You shouldn’t keep butter in the fridge – but where should you keep it?
Butter straight from the fridge is rock-hard. Ever tried spreading it on a slice of bread? Impossible. So you need to keep that butter somewhere else. Where? And how?
Everyone who has tried spreading butter straight from the fridge on a fresh slice of bread knows the frustration. Thick clumps of butter on one side, bare bread on the other, and tears when you try to spread the butter with your knife, the struggle is real. So this has to be done differently.
On the counter
Butter is easiest to spread at room temperature. So maybe you should simply leave the pack of butter on the counter? Careful: contact with oxygen can cause butter to turn yellow and oxidize. That means your butter will go rancid, which isn’t very tasty to eat.
Not margarine
Just to be clear: I’m talking about butter, not margarine. All sorts of things are added to and done to margarine to make sure it stays spreadable, but it has little to do with butter. Butter is butter, made from milk, with that thick, creamy flavor and a billion calories, but who cares. Nothing tastes better under your chocolate sprinkles than the real thing, right?
Extortionately expensive
Trend: designer butter dishes, called butter keepers in English. They look amazing, made from porcelain or earthenware, and are essentially a little bowl with a lid. Thick earthenware keeps the butter cool, but at a perfect – meaning spreadable – temperature. Have a quick browse on Etsy and you’ll find dozens, ranging from pricey to unbelievably expensive. Maybe a gift for yourself?
Thrift store
But it can be much simpler. Really, any little container will do. As long as it has a lid and the material keeps the sun’s rays out, because otherwise your butter will quickly become liquid. Be careful with metal containers, though, because they don’t make your butter happy, especially if you use salted butter.
When the thrift store opens again, you’ll find the perfect container there for storing butter. Namely: an old-fashioned butter dish. Put as much butter in it as you think you’ll use up in a day or two, or three. The dish can simply stay in the cupboard, with the breakfast things, so you can dip your knife straight into it whenever it’s time for a slice of bread with aged cheese – with a thick layer of butter underneath, yum.
Read also:
- Easy: make your own butter
- 5 reasons why you should buy an old Margriet cookbook
- 3 surprising things you can also keep in the freezer
Source: Bon Appétit
