# Butter accidentally left out overnight. Will it kill me? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728 "2010-08-27T22:41:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/21 "2010-11-21T18:30:19Z")
Whoa, wasn’t expecting this thread to turn up again. For any completists wondering how this fascinating tale turned out: I’m still here and suffered no ill effects from the butter in question. In fact, if I remember correctly, I had it on a toasted everything bagel the next morning and it was yummy. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/22 "2010-11-21T19:09:42Z")
I wouldn’t think one tub of whipped butter would be a problem, but say, if there were 200-300 of them, “churning” with anger and resentment, they could band together… and then a Spartacus-like leader could arise… and you would be…well: toast. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/23 "2010-11-22T03:00:58Z")
> [@Purd\_Werfect](#): > > I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that rancid butter is actually used in some Tibetan food, or at least as a flavoring in tea. Yak butter is used by Tibetans as a staple. Some of it goes rancid over a long time, but most of the “rancid” meme is by foreigners that can’t stand having strong tasting butter in their tea. I thought it was revolting myself the first dozen times I had it too, and could barely choke it down as a courtesy. Now I love yak butter tea and feel myself really blessed when I can get some, which is rare these days. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/24 "2010-11-22T03:43:50Z")
Can’t seem to google up the right reference, but I recall back in the '70s or 80s archaeologists found a large ball of butter that had been stored in an Irish peat bog around the time of the construction of the pyramids of Egypt. One of them ate some and said it tasted a bit funny, but caused no ill effects. In the right conditions, the stuff is durable. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/25 "2010-11-22T04:06:17Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I wouldn’t think one tub of whipped butter would be a problem, but say, if there were 200-300 of them, “churning” with anger and resentment, they could band together… and then a Spartacus-like leader could arise… and you would be…well: toast. “I’m Butyricus!” “No, I’m Butyricus!” ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/26 "2010-11-22T06:40:10Z")
Butter can sit out, no cover, for days, even weeks, and the worst thing that will happen is that it won’t taste as nice. It doesn’t make you sick, it doesn’t grow mold, it eventually becomes unpleasant to eat, generally after a much longer period of time than a stick of butter is likely to go uneaten, but it’s perfectly harmless. I have never understood how super-neat people who refrigerate their butter use it half the time. Cold butter is a pain to use unless it’s being melted in a pan. But spreading it is a bitch. (I refer to the current stick, so to speak, not whatever total supply they may have). I grew up in a home where the butter dish was always left on the counter so it would be spreadable. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/27 "2010-11-22T13:36:14Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Yak butter is used by Tibetans as a staple. Some of it goes rancid over a long time, but most of the “rancid” meme is by foreigners that can’t stand having strong tasting butter in their tea. I thought it was revolting myself the first dozen times I had it too, and could barely choke it down as a courtesy. Now I love yak butter tea and feel myself really blessed when I can get some, which is rare these days. 😉 Whoah, whoah, whoah, waitaminute . . . Rancid or otherwise, Yak or cow or gorilla, people put _butter in their tea_??? I have never heard of butter of any kind in tea. I’m a little dizzy trying to get my head around it. Off to do some Googling. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/28 "2010-11-22T14:06:30Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I have never heard of butter of any kind in tea. I’m a little dizzy trying to get my head around it. While you’re wrapping your head around weird drinks: In Sami culture, a dash of salt is the traditional addition to a cup of coffee. [Cite](http://home.earthlink.net/~arran2/archive/coffee_sapmi.htm). For a real treat, they’d even add a few slices of dried reindeer meat. Or some reindeer cheese. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/29 "2010-11-22T14:17:14Z")
[Butter tea.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_tea) [Drinks with butter.](http://www.barnonedrinks.com/drinks/by_ingredient/b/butter-236.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/30 "2010-11-22T14:25:05Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’ve had worse tasting butter direct from the refrigerator, when it picks up that refrigerated-with-other-stuff-taste. I thought this could only happen in Soviet Russia. To me, it is everything else that has that refrigerated-with-butter-taste! ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/31 "2010-11-22T15:24:19Z")
