grew up in a home that left butter in a butter dish on the counter. DH lived in a home where they refrigerate butter. We both grew up in the same city so not sure if it's a suburban, farm difference as OP brought up...not that it offends me, I'm just saying

In our household the butter stays in a butter dish on the counter. If you refrigerate it it's a pain to spread. We have never gotten sick on butter so I guess we are fine.

I was reading about something called a butter bell not to long ago. That's the first time it occurred to me that maybe it's bad to keep butter on the counter. And one time I did buy unsalted butter and I think that tastes funky if left out...so maybe it's the salt that keeps the butter "shelf stable"

 

[SookieStackhouse]

I keep it stored in the refrigerator, actually I like the squeeze stuff best. I have heard that it doesn't have to be refrigerated, I just never wanted to be a test case to see if it would be safe.

 

[marcyinPA]

In the fridge in a covered butter dish. When I need it softened, to spread on bread, I pop it in the microwave for about 10 seconds. If I'm baking cookies, I'll leave it out on the counter for a few hours before I'm ready to bake.

 

[camlace]

covered on the counter here

 

[MushyMushy]

I'm now also curious how repeatedly microwaving and cooling affects the butter as opposed to just leaving it out.

You wouldn't nuke the whole stick; just what you need. There's also some portion control when you do it that way.

 

[Michelle_R]

One stick on the counter in butter dish. The rest in refrigerator till needed The real stuff, none of the fake stuff. A stick usually lasts about 3 days here.

 

[mjaclyn]

We always have a stick in the butter dish on the counter. Butter is so much easier to spread when it's a little soft. I always have the rest of the butter in the fridge though...

 

[mamacatnv]

We have a butter dish my MIL got us. It has two parts. One part is kind of a hollowed out pyramid shape, you press room temp butter into this, being careful to make a seal between the wall and the butter. They other part of the dish, you put about 1/2 inch of cold water into. Invert the top half to fit into the bottom half (this has the water ) and change the water every 2-3 days. The butter stays fresh, no bugs or "stuff" can get in, and I don't have to listen to hubby gripe about holes in his bread. lol

This is called a french butter dish. I have one too. Butter (real) on the counter in the french dish, always. No margarine ever

 

[disneydreamersx4]

I leave it out on the counter only on a day that I am baking otherwise it stays in the fridge. We aren't toast people. However after reading this thread I want some buttered toast NOW

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Add me to the list of people who have never even heard of leaving butter out on the counter.

That would be a disaster in our house. We rarely use butter, and when we do, it's usually in cooking, so it doesn't matter if it's cold, or we'll take it out an hour or two before starting to bake cookies or whatever. We don't eat a lot of toast or have a lot of bread with dinner, but when we do, we use Brummel and Brown, so it's nice and soft and spreadable. I much prefer the taste and texture of B&B to butter, but I am super sensitive to fats in my foods. I can only drink skim milk too, because the fat in even 2% grosses me out.