Yes, but only salted. I've always kept it in a tupperware butter dish. We usually go through a stick every few weeks..but sometimes we go longer..Never had it go rancid...
I tried the butter bell..but it go yucky, even with changed/fresh water..there was mold growing on the edge where the bell hit the water...blech...first time I saw that the bell went in the cupboard empty..

Yes, I keep butter at room temperature; I use a butter bell, changing the water daily and have never had any problem with it growing mold, even in the summer. Terri, sounds like maybe there was contamintion from a utensil used to cause the mold?

I keep mine at room temp in a glass butter dish with glass cover. No water thinga ma jing! Never went bad. We put half a pound at a time.

Always. Except in the worst heat of summer.

Always on the counter...used to use a butter bell but gave it up for some reason (probably got tired of changing the water). The butter's fine on the counter. The only time I might refrigerate it is if it's very hot & humid...and then I've probably got the a/c on so it's still fine.

/tricia

Never!! Always refrigerated. After all, it's a dairy product like milk, and it becomes rancid quite quickly if not kept cool, or at least cold. Besides, in my climate, it would turn to oil in about 5 minutes flat if left outside the fridge!

Those special butter keepers are made of materials which keep the water in them at much cooler temperatures than room temperatures. When I was living in the Outback, 40 (nearly 50) years ago, and had no refrigeration, I kept butter wrapped in its original paper, then in several layers of newspaper, in a tub of water. The tub was made of concrete - the old-style laundry tub. That water was always very, very cold - and in the Outback, it gets very, very hot! The butter was never quite solid, but it was never very, very soft either. The only drawback to the system was that I had a lot of unwrapping of wet newspaper to do to get at the butter, then it all had to be rewrapped again. (The newspaper acted as a sort of insulator, and the inner layers never quite got thoroughly damp, so the butter was protected.)

When out in the Never-Never, where there were no laundry tubs, I simply kept butter wrapped in wet newspaper. The evaporation of the moisture kept the interior of the package much cooler than the outside temp. Even then, the butter went off fairly quickly, so I soon learned to do without when 'on the road'.

Also many years ago, they used to make fridges with special butter compartments, which were kept at warmer temps than the rest of the interior of the fridge. I thought it was a brilliant idea - but it wasn't long before they stopped doing it. Research had found that butter kept in these conditioners 'went off' too quickly for complete safety, so they were discontinued in the interests of public health. That should tell you something about unrefrigerated butter!

Always on the counter, in a covered butter crock. Never have it go bad but then I am in the north....

Nancy

I keep butter at room temp in a ceramic butter dish. Even in the summer I have never had a problem.

Our salted butter is out on the counter in an uncovered Pyrex butter dish (the cover broke years ago). A stick seldom lasts more than three or four days and we've never had a problem.

I keep out a cube in a covered butter dish in the winter and then back into the frig during the summer months...I could bring a frozen cube out in the summer and it would be soft within 15 minutes! Even with the air on.

I leave it out and use it up fairly quickly. Extreme temps are not a problem here.

Counter. One or two sticks in a covered container.
We use about one stick every 2-4 days.
Several pounds in the fridge.

Deanna

A butter bell. I learn something new everytime I come here. Just in case I'm not the only one who didn't know but was afraid to ask, here are some pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: Google pics of butter bell

I use a butter bell during the hotest months and a butter boat the rest of the time. It's a little too soft in a butter boat when it's hot, but great the rest of the time. I do like the butter boat the best because the butter is never in the water like a butter bell.

My butter boat looks like the one in the link below.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Butter Boat

I never leave it out - I don't use it that much, and we never use it at the table. I do combine some of it with part olive oil so that it will be more spreadable, and I keep that in the fridge as well. I don't put butter on anything after it's cooked - just sauces, which I make myself. I don't put butter on bread, and I've stopped putting butter on toast most of the time. When I do, I make a purée of garlic, herbs, olive oil, and butter in my Japanese mortar and pestle:

Lars

I keep butter at room temp in a ceramic butter dish. Even in the summer I have never had a problem.

Linda

Count me in the camp of on the counter year 'round. Never had a problem. Still crazy after all these years. Not really, not with the butter. It's fine and if there was a problem...would have known by now.

Duane

Nope, here in Florida I think it's best to keep it in the fridge.

I keep mine on the counter in a covered glass butter dish. I do have a butter bell, but had the mold problem with it too. In the summer, I just put out half a stick at a time.

I have a small butter bell and started using it a couple of months ago so I could have a little soft butter on toast.
I keep it out on the kitchen counter and change the water daily. Butter so far has not been too soft.
The rest of the butter is in a covered butter dish in the fridge. That's the one that Wolf uses as he likes hard butter on bread.

