I decided ages ago that butter is better than margarine. However, then I had to deal with hard, cold butter. Taking a leap of faith, I started leaving it out on the counter to stay soft. And stay soft, it did!
I also learned that the fat content in butter keeps it fresh at room temperature for quite some time. The only time I’ve seen our butter go bad was when we left for vacation and forgot it was out on our table. To give you an impression of how long our butter usually sits out, I will admit this: we usually go through four sticks a week.
The only problem we had with our new soft butter was the mess it made in the butter dish.
And then, inspiration struck:
Keep it in the wrapper! In the butter dish! When I finish a stick, I throw away the wrapper and place a new, wrapped stick on my clean butter dish. It’s a beautiful thing.
How do you store your butter? Or, digging deeper, how much butter does your family consume in a week?
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This post is a contribution to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.
I like to make canola butter. Mix 1 part soft butter with 1 part canola oil. Pour into tub or ramekin and refrigerate
Benefits:
Spreads right out of the fridge
Cheaper (butter goes twice as far)
1/2 the saturated fat of butter, higher in Omega-3s
Still tastes like butter!
Great on toast and dinner rolls
Caveats:
Not always substitutable in baking
When I lived in Ireland, eggs and butter were always left out. People had these little tiny mini fridges for the most perishable items, but everything else was left out on the counters (my mom FREAKED OUT when she visited me). But the butter there was the best ever, and I think it’s both easy and genius, especially when making cookies which need softened butter.
We only go through maybe a stick a week (and only if I’m baking–we use olive oil for everything), so we still keep ours in the fridge or freezer (for the long term).
I have a butter keeper – similar to this.
http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-284-Stoneware-Butter-Keeper/sim/B0000VLURQ/2
You pack your butter in the top & then invert it into the base which has water in it.
The water never touches the butter (it’s pushed out of the way) & keeps all the air out (so your butter doesn’t go rancid).
Now you can keep your soft butter on the counter & not worry about it going bad or melting.
It’s too hot here in the summer to leave the butter out–we keep the AC at 85.
We go through a couple sticks a week and I leave it out too. I love the idea of leaving it in the wrapper. I have to hide my butter when my mother in law comes for a visit because invariable it ends up in the fridge cold and hard.
Do your fridges not have a butter conditioner? Its a little insert in the fridge at the top, that one 500g of butter fits in. And it has its own temperature control. So you can set it so its stays soft. Ready for spreading and baking.
We go through butter really slowly. I used to leave it out, but it got too soft. Maybe it’s the southern heat and humidity? (I also have never thought of taking it out of the wrapper… interesting…)
A 4-stick package of butter will last us a month or so. 🙂 I only use it for cooking, and I rarely bake. I use olive oil mostly, and neither of us use butter for bread or veggies or anything else like that.
We go through at least a pound a week, usually more. We love butter! And I’d say more like 2 pounds when we’re eating grains (lots of yummy bread to spread it on!). I’ll have to try your wrapper trick this summer. We don’t have central air, so even with our rapid butter consumption, the butter gets “droopy” too quickly for my liking :-).
Oooh, I wasn’t thinking about summer. I wonder how our butter will hold up in the heat! Especially in San Diego… I may need to invest in a butter bell after all!
Yeah, it’s that southern heat. Most of our Midwestern weather is cool to cold to FREEZING. 🙂 I bet I’ll have to find another way of storing it for those few months of the year we actually have HEAT. 😛
No! I’ve never heard of such a thing! But then… maybe our rental fridges have all just been the bare bones basic models. I mean, we’ve also never had an ice maker. 🙂 I’ll be on the look out for such a feature when we finally buy our own appliances, though!
Haha, hide the butter. Where do you end up putting it? 😛
Ah! Good point… I wonder how I’ll store mine come summer…
I didn’t think I’d ever need one of these… but as we’re moving to San Diego… I may have to invest! Can you keep it on the counter, then? All year round?
Oh yay! I was so happy to read your post! Finallly, someone who thinks like me… that there’s nothing wrong with good old fashioned butter.
I keep mine in a small clear glass round sugar bowl with a lid right on the counter. I think I got the bowl from Meijer or Walmart. I do have to cut the sticks in 1/2 to get them to fit. I live in MI and have never had any problems in the summer.
I do like this idea… Especially for spreading on bread/rolls/pancakes. I don’t get enough raw olive oil in my diet! Sure it’s packed full of good stuff, but how much of that is left after I’m done saute-ing with it? 🙂
Yup, You can leave it on the counter all year round. I still keep stick butter in the fridge for cooking. I’m able to gauge tablespoons by eye easier, but for spreading on toast or rolls, it’ great!
Hang on to those butter wrappers for greasing pans for baking! Some keep them in a bag in the freezer and pull them out whenever you need one!
What a great tip! Thank you, Cori!
I leave sticks in the fridge for measuring, too. 🙂 Much easier!
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