Does Butter Belong On The Counter Or In The Fridge? Here Is What We Know.

My grandma used to keep butter on the table. We would eat it with EVERY meal. We always had bread, rolls, cornbread, or even biscuits with each meal, and a stick of butter was always devoured in a couple days.

I have never been able to bring myself to keep butter on the table. I’ve simply taken too many classes on safe food handling, and I know that milk-based products go bad after about 3 hours at room temperature.

Butter comes from cream, which is basically milk, so I always just assumed you keep butter in the fridge.

It is SUCH a pain to spread butter when it’s cold, though, is it not? Butter was always so tasty, spreadable, and delicious at Grandma’s house.

So, what should we do? There was a reason grandma could leave butter out, and it was safe to eat. Why am I so afraid to do the same?

Here is what we have found out:

Butter has a high fat content, and fat actually acts as a sort of preservative. Mold and bacteria are slow to grow in foods that have a high fat content.

Apparently you can keep butter out about two weeks at room temperature before it goes bad. It would NEVER last that long at my house!

Butter will stay fresh for just a bit longer if it is kept out of direct light and safe from room air. It’s a chemistry thing. Keep that butter covered and air-tight while it’s on your counter or table.

We found this super-cute butter dish on the Amazon website, but they have TONS to different ones to choose from.

If you know you are slow to go through a whole stick of butter in a two-week period, consider buying those half sticks of butter. It is more convenient to have to refill the crock more often, than to have to throw away that yummy butter that’s been out too long.

Salt also acts as a preservative. That’s why in the olden days without refrigerators, they salted EVERYTHING to preserve it.

That being said, you can keep SALTED butter out of the fridge. I’d go ahead and refrigerate any butter you have that isn’t salted. It will spoil much faster.

So, what say you? Will you be leaving your butter out of the fridge? Let us know in the comments.