SharonCb

Goodness! We're not organized enough around here to have a specific spot for butter. Sometimes it's in a bowl on the counter, sometimes in a butter dish on the table, sometimes it's just partially used, but still in it's wrapper in the fridge...wherever it will fit.

This approach can be problematical in the Summer time as my husband and I don't use the air conditioner much, and temps can range from the 80's to 100+ for days at a time. Not good, when the place the butter ended up was in it's wrapper on the table.

Lordy, if I had to remember to keep the butter in a special dish, let alone change the water every day, I'd go mental.

I keep a stick in a glass butter dish with a cover, on my counter. My mother and grandmother did the same, I don't recall that it ever went bad. I have noticed that it stays firmer now that it sits on a granite counter.

I keep my butter in the refrigerator, and use the micowave to defrost it as needed. Diana55

I keep mine in the fridge and use the micro as Diana mentioned... unless I've forgotten to put it away then it sits on the counter. I had a butter bell that I brought home from our honeymoon that I used for a while and it was a hassle to remember to change the water every day since I don't use butter every day.

I would be worried about it getting a little nasty sitting for days on end on the counter.....

Alexa

I've got a butter dish that Wms Sonoma used to sell - it's kind of a dish within a dish, you put cold water in between. Supposedly it regulates temperature, but who knows. What I do know if I've kept butter in there (only salted) for weeks on end without any noticable ill effect.

Sits on a dish in my cupboard uncovered. I eat a 1/4 pound in about a weeks time. Almost all of my sandwiches have butter on them and sandwiches are a regular item in my work lunch. I skip butter only when I'm in a hurry.

: )
lyra

I always have some soft butter in my covered glass butter dish on the counter....never had it go bad....never had rancid butter in a few days at room temperature.
I mean if you make cookies with butter, do you keep them in the refrigerator?
Yeah....butter will eventually get rancid....and it will pick up flavors....but juswt use common sense and don't keep a whole pound out......and cover it well when you are painting or it will pick up the smell.
If my butter is in the frige I use more as I can't spread it thinly..
Linda C

I also keep mine on the counter and never have had any go bad. I use about a stick a month, not very much, and I don't have air conditioning so in the summer when it hits 80 (or 90 or 100!) I use the butterbell that Dishesdone sent me and have not had any problems with mold, although when it hit 100 last year the butter melted a bit and slid out of the bell and into the water. It got so hot, even the butter went swimming, LOL. The rest of the time it's in the butter dish.

Of course, I never turn my heat above 55, so it's pretty hard, even on the counter, this time of year.

We've always kept the butter on the counter, Dad keeps his on the kitchen table and Grandma kept it there too. Amanda does the same thing, 4 generations of butter on the counter, LOL, and I've never had any go bad. Melt into a puddle, yes. Go bad, nope.

Annie

Butter for table use is always out. My cat finds butter and eats it if it's not covered! In the summer. I have a polish pottery butter keeper that holds 1 cup. The butter in the top is turned over into water in the bottom. The water keeps the air out that oxidizes the fat and gives it a rancid flavor. In the cooler months, the butter is in a covered glass dish that holds about 5Tbs.

When I was growing up my parents always kept a stick of butter at room temp - I always keep mine in the refrigerator. Lars, where did you find that mortar and pestle? I've been looking for one and I love that one. And Annie - not above 55?! In Michigan?! It's official, I'm a whimp.

I used to keep butter on a salad plate on the counter... and then about 13 years ago I got a dog who loved to steal butter from the salad plate on the counter... so I got a covered dish and never had that problem again. Once or twice, in the hottest part of summer, I've had unsalted butter develop a little mold. No big deal. I just toss, wash, and start over.

I use a LOT of butter, and unless I'm making a crust, I pretty much always want it to be at room temp.

Another BUTTER BELL user here. I keep about a stick just for use with toast, English muffins. I had a potter make one for me to my specifications.

The little butter I have is kept in the freezer for those special dishes that just have to have butter.

Trans fat free margarine in the fridge for everyday use.

Wow... I didn't even know you could keep butter at room temperature! I use unsalted for baking and keep it in the fridge. I use I Can't Believe for spreading... I'd rather use butter, but it is so hard to spread.

mine is out. half the time in it's paper wrapper...i really should get a covered dish. I have a butter bell, too, but it's in the cupboard - I think I experienced mold, too...

blueiris, the mortar and pestle lars showed is called a suribachi. The nice thing about it is that the inner surface is striped with ridges, which make grinding up things like seeds (that tend to just get pushed around in a regular mortar and pestle) much easier.

If you live in an area that boasts a Japanese food store, they will likely have them, as they are a basic and necessary item for the Japanese kitchen. If not, I found this link that has info and a link to purchase one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Suribachi info

Thanks Rachel!

