How long can butter sit out in a butter dish before it goes rancid?

Question

Also, is there a way of telling when butter turns bad?

Isn't the point of a butter dish so that you can have soft butter any time you need it? Growing up, my family always had a butter dish out, for at least a week at a time, and we never got sick and it never tasted strange... but I'm wondering if more than a week is okay too.

Answer 1

I had a block of extra-soft salted butter left in the fridge for 4 months now and it still tastes wonderfully delicious.
Butter or animal fats if exposed to high room temperature will get oxidised quicker.and turn rancid in about 10 days.
Bacteria don't like fats because they don't have enzymes to digest it.and so don't ferment fats.

Answer 2

1000's of years! Well, not exactly, but think -- butter's been around for that long, at least, and without freezers or refrigeration. If 6000 years ago in the Middle East, where it was if not invented certainly common, you would have kept it out of the sun, covered, etc -- but kept it for long periods. If it were to get moldy (not likely) scrape it off and eat the rest. If it were to get rancid - cook with it or as Tibetans still do add it to your tea. Maybe all of that's not to your or my tastes, so toss it when it goes south. Otherwise, let your butter happily at normal room temperature. If you're a gourmet chef you'll need it for your fine pastries, or if you're more like me you'll enjoy some extra butter on your popcorn.

Answer 3

Depends on the butter, here in Austin where there is a summer high of around 110 (85ish indoors) and plenty of direct sunlight, you’ll be lucky if butter last a week. However, in the “winter” months (70 indoors) it’ll last almost two weeks (I just put week-old butter on bread today, tasted fine) BTW, it’s salted butter.

Another major factor is the quality of the butter; crappy butter won’t last as long.

If you wanna know if better has gone bad, just look at it, good butter has both of these:

Even Color
Even Consistency

If one of those is off, just chuck it.

Answer 4

The European-style butter keepers are designed to allow butter to be stored at room temperature for a longer period of time before it goes rancid. Butter at room temperature will go rancid in a few days -- in the butter keeper it will last up to 2 weeks.If your room temperature is above 78 degrees, it is recommended to place your butter keeper in the refrigerator overnight. "

"A sour-bitter taste is identifiable with rancidity (i.e. soapy, baby-vomit, blue cheese). Rancid butter becomes yellow to brown and the flavor becomes harsh."

Answer 5

That will depend on how warm the room is where it is sitting. Obviously if it is hot the fat will go rancid much quicker so I never leave mine out. The butter dish stays in the fridge.

Answer 6

i don't think of there's a diverse answer: Butter going rancid relies upon on many aspects, like room temperature and in case you have you butter wrapped tightly, reason air accelerates the technique. the solid element: you would understand for optimistic, as quickly as your butter became rancid, because of the fact the scent is undesirable. in accordance to the hyperlink under, the Wisconsin Dairy Council says "till the product is extremely rancid, the spoilage won't harm you in step with se".

Answer 7

a day

Answer 8

max. 2-4 days...don´t know exactly..

Answer 9

five days