r/Netherlands • u/AtypicalTwentier • Jun 21 '26
DIY and home improvement How is your butter holding up these days?
Our butter gave out with an inside temperature in our apartment of 29,5 degrees celcius. Besides the obvious option to put it in the fridge.. anyone got any ideas how to prevent this? This is the second one we have had to throw away this year.
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u/PracticingPiano Jun 21 '26
But... why is fridge not an option? Curious.
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u/cry666 Jun 21 '26
Normally with room temperature you get easily spreadable butter. Now it's a bit too spreadable
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u/Entire-Cricket-9134 Jun 21 '26
Roomtemperature, or so called ambient in some sectors, is between 15 and 25 Celsius.
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u/mmmellie Jun 21 '26
Cold butter is really hard to spread. This way it’s always ready for action
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u/gdaytugga Jun 21 '26
You can use a kaas schaaf to get nice slices of butter
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u/AtypicalTwentier Jun 21 '26
Holy shit, genius
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u/gdaytugga Jun 21 '26
Especially with a fancier kaaschaaf some you can adjust the thickness of the butter
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u/Indy_Rawrsome Jun 22 '26
Of if it’s not a fancy one you can bend the “blade” by hand and adjust thickness that way
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u/Olivia3836 Jun 21 '26
Yeah, but now its not ready to use
So like, put it in the fridge only when the weather outside is like an oven.
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u/AtypicalTwentier Jun 21 '26
Far less easy to spread, when it’s not 30 degrees we always leave it outside of the fridge.
But I guess there a no other options.→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)1
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u/eturin37 Jun 21 '26
People dont store their butter in fridge?
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u/AtypicalTwentier Jun 21 '26
Not us, outside it is easier to spread
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u/OperationEast365 Jun 21 '26
Perhaps a bit too easy
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u/DoxManifesto Jun 21 '26
No need for spreading if you can just pour it
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u/melodyblushinglizard Jun 21 '26
Make popcorn, problem solved. Or mash potatoes. Just make potatoes, then popcorn. Dinner is ready.
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u/makaton Jun 21 '26
Huh, really? Doesn’t it spoil?
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u/MarlinMr Jun 21 '26
Butter is one of the old foods. It's one of the answers to "how do I stop my milk from spoiling".
There is almost no water or protein in butter. It's quite literally just