Butter left out in a butter dish

[RedPringleGirl]

I have always kept my butter out in a butter dish with a lid. For as long as I can remember this was the done thing in order to have spreadable real butter. I literally thought this was what butter dishes were invented for.

Just read that you're not actually supposed to keep butter out for longer than 2 days.

How did I not know this!!! Mine stays out for weeks sometimes until the butter is all used up.

Well noone's dropped dead yet which I'll take as as a good sign. But please tell me I'm not the only one who's done this!

Thought that was the point of a butter dish too

I use a glass butter dish with a cow on the lid - butter stays out till it's finished - could be a couple of weeks. But we live in North West and it rarely gets that hot....

Mine is out all the time! The salt preserves it. When it's hot I do cut off a lump to keep in the butter dish rather than put it all out at once

Our butter dish is always out (except when super hot!)

I leave butter out until it's finished, as do my parents.

The food police need to look elsewhere, I think.

How did people survive before refrigeration? Butter was a safe preserved food.

I am not aware of people coming down with exposed butter related illnesses so I'd file this as advice that can safely be ignored.

It's fine. You can tell when butter is rancid by the taste. I only leave out a small amount at a time, but if your household is using it faster then all good!

A few days is fine: butter is low in carbohydrates and proteins, which are mould and bacteria's preferred food source, so it’s less susceptible. It will still start to go rancid after a few days though, particularly in warm weather. I suspect many people don’t notice so much when butter is on the turn because it’s used in small quantities or disguised by the other flavours of sandwich contents / toast toppings.

Mine only goes in the fridge when it gets hot in the summer or if I'm going on holiday. I've never yet seen butter go mouldy or sour (as long as it doesn't have toast crumbs in it).

Rest of the time it lives on the counter and has done since I was a child.

Same here and never been a problem

I take out half a block at a time in summer and keep it in the fridge if it gets warm enough to melt.

My husband's childhood memory is of rancid butter - I'm guessing they weren't using it quickly enough

Just read that you're not actually supposed to keep butter out for longer than 2 days.

Says who?
Depends on the type of butter and how warm it is.

We just have a day’s worth at a time in the butter dish, rather than the whole block?

absolutely!

cheese and butter are ways of preserving milk
jams/chutneys are ways of preserving fruit and veg

salt/sugar/high oil content inhibit the growth of pathogens

and in any case, how long does a pack of butter last? surely only a week at the outside

We have this one! Actually have 2 cos I love them so much. Ours stays out too, usually doesn't last much longer than a week tho as we're big butter fans

Mine is always in a butter dish and out of the fridge.

Same here apart from in the summer when it's v hot. We get through butter pretty quickly so no problem - definitely under a week.

In a butter dish in a cupboard, tbh a packet of butter tends to only last a maximum of 3 days here anyway - because we eat it!

This is what I do. To be fair I probably put about half the pat out at once and the reminder stays in the fridge until it's needed, and if it is very hot I'll put less out / keep in fridge (but it doesn't tend to get that level of hot here very often / for very long at a time). You can tell if the butter has gone a bit 'rancid' as you'll smell it, but otherwise it's completely fine.

I only put part of the pack of butter in the butter dish at a time and it sits on the work surface (the rest of the pack goes back in the fridge). DH is terrible for getting the butter full of crumbs and if the whole pack was out it would need to be binned before it was finished.

I need to get my eyes checked I read the title as 'Butler left out butter dish'

Read it on good old Google

The USDA's FoodKeeper app offers this guidance for storing butter: "May be left at room temperature for one to two days; one to two months when stored in refrigerator; six to nine months if stored frozen." After that, the taste can turn rancid or sour, says the USDA.19 Sept 2023

My grandparents had a butter dish, it was never in a fridge.

Butter doesn't last long enough to go off in my house 😳