I've tried those butter bells because I thought they were really cute but they didn't work for me. I didn't like the water on the butter and you had to squash the butter into it plus change the water daily. It was a mess! Anyway,I have always used a covered clay butter dish that stays out most of the time except in the worst summer nights. I like soft butter for toast but some nights it's cold enough in the house that the butter is harder than I like it in the morning. The clay cover is unglazed, meant to be soaked in water to help keep butter cool but it has absorbed so much oil that it no longer soaks up water, it seems to me. I rotate it with other covered butter trays but I like the clay one best. This method helps me avoid using the plastic butters that spread easily as I've always avoided margarines. I never have a problem with rancidity, guess we use a cube up fast enough, 1-2 per week.

I remember our neighbors kept theirs out on the kitchen table when I was a little girl- we used to stick our fingers in it. My Mom didn't because we used oleo(the name always made me giggle!) we couldnt afford butter on a teachers salary. I guess she didn't think it was so great warm- I just bought a vintage lidded butter dish so I have been keeping butter in it on the counter for the last couple of weeks. I may not do it much longer- it is too tempting to use it and we are trying to cut down on fats. But I don't worry about keeping it out and covered on the counter- no one that I knew ever got sick from it, so its gotta be ok now! Sue

Actually, oleo/margarine are just Crisco with added color and flavoring--that's the product that won't be too afected by room temp storage.

Butter? If you read the recommendations of the experts, and the butter companies themselves, it's recommended not only that butter ALWAYS be stored in the fridge, but in the COLDEST part of the fridge. You're not even supposed to keep it in the butter keeper on the door, because that's not cold enough for proper butter storage.

Sorry, but keeping butter at room temp is a practice that's really outdated--it's simply not necessary these days. I keep my butter in the fridge and while my toast is toasting, I pop my butter dish in the microwave for a few seconds (12 in the regular microwave; 15 in the Advantium)--and it's the perfect consistency for spreading or using in recipes.

As someone else said--butter is a dairy product. Not only that, but it's got a high fat content. That means the bottom of the fridge is the place it should be stored. For both those reasons--AND the fact that at the price, I don't want to waste it, it's always the refrigerator here.

Yep....butter is a dairy product.....so is cheese.
Where does your grocer store the velveeta? How about grated parmesan? How about those giant wheels of chedder and parmesan....do you think they are stored in a refrigerator?
I don't store as much as a half pound of butter on the counter....in fact I don't store any more than 1/2 a pound in the refrigerator....any more than that is kept in the freezer.
And....yes butter has a high fat content, so does cheese....in fact butter is almost all fat.
And, I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised that repeatedly microwaving and chilling a stick of butter would cause a faster break down of the fats than just leaving it on the counter in a 70 Degree room for 4 or 5 days until it's eaten.
I love having soft butter on the counter....and I love to eat room temperature cheese. I fairly often will leave a piece of cheese on the counter under a cheese bell for several days and nibble on it from time to time.
Linda C

nyet, no, nein, laa, non, na, bobo, noni, Gurrangung!

I love me my butter, gotta keep it cold.

Here is a link that might be useful: butt-ah!

Butter is on the counter in a covered glass butter dish.

We like it soft and spreadable.

Lynn

I don't know how big of a suribachi that you would want, but fantes.com has a small set for only $12.99. Trouble is that I would ending spending more on other stuff at the same time.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://fantes.com/mortar-pestle.html

We like our butter spreadable. We use a stick up in 1-2 weeks and have never had it go rancid. I hate to go to a fine restaurant and get wonderful bread with butter as hard as a rock! Never understood why they refrigerate it.

The butter used for cooking and baking is kept in the refrigerator. In winter, unrefrigerated butter keeps fine in a butter bell because the house is cool. But this time of year, it does not keep worth a hoot! The good butter (Amish-made 2# rolls used only for spreading on bread) stays in the freezer. I cut it in small pieces then freeze and transfer from the freezer to a very small clear glass butter keeper (Meijer) as needed. It works well for the two of us. It is the small round butter dish toward the back in the image below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Little butter keeper

I have a lovely butter bell sent to me in a swap by David. I use it if I have house guests and we will use the butter up quickly. Otherwise I find it goes rancid with just Alice and I to nibble at it. I live in California in the Central Valley. It gets toasty here!

In the summer here the kitchen is 79 degrees or more if I'm cooking something. We keep the ac set at 79 and it feels comfortable. (we turn it down to 77 at night)
But is this too hot to keep the butter out? I would use approximately 1/2 a stick every couple days.

Wow, I'm truly amazed at how much butter some of you consume! I only buy unsalted butter and always keep it in the fridge. We don't use butter at the table except when we have corn on the cob and then it's melted and poured over the corn along with some salt.

Velveeta, cheese? I think not. It's a cheese "product" and it's not even kept in the cooler in the grocery stores.

Grainlady, I love your butter boat!

Beverly