Butter
Most people say it is okay to keep the butter on your counter because it will not go bad. The logic behind this is that for something to grow bacteria that can cause food poisoning, aka cause food to spoil, there needs to be an environment that is rich in protein.
Butter only contains between 3 and 4 percent protein and a lot of fat. According to this, because butter lacks enough protein to support bacterial growth, it cannot spoil quickly. Also, if we take into account that salted butter inhibits the growth of such bacteria, then you can say that yes, indeed, it is safe to keep it at room temperature.
But is this the case? Is this true? Well, we know that you like to always have butter that is easy to spread and is not hardened because you kept it in the fridge, but you should be aware that if you are not refrigerating the butter, it can go rancid. This can change its taste and consistency, and you probably don’t want that. Exposure to oxygen, light, and heat triggers rancidity.
So, if you want to always have fresh butter, we recommend storing it in the fridge.
4 thoughts on “7 Things You Should ALWAYS Refrigerate (But Probably Don’t)”
I never refrigerate my ketchup, as I don’t want cold condiment on a warm hamburger! I’m fortunate to have a pantry on an outside wall with no insulation so it’s very cool in there!
I’m glad to learn things I always refrigerate is the right thing to do.
Also glad to learn the things I don’t refrigerate is also the right way to go!
I have worked many restaurants as waitstaff and have NEVER dumped ketchup at the end of a shift and refilled bottles with fresh. I HAVE always topped off the bottle so that it APPEARS to be a fresh bottle. Not my idea of fresh but an industry standard and policy of most restaurant parent companies. You can bet that the bottles are not washed between fills even if the policy is to dump at the end of day.
Yep, it’s cross contamination and super gross. I watched a patron use his knife to run up in the ketchup bottle, after using it on his plate. Putting fresh product on top of old product is always wrong but I know what people do at the table, I always ask for packets. lol.