Butter?!

[theshadeofgreen]

Not exciting, I'm afraid... but I'm curious. So due to lack of availability and because it's £1000000 per pack I've picked up salted block butter rather than Lurpack in today's shop.

I have fond memories of helping my grandmother to make sandwiches using her lovely soft butter from her china butter dish so had a smile to myself. I found out a butter dish and popped it on the side, already looking forward to slathering it on tiger loaf toast tomorrow morning.

DH walked in the kitchen, took a good look at said butter dish as if it may explode and then made a show of putting it back in the fridge. I watched him, and then told him I'm sure it's fine leaving covered on the side, just like my granny always did.

He is adamant butter can't be left out... it will go bad, it will poison us, the children will never be the same etc etc

So who's right MN? Can I leave my butter out or am I dooming us to stomach upset and horrible sandwiches?

salted butter lasts longer than unsalted and its perfectly safe to leave out of the fridge unsalted lasts between 3days and a week salted can easily last 2 weeks this was from a site about making your own butter which is great fun btw

Ours sits out in plastic Tupperware or just in the packet. The only time I put it in the fridge is when we have a heatwave and I don't need to use it anytime soon. Our kitchen doesn't get particularly warm so it's normally fine throughout summer.

If anyone put the butter I was intending to put on my breakfast toast into the fridge I would be very annoyed. It's only the blocks being stored for later use that need to be in the fridge, and even then only because it's difficult to get the wrapper off otherwise. Whoever talked about putting butter in the freezer is being ridiculous.

The whole block goes in the butter dish and left on the side it is on granite so does stay cooler I suppose but it's never gone in the fridge!

Fat is a preservative.

No it isn't.

It will go rancid if it’s left melting in a hot room over a couple of weeks

You could stop that by adding preservatives (because fat isn't one), but it isn't necessary.

I use unsalted and it lives on the side in the butterdish. If it's particularly hot I'll shove it in the fridge overnight but then it's back out in the morning. I hate hard butter. Despite being unsalted I've never had one go rancid. We use 1-2 blocks per week though. I wouldn't leave one block out for weeks on end.

You keep it in the fridge and then cut slices off to put on your toast, bread, crumpets whatever and whilst you are at it cut off a corner and pop it in your mouth. Yep I'm a wrong un and I do not care, but I hate soft butter and the stuff in tubs is not proper butter!

We buy salted for us and unsalted for DC. We keep both in separate glass air tight tubs in the kitchen cupboard and never have any issues.

Tastes so much better than lurpack.

It's fine. There was a doc on channel 4 years ago (I had only recently learned I'd grown up on marg not butter!!) I've never put it in the fridge and I don't even have a dish I break them so it's just in its packet. Obvs in the heatwave I put it in the fridge but asides from that it sits out.

Depends on how much butter you use. There are 5 of us so between toast and sandwiches and teen son not being able to go 5 min without eating some toast or a crumpet or something plus cooking, butter ok jacket spuds etc etc we go through a block of butter every few days.
when it’s extremely hot we only but half a block out.

Tastes so much better than lurpack.

Why would one brand of salted buter (Lurpak, not "Lurpack") taste much different from any other brand of salted butter? Block butter (including Lurpak) tastes better than spreadable butter (including Lurpak Spreadable).

Keep it in a cool place it will be fine. What does he think people did before fridges were a thing?

I always have proper butter in a glass butter dish and it stays out its always been ok

I can recommend Aldi West Country salted butter it's not much more expensive than the Aldi branded one has salt crystals in it

Butter dish with lid in the cupboard, ask him how previous generations kept their butter without a fridge!

Ours lives in the fish on the counter all year round. It's too hard to spread from the fridge. Never had any issues

Butter left out in butter dish all the time. Replacement butter kept in fridge until needed.

I can’t believe anyone would eat Lurpak over real butter any day of the week. Should be illegal.

This. It’s delicious.

@FatOaf you are my kind of girl #butterlove

Me too. And it the winter, it was perched, in its dish, on the edge of the hearth so the heat from the fire kept it soft. If it stayed in the larder over winter it was impossible to spread.

Houses in general were much cooler back then! And usually had a larder which was much more stable in temp than most modern kitchens.

The changing consistency of butter according to the weather is one of the joyous variables of life.

I can’t believe anyone would eat Lurpak over real butter any day of the week.

Where is all this nonsense coming from? Why do so many people think Lurpak is different from other butter?

Lurpak is not a generic term for spreadable butter. Lurpak makes block butter and spreadable, just the same as Country Life, Kerrygold, Anchor and supermarket own-brands.

Butter (hard cheese and some yoghurts) is exempt from the temperature control regulations.
They're refrigerated at the supermarket for quality reasons, not safety.

Butter will go rancid, but if your butter lasts as long as ours, this is unlikely.

I think on this thread when people are saying ‘Lurpak’ they’re referring to the spreadable version, which has skyrocketed in price. So here ‘Lurpak’ = spreadable butter.

Although I personally think even Lurpak block butter isn’t very nice. It’s not salty enough 🤷‍♀️