Store it in the refrigerator but set it out ahead of time so it has time to soften before you actually want to use it.

 

presidents butter is spreadable when cold and excellent in taste.

 

I leave my butter on the counter in a covered butter dish all year, except for maybe a week or so of >90 temps in the summer (no air conditioning). My husband and I go through about a stick a week, I guess, so that's how long any given amount sits out. Been doing that for about 30 years, and we're not dead yet.

 

Agreed! We do it to, and have for years.

 

we have been using a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_butter_dish for years now, love it...

 

Thanks for this, I will look into getting one myself.

 

I leave mine out on the counter in a covered butter dish all year long. I've been doing it this way for 40 years

 

French butter dish is the way to go.

Amazon calls them a Butter Keeper.

 

Most butter dishes just have a place to keep the butter in the middle. Indeed just add some water. Main thing is: it needs to be airtight. The water creates the seal in the old style butter dishes, but nothing says you can't use something else which is airtight .

 

Like many have already said, stick it in a butter dish on the counter and be done with it. I use salted land-o-lakes butter and go through a stick every 2 weeks.

Conversely, my daughter sometimes makes homechurned butter and we put that in a French butter dish. Mostly out of convenience but it has never lasted long enough to go bad so who knows.

SO pick any of the previous posts and run with it :thumb::thumb:

 

There is no need to refrigerate salted butter in the time scale people use it in.

The butter we use stays on the counter, sometimes for a couple weeks at a time.

We have 10-20lbs of butter in the storeroom, that we do keep refrigerated but that may go six months or longer before being used.

 

i dont use butter much anymore at all since ive been changing the foods i eat, but on the rare occasions that i do, i'll take the butter out about the same time i take my meat out of the freeze to thaw ahead of time.. which being in a vacuum sealed bag, i thaw it out in water so it thaws very quickly, like in an hour or two and by time the meals done, the butters good to go

 

I only buy butter on sale and freeze it. Some say it will absorb flavors but i have never noticed that even leaving in just original packaging. Salted or unsalted doesn't seem to make any difference on the counter but i go thru butter fast. European butter is cultured cream vs american style sweet cream.

 

Most places say salted has twice the shelf life of unsalted refrigerated and that unsalted should never be left on the counter while salted is good for a couple weeks.

 

Leave 1 stick on a butter dish (uncovered - *gasp*) on the counter year round. I noticed a friend puts it IN the cupboard. Maybe a good idea. The rest is refrigerated until needed.

Been leaving uncovered butter stick on the counter since my childhood memory. No issues.

If you had rodents or insects, you'd obviously not practice this...

 

You must not have a cat.

 

Growing up we kept it on the counter or in a cabinet in a covered butter dish.
Now we've mostly been keeping it in the fridge but sometimes leave it out. We used to keep a good stock of butter in the freezer but somehow got away from doing that.
We've been grooving on the European butters lately. Kerry Gold, Plugra, Finlandia. It's soooooo good but priced high for bulk buying. I guess that's why we don't stock much anymore.


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Growing up we kept it on the counter or in a cabinet in a covered butter dish.
Now we've mostly been keeping it in the fridge but sometimes leave it out. We used to keep a good stock of butter in the freezer but somehow got away from doing that.
We've been grooving on the European butters lately. Kerry Gold, Plugra, Finlandia. It's soooooo good but priced high for bulk buying. I guess that's why we don't stock much anymore.

Well, it's expensive in Europe too . Good butter is just expensive nowadays.

i also find it funny when i look up cooking recipes and it says "use unsalted butter" and two steps later it says "now add salt".. uuh.. okay.. if salted does last so much longer then it makes sense to just use that for longevity.. and as for freezing butter, i dont think you have to worry about too many odors permeating the package.. i havent had any issues

Guess that's so you can actually control howmuch salt goes into your recipy. With salted, some are mildly salted, others you really notice it. Can make a difference . Even changing when you put in the seasonings will affect the taste, so it's possible that otherwise the salt will change the recipy.
Generally always noticed that recipes always call for the most "pure" ingredients. (and given howmuch salt is in anything you buy, not a bad thing to use a bit less )

 

In hot, hot weather butter will eventually go rancid, but it'll take weeks. I went for knee surgery last April. Never even occurred to me to put the butter dish in the fridge, got back home 3 weeks later and it was still good. I do cover it. In summer I get flies in it if I don't.

 

i also find it funny when i look up cooking recipes and it says "use unsalted butter" and two steps later it says "now add salt".. uuh.. okay.. if salted does last so much longer then it makes sense to just use that for longevity.. and as for freezing butter, i dont think you have to worry about too many odors permeating the package.. i havent had any issues

 

the reason chefs use unsalted and the reason you see it in recipes that way is to control the amount of salt in the dish.

 

We go through A LOT of butter, so going bad isn't an issue. We keep it in a butter dish on the kitchen counter. And I make ours at home. Cream skimmed off the milk, beaten slowly by my KitchenAid mixer, scooped out and flipped between two spatulas to finish drying off, then a bit of salt mixed it. If it was kept in the fridge, it would go rock hard.

 

So half say refrigerate butter, the other half say no need. Usually I'm so busy trying to get the food ready that I forget about stuff like putting the butter out so it can soften.
I'm gonna try leaving it out on the counter for a month. If it kills me then it will be a lesson learned.

 

If it's real butter it will keep at room temperature for a week or so with no I'll affects. I do keep mine in the frig though. For toast and such I just put a chunk in a little bowl and microwave it for about 20 seconds. Apply with a kitchen/basting brush..

 

All my life been keeping butter on the counter. A stick gets used up in about a week, usually more like 5 days. I've never seen it go rancid, though I've seen it get warm enough in summer to melt it into a puddle glob.

If you have cats a cover is a must. Once they learn where the butter is they'll not stay out of it.

 

Bulk is in the freezer. 2 pounds in the fridge, and a stick at room temperature most of the time.
During the summer swelter, the stick goes in the fridge, or it melts. The stick on the counter was for a long time just on a small plate, but now we use a small container with a lid due to pests.

Growing up in the northern Midwest, butter was always on the counter.

Unfortunately we missed the fall baking sale prices this year, so we'll be buying it on an as needed basis. Maybe Mrs will understand better why I try to load the freezer in the fall.

 

I dont know why, in pnw holiday baking supply prices were not great this year. Seattle is not too far, grocery prices are above national average, i guess that extends up here.
I'm amazed the average person uses less than 4 pounds a year. That make butter price less onerous. But i use way more and try for $2.50, sometimes as low as $1.99.

 

We keep a cube or two out (depending on projected use and salted) and the rest in the refrigerator. Never had any issues.

 

My grandma kept hers in a butter dish in her cupboard and didn't do her any harm... my folks kept it in the fridge, and other than being harder than heck, it was fine. I think it depends how much you go thru - if you keep a cube or pound so long it would go rancid, then keep it in the fridge, if you burn thru it like, well, a hot knife thru butter, then don't worry about it.

 

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/butterie-trade-flip-top-butter-dish-with-spreader/3300744?keyword=butter-dish

In the store they had a video giving a whole spiel about how butter does not need to be refrigerated. I picked one up because it was on sale cheap and we like it a lot. Holds two sticks. Pretty sure it will not hold a whole pound at once but we don't see it sold that way much around here anymore. When we had all 13 of us at home we could easily wipe out a pound a day and always bought it on whole pounds because it was cheaper. :

 

If you go through it fast enough, or it's salted, it'll be fine. Longer than a week and you're in trouble with good butter without too much added .

 

I am going to try this one on Amazon for $9.99 + tax w/shipping.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A2YQUM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1