Butter-Leave It Out or Keep It Refrigerated?
Growing up on the farm my Grandpa and Grandma always had a covered butter dish sitting on their kitchen table. I looked at a stick of butter in our refrigerator at work and it doesn't say to keep refrigerated so is it okay to leave out?
I guess this ties in with our Townsquare Media Townie Awards. Our Wednesday Award goes to the Missouri State Fair- "Only Place to See a Butter Cow and a Real Cow in the Same Day."
I grew up as a youngster on the farm. I remember my Dad and Grandpa milking cows when I was young. I also remember having the fresh milk from my grandparent's cow "Magazine". (Her name was really Maxine but somehow I always called her Magazine."
Of course, my Grandma would use the cream separator and we would would have fresh cream and she would use a portion of this to make butter. I can remember her walking around the house shaking a Mason jar as the butter was miraculously formed.
Now I understand when you buy butter in the grocery store you go to the refrigerated area but does that mean you have to keep it refrigerated? I mean one of the worst things that we deal with in life is trying to spread hard butter on a piece of toast!
According to an article on healthline.com, it's okay to leave the butter out:
Regular, salted butter has a low risk of bacterial contamination, even when kept at room temperature. In fact, butter is actually produced with the expectation that consumers will not keep it in the fridge.
Now you want to use the butter as soon as possible. If you aren't going to use within a couple of weeks, throw it back in the fridge. Better to be safe than sorry.