Thanks for the butter tea links. I think I misinterpreted **China Guy** ’s post. To hear that a specific culture has a traditional tea preparation that combines tea with butter would simply have gotten a reaction from me along the lines of: “Hmm, that’s interesting. Never heard of that before. I wonder what that’s like.” But the way **China Guy** said: > [@](#): > > foreigners that can’t stand having _strong tasting_ butter in their tea. (italics mine) I interpreted an emphasis on “strong tasting” as if the suggestion was that although foreigners consider butter to be a perfectly usual additive to tea, it is this specific strong tasting yak butter that they object to. The idea (misinterpreted) that butter in tea is a wide-spread cross cultural practice, this is what had be baffled. I couldn’t figure out why I had never encountered such a practice. Seeing as it is specifically a Tibetan tradition, I revert to my less dumbfounded “Hmm, that’s interesting. Never heard of that before. I wonder what that’s like.” ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/32 "2010-11-22T15:42:14Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Damn. I can see the trailer for the movie now… > > “I’m not butter, I’m Parkay, Bitch!” \ > > 😃 It’s not nice to fool mother nature. Gees she’s all zappity with the lightning again. (Chiffon) ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/33 "2010-11-22T15:46:07Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > There’s also the clever little cut and fold trick you can do with the Indian maiden on the box of Land-O-Lakes butter sticks. > > I have never refrigerated butter - I need it soft and ready to use right on the counter where I’m cooking and preparing food. I’ve never in my life had room temperature butter go bad. nor i. there is always a stick of butter in a dish in the cupboard. nothing more annoying than cold hard butter on a warm, soft piece of bread! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/34 "2010-11-22T16:05:29Z")
Okay… about leaving butter out on the counter: Are we talking about places where the ambient temperature of the air right above your kitchen counter is ~55 in winter and ~70 in summer? Kind of like “room temperature” wine refers to the room temperature in an underground wine cellar, not the kitchen counter in Houston, Texas, in the middle of July. I had one of those butter bells, where you pack the butter into a cup-shaped appendage on the cover and invert it into a small amount of water so it will be sealed off from the air. My kitchen stayed so warm in summer (even with central a/c) that when I picked up the bell, the butter just slid out into the water. Some of these methods were invented in the cold, drafty English manor houses and French castles of the Middle Ages. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/35 "2010-11-22T16:44:29Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > There’s also the clever little cut and fold trick you can do with the Indian maiden on the box of Land-O-Lakes butter sticks. There’s an app for that now. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/36 "2010-11-22T18:29:14Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I thought this could only happen in Soviet Russia. To me, it is everything else that has that refrigerated-with-butter-taste! In Soviet Russia, butter refrigerates you. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/37 "2010-11-22T18:42:10Z")
I cooked eggs once that had been left out all night. What kind of risk did I take, and was it worth it not to waste $1.87 of eggs? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/38 "2010-11-22T18:58:38Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > I cooked eggs once that had been left out all night. What kind of risk did I take, and was it worth it not to waste $1.87 of eggs? It’s common in many parts of the world to store the eggs at room (or only slightly cooler than room, like cellar) temperature. So little to no risk overnight, I would guess. I’ve been to supermarkets in Europe where the eggs are not stacked in the refrigerated section, but just on an open floor. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/39 "2010-11-22T19:18:01Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > I cooked eggs once that had been left out all night. What kind of risk did I take, and was it worth it not to waste $1.87 of eggs? I wouldn’t risk it. Most egg producers keep their chickens at a cool 45 ˚C just so they don’t go bad before the eggs are collected. This makes up for the natural refrigeration units the chickens would use in the wild. [/sarcasm] Eggs are fine to not refrigerate for a short period of time. It might be possible that bacteria is already inside the egg if the chicken had salmonella or something, but the shell itself is pretty impervious. After all, it wouldn’t be useful for reproduction if the eggs went bad before the bird hatched. I always try to get me eggs from a co-op, because I think they are inherently safer than the mass produced eggs. I’m not an expert on eggs, so don’t take anything I say as gospel. It’s just my reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728/40 "2010-11-22T19:18:42Z")
Remember that neither milk nor eggs came out of their respective hosts chilled to 55 degrees. So why would you think that leaving them at room temperature overnight would spoil them? Do you believe that eggs are gathered the second the hen lays them? Early farmers didn’t even HAVE refrigerators, so unless they had a cold spring, their milk, butter, eggs, and cheese were kept at room temperature all the time. Chilling them merely preserves them longer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-accidentally-left-out-overnight-will-it-kill-me/551728.md?page=3)