Thanks for the confirmation. I wonder what the record is for long lost food with dates attached that have been found. As an urban archaeological artifact it might have some significance.

I just had a thought. There's a guy at my friendly neighborhood collision center that saves used oil for alternative fuel. He's accepted my used lawnmower oil and I wonder if butter would qualify, since used cooking oil does. As always, just hate to fill the landfill with this kind of stuff.

Thanks again. Happy Thanksgiving! One thing I'm grateful for is Home Site forums and all the wonderful people out there that help me out. No question is too dumb.

My husband claims l once tried to give him 10 year old cookies lol.

Happy thanksgiving.

I sure would use it!! Not for making butter cookies but for caramelizing onions or some other savory use....I would rub some on my thanksgiving turkey!!
It's not "bad" just may have picked up refrigerator flavors.

I would definitely use it.

I'd use it too. At least check it before tossing it.

I'd open it and smell it. Rancid butter is quite easy to smell. If it's not, then use it. Salted butter keeps far longer than unsalted (which I prefer). Unsalted will keep in the freezer indefinitely.

I'd smell it first. If it smells fine I'd taste it. If it tastes bad, toss it or recycle it. It most probably would not be spoiled, butter will keep for 9 months in the refrigerator after the "sell by" date but might taste "off" due to other items in the refrigerator.

If it's good, use it!

Annie

Over a year old butter? No question, throw it out. It's not a fine cheese.

And if "fine cheese" keeps over a year, so will butter.

It may keep, but I still think it will have absorbed any odors from the refrigerator. I still would toss it.

Unless it had picked up objectionable odours, I'd still use it for cooking.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I hope I am able to find some use short of landfill. At least it's now up front so I'll see it everyday.

I'm w/ the 'waste not, want not' crowd. I would check for off odors or flavors, of course, but I seriously doubt it would go rancid in the back of the fridge. And you can totally tell if it did by smell alone, I'm guessing.

I can't imagine it wouldn't be rancid and rancid fat is not good for you - for whatever it cost, I'd let it feed the worms at the landfill or into the compost.

Worms can't survive in landfill because it's anaerobic.

Give it the sniff test. Likely it's fine.

I don't understand why butter doesn't go bad in a short period, but I know people who leave butter out in a butter dish without problems and so I do now as well; so I always have soft butter ready for spreading. Now I use lots of butter; so in my hands it only stays out for a few days at most, but I know others who have left butter out for far longer without it going bad. Obviously, the refer is colder and better. I would guess that the three unwrapped sticks would absorb fewer odors. I would test the opened stick on a piece of bread and if it has an off flavor, go on to the unopened stick next. My guess is that they will all be OK.

Agree with what Chase said about testing..

I've discovered butter like that. Even if not rancid, it almost always tastes "refrigeraty." If you unwrap one of these still-cold sticks and slice an end off, crosswise, you'll see that there is an oxidized "rind" that has a somewhat translucent appearance. That darker, transformed layer is pretty fridgy tasting. I use it in my bird fat freezer basket. If I am very desperate for butter, I have been able to peel off the oxidized portion and after tasting, use the inner part for cooking if what I'm making has a bit of savory flavor.

I save butter and other facts like this for wild bird "suet" mix fat cakes. I save in the freezer unused fat from chicken, roasts, butter and ham. In the winter I melted down, perhaps add a few sunflower seeds or peanuts, and that is solidify into a blocked that I put into a suet feeder outside, away from the house and out of maple tree. The birds and woodpeckers enjoy it in February.

I doubt it would make good engine fuel because it is too viscous.

Great idea to use it in your suet cake mixes. Thanks!