Or may civilized folk instead leave it fondly on the counter, so that it remains soft, smooth, oh-so-spreadable, and altogether lovely? That the question needs to be asked at all is slightly discouraging, particularly considering the progress human beings have made in so many other areas: eradicating polio, landing astronauts on the moon, developing the periodic table and so on. And I've certainly learned over the years to take the world as it is, not as it should be.
Still, I feel it's my solemn culinary duty to do what I can to help banish, once and for all, the brutal and unnecessary practice of refrigerating butter.
If I accomplish nothing else as a food writer, I'll consider it a worthy achievement. It makes the butter cry, and it makes me cry. At the root of the question seems to be a concern about food safety , and it's worth addressing.
The bacteria that cause food poisoning require among other things a relatively protein-rich environment in order to multiply, which is why you can leave an onion out on the counter overnight but not a steak. And butter is mostly fat.
It contains a small amount of water 16—17 percent , and a very small amount of protein, somewhere in the range of 3—4 percent. Not enough to promote significant bacteria growth. This is especially the case with salted butter, since salt inhibits the growth of bacteria. Salted butter will keep for weeks at room temperature. But realistically, if you don't go through at least a stick of butter per week, you're 1 not cooking right, and 2 probably not reading this article because you don't care about butter.
Further up the spectrum is clarified butter sometimes referred to as ghee. Clarified butter is pure butterfat, without the water and milk solids, which means it has a very long shelf life.
You could keep clarified butter at room temperature for several months. There is still a debate as to how long butter can sit on the counter before going bad. For best quality, keep butter in a covered dish and use it within 10 days. You can also refrigerate or freeze butter to extend its shelf life. Learn more about TCS foods and other food safety tips in our food handlers training.
Toggle navigation search. Log In. We turned to food experts for the verdict. Food safety experts told TODAY Food that yes, you can leave butter out on the counter — as long as you follow a few guidelines see below. Of course, they had some caveats, too. First: Storing butter in the fridge is obviously going to be the most foolproof way of keeping the food safe and free of potential contaminants.
If you take a walk a around the block, are you going to get struck? Probably not. But to make absolutely sure, stay in doors until storm passes. Butter's super-high fatty acid content is what makes it less susceptible to bacteria, as opposed to foods with high-water content, Kivett explained.
He and co-author Mark Tamplin, as well as another set of food-safety experts — Don Schaffner, food microbiology professor at Rutgers University and Ben Chapman, professor at North Carolina State University, who are co-hosts of the " Food Safety Talk" podcast — all assured us that leaving butter on the counter as many Europeans do is safe, as long as you follow the rules below.
Use pasteurized butter. There are two kinds of herbs: hard and soft. Hard herbs have woody stems and include rosemary, oregano, marjoram, and thyme. They should be wrapped in a damp paper towel, then loosely in plastic wrap before being placed in your crisper. Soft herbs like basil, parsley, cilantro, and tarragon have soft, tender stems and like being treated as bouquets.
Snip the bases of the stems and put them into a glass of fresh water, changing out the water every day or two if it starts to cloud.
Basil should be kept at room temperature refrigeration tends to turn the leaves black , but other soft herbs should be loosely covered with a plastic bag, then placed in the fridge. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation.
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