# Butter.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 20, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162 "2018-02-20T01:57:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/21 "2018-02-20T04:21:29Z")
> [@carnut](#):
>
> I keep the butter in a covered dish on the counter in the winter and in summer, that covered dish must stay in the fridge because otherwise the butter oils. In either place, I try not to place it next to onions, garlic, and the like lest it pick up the scent.
Put a wet dish towel over the dish. As the water evaporates, it cools the dish/butter.
In an 80F house, the butter will be about 68-70F. You do have to keep an eye on the towel, it can dry out quickly (assuming your humidity isn’t super high).
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### Author:  [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/22 "2018-02-20T04:28:17Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> Put a wet dish towel over the dish. As the water evaporates, it cools the dish/butter.
> In an 80F house, the butter will be about 68-70F. You do have to keep an eye on the towel, it can dry out quickly (assuming your humidity isn’t super high).
That’s an awesome tip, thank you! I’m going to try this soon, once it gets to 50F outside, it tends to get close to 80 inside without heat, so I must plan my life according to how ready and useable my butter will be 🙂
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/23 "2018-02-20T04:30:31Z")
Thanks running coach, I’ll give it a try.
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### Author:  [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/24 "2018-02-20T04:33:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Rancidity is caused by oxygenation, which means that reducing the amount of air exposure the butter gets will slow it. A proper butter dish has a slight moat you can fill with water to produce an airtight seal, and the lid is only slightly larger than a stick, leaving very little air in it, so it’ll stay good for a good while. And even if it doesn’t, rancidity isn’t actually dangerous; it just tastes bad. So you don’t have to worry about foodborne illness: If it smells and tastes OK, it is OK,
Never heard of doing this, I usually just keep it wrapped in it’s wrapper as much as possible, or if a different type (not standard store bought sticks) I use wax paper. I am going to try it though, seems like a good idea. What of the buttered water though? If some butter mixes with the water, there is more water available that could help coax bacterial growth in the moat though?
_and_ I realize I am thinking way to much into this…
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### Author:  [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/25 "2018-02-20T04:37:03Z")
> [@HipGnosis](#):
>
> Heratic!
>
> From a guy in Wisc that grew up on a dairy farm.
> I do refrigerate my butter, because I don’t use it fast enough.
Blasphemers!
Thou Shalt Not Spray Thy Butter!
Same with that spray on salad dressing…
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/26 "2018-02-20T05:24:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Rancidity is caused by oxygenation, which means that reducing the amount of air exposure the butter gets will slow it. A proper butter dish has a slight moat you can fill with water to produce an airtight seal, and the lid is only slightly larger than a stick, leaving very little air in it, so it’ll stay good for a good while. And even if it doesn’t, rancidity isn’t actually dangerous; it just tastes bad. So you don’t have to worry about foodborne illness: If it smells and tastes OK, it is OK,
I have a butter dish. I just got tired of being the only family member who bothered to refill it (either butter or water). I think I’ll pull it out of the cupboard again anyway. Things are meant to be used! (grumble, grumble)
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/27 "2018-02-20T05:42:02Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#):
>
> While I appreciate the gesture, I’m still dropping this in IMHO.
Not Cafe Society? Hmmm.
Anyway, I refrigerate my butter but that’s because I live in the tropics where unrefrigerated butter would taste rancid very quickly and, since the air is so warm, it only takes a few minutes at room temperature to become spreadable. Also, I like the texture/temperature of slightly cold butter chunks on warm bread, so I’d prefer to cut off a small bit of cold butter and dab it on my bread rather than spread room-temperature butter.
Having said that, I completely understand why people would not refrigerate butter. If I lived some place like Wisconsin or Boston, I doubt I would refrigerate it, except perhaps for a few hot days in the summer.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/28 "2018-02-20T08:12:55Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#):
>
> While I appreciate the gesture, I’m still dropping this in IMHO.
If I hijack it with a post about Margarine, will you move it to the pit? 😃
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/29 "2018-02-20T12:49:29Z")
We go through about a stick a week. That stick is left out at room temperature. Never had a problem.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/30 "2018-02-20T12:58:14Z")
We refrigerate our butter, because it surely will keep longer that way. Whether it’s necessary to refrigerate it to keep it from spoiling before we’d actually use it is something I don’t know, and have never put to the test. I do know that in Colonial Days they used to keep butter in rock-lined cool storage pits, but, of course, back then you had to worry about not getting all the little pockets of liquid out of the butter that could easily go bad unless it was kept cool.My wife and daughter will nuke it in the microwave if they don’t want to wait for it t get soft. I myself have never seen the point to deliberately keeping butter cold on the table by putting it on ice – it just makes it hard to spread.
I was astonished to learn last year about French Butter Keepers. If you are unfamiliar with these, as well, it’s a sort of ceramic (or marble) cup into which you put the butter, then turn upside down and put onto another container, which usually has water in it. It looks like it’s some sort of “kinda keep it a little cool” technology from Colonial days, as well, but it turns out that these were first used a little over a hundred years ago. Some people seem to be obsessed by them:
[https://www.target.com/p/marble-butter-keeper/-/A-563271](https://www.target.com/p/marble-butter-keeper/-/A-563271)
> **[The Cult of the French Butter Keeper Is Real](https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/tools-test-kitchen/article/french-butter-keeper-how-to-use)**
>
> People are OBSESSED with this thing. Why?
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/31 "2018-02-20T13:21:12Z")
You mean a butter bell? I finally got one after wanting it for years. (I only buy salted butter and never had it go bad anyway, but still wanted a nice looking way to store it, plus keep dust and kitty tongues off.) I got a cute green one from Amazon, here’s a similar model:
The Original Butter Bell Crock by L. Tremain, Retro & Matte Collection - Classic Ivory [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H47H0A/ref=cm\_sw\_r\_cp\_apa\_KbcJAbFGP1EB3](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H47H0A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_KbcJAbFGP1EB3)
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/32 "2018-02-20T13:55:33Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#):
>
> You mean a butter bell? I finally got one after wanting it for years. (I only buy salted butter and never had it go bad anyway, but still wanted a nice looking way to store it, plus keep dust and kitty tongues off.) I got a cute green one from Amazon, here’s a similar model:
>
> The Original Butter Bell Crock by L. Tremain, Retro & Matte Collection - Classic Ivory [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H47H0A/ref=cm\_sw\_r\_cp\_apa\_KbcJAbFGP1EB3](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H47H0A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_KbcJAbFGP1EB3)
Never heard it called a Butter Bell. The ceramic shop where I first encountered it (they made their own) called it a Butter Keeper.
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### Author:  [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/33 "2018-02-20T14:53:32Z")
It takes us over a month to get through a stick of unsalted butter unless we’re baking. So it stays in the fridge. I can’t say I ever need spreadable butter **right now.** We usually have it on toast with our Saturday morning eggs. I just take it out when I start cooking.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/34 "2018-02-20T15:21:54Z")
Stays on the counter, wrapped in it’s paper and in a butter dish. Never had a problem.
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### Author:  [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/35 "2018-02-20T15:29:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Rancidity is caused by oxygenation, which means that reducing the amount of air exposure the butter gets will slow it. A proper butter dish has a slight moat you can fill with water to produce an airtight seal, and the lid is only slightly larger than a stick, leaving very little air in it, so it’ll stay good for a good while. And even if it doesn’t, rancidity isn’t actually dangerous; it just tastes bad. So you don’t have to worry about foodborne illness: If it smells and tastes OK, it is OK,
What I came in here to say. I have a butter dish with a moat and all is well. Nothing like soft creamy luscious butter on a biscuit!
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### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/36 "2018-02-20T16:29:14Z")
> [@Ruken](#):
>
> It takes us over a month to get through a stick of unsalted butter
Speed user. It takes at least a couple of months usually to go thru a stick in my house. I love bread & butter, just not something I usually buy for home consumption, though.
Was going to make garlic bread last night, but then they had the premade so I bought that instead. Big mistake; it was pretty lousy & not at all garlicky.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/37 "2018-02-20T18:10:27Z")
One stick on the counter, the rest of the butter in the fridge. The exception is when the weather is hot.
I don’t use a butter dish – just keep in in the wrapper. Never had it go bad, though we probably finish a stick in less than a week.
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/38 "2018-02-20T18:21:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> One stick on the counter, the rest of the butter in the fridge.
>
> I don’t use a butter dish
Same and same. I just keep it on a bread plate on the counter, no cats or dogs to lick it.
If I bake something and need a larger amount, just soften it in it’s wax paper wrapper in the nuker. Works perfectly fine.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/39 "2018-02-20T18:27:56Z")
On the counter in a covered butter dish. Lasts about a week.
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter/809162/40 "2018-02-20T18:31:10Z")
I keep a stick of unsalted butter on the counter, and it has never gone rancid, even if it takes a couple of weeks to use it up.
Tip: Buy Plugra butter, or any other brand that’s sold in a block rather than in sticks. Take off only small chunk at a time to keep in the counter butter dish. That’s if you’re worried about it turning rancid.
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