Butter at room temperature over summer?

[trrk]

It's only taken me 40 years to realise that not everyone keeps butter in the fridge. I'd like to try keeping it at room temperature so I can eat butter instead of UPF spreads with my breakfast toast. I tried it but it's quite warm here (room temp 24-28 degrees for the last week) and the butter is very soft. Is it safe to keep butter at room temp when it's warm? What do other people do with butter over summer?

Butter is always kept out in butter dish once opened unless it is stupidly hot .

Following. Mine's in the fridge on hot days and i take it out the evening before i know i'll use it. No good though if i decide i fancy some toast.

Very soft is fine. Ours goes in the fridge only when it starts to melt, which is only if it gets over 30 in my kitchen. Never had butter go rancid on me.

My ILs always have butter out even in this weather.

It seems fine generally and hasn’t done them any harm - but I do think it gets a bit of a rancid flavour after being out for a day or so in the heat.

They say I’m being picky but it is a darker colour and it is a bit sourer than normal. It’s not inedibly rancid if that makes sense?

I would perhaps think about keeping a small amount out, so not a whole stick but maybe about a day’s worth?

We keep ours in a butter dish on the side all year round. It doesn't hang around long enough to go bad. Just make sure you clean the dish between each block of butter.

Mine is in the fridge once temps are higher as it melts, otherwise it's in a butter dish on the side

When its really hot I just cut a piece off the block and put that in the butter dish.

Mine is in a butter dish on the side . It's very warm and it's fine . Not been ill yet and it's not gone rancid

Same- you don't have to put the whole block in.

Thanks for the tips! I'll try leaving a smaller amount out. Is there anything special about butter dishes that can't be achieved with a tupperware?

Butter dishes I think keep things cooler? Unless it’s roasting we just keep it out

Mine is in an upside down Tupperware in the cupboard (so the lid acts as a plate for the butter to easily cut from)

I believe the high fat content of butter keeps it from going rancid

We leave ours out. We eat a block within a week, so it does hang around long enough to go bad. We would only put it in the fridge if it was literally melting into a puddle.

Rancidity is what happens when fat oxidises so it's the fat that goes rancid - but it happens faster at higher temperatures.

Butter has a high fat content and a solid consistency which makes it hard for bacteria to colonise it (which is why it is a good was of preserving milk), but the oxidation of the fat is what eventually makes it go off.

If oxygen can't get to it (i.e. the middle of the fat) that should reduce the rate of oxidation as well.

I have a thick glass butter dish with a lid , always on the side and never had it melt yet .

Butter in butter dish, smaller chunks when hot. Wish we had american sticks

A ceramic butter dish keeps things cooler. But tupperware does for most days.

In my house we just make sure to eat the butter very quickly so it can't go off

Le Creuset butter dish in a kitchen with an Aga. Never been a problem.

My DGM had a butter dish that had a glazed base with a terracotta lid.
She soaked the cover in water overnight. The water drying out kept the butter cool.

Yes soaked terracotta is the key.

Same

Slightly off topic but where on earth can you buy a butter dish these days? Mine has a chip in it and I can only seem to find them online. Are they considered old fashioned do you think? I’ve looked in all the obvious places but no joy!

It's safe but I prefer to spread mine, not pour it on. Ten seconds in the microwave when it's hard from the fridge, is about right to spread.

I bought a glass butter dish on eBay or Amazon, though a local hardware shop might have them too.

I got mine in Sainsbury's

We cut our block into 3 and just get a third out at a time.