How long can you leave butter (not margarine) on the counter before it goes bad.?

Question

If I keep it in the fridge it is too hard to spread.

Answer 1

I left some on the counter the other night. Within two hours it had
robbed the ketchup, assaulted the pepper, and threatened the
entire spice rack. Beware....... it goes bad quickly.

Answer 2

It depends on a couple of things. If you have a "butter bell" you can leave it there for a long time. French thing, it has a bell shaped dish with a handle. the whole thing looks like a bell, and it sits inside another dish that holds water. The water keeps things from growing on the butter, or it going bad, but it stays soft because it's a room temp. In France, they use them on the tables, even in the outdoor cafes, even in the summer. And the butter stays fresh.
Butter goes rancid when it oxidizes, that doesn't happen as quickly under water.

If you don't have one of those, you can leave it on the counter, covered, for at least a day or two without any trouble unless your kitchen is extremely warm(over 80 degrees F)
Or you can sit it on the counter when you begin a meal, and it should be soft enough to spread by the time you are ready to use it, 20-30 minutes later.
Also, buy unsalted butter, it stays fresher longer because they have to use the fresher cream to make it. It doesn't have salt in it to mask the off flavors....

Answer 3

A long time. I don't keep butter in the fridge (goes too hard), I keep it in a butter bowl in the food store and it's never gone off. The room never gets all that hot, if it did maybe the butter would go off quicker.

Also spent time in Africa where the temp varies between 25 and 45 C (77 and 113 F) and there hasn't been a fridge - butter has kept for several weeks (bit soft though).

Answer 4

We keep ours on the counter in a plastic butter dish for weeks until it's gone and no off smells or flavors so far.

Btw, I don't think that the statement about unsalted butter lasting longer than (regular) salted butter is correct. Salt is a natural preservative, so it's supposed to help preserve regular butter more than unsalted, from what I hear. (You probably wouldn't like the flavor, or lack of flavor, of unsalted butter anyway... it's mostly used for making bread and cakes, etc., so that the amount of salt added to the recipe can be controlled and there won't be an unknown quantity already present in the butter.)


Diane B.

Answer 5

My wife is a nurse and came across something similar to this in a medical journal we have been eating nothing but small amounts of butter for the last 15 years. I grew up on home made butter since my uncle had a dairy farm and made his own. Some of the lower calorie butters aren't bad. They are a little thin since they are made with lower fat milk. But if you are watching your fats and calories they are decent alternative.

Answer 6

You might want to consider a Butter Keeper. I found this link of one - http://www.leepots.com/french_butter_crock.html

I'm not particularly endorsing that brand. It was just the first one I found in a search and I figured a link was better than me trying to explain it. You might be able to find a cheaper one somewhere else.

My mother's always used a Butter Keeper and I can't remember a time she ever had to throw her butter out for going bad or anything.

Answer 7

Growing up we left it out overnight and never ever got sick. In the summer it would melt into a soft gooey mess. I buy Moove over Butter and keep it in the fridge. It stays soft and spreadable and omg-it's good for you..lol..And it melts right away too..:)

Answer 8

Just look out for dirt stuck to it. I dont think it goes bad THAT fast. Good luck.

Answer 9

just keep little bits out at a time that you know you will use in within a couple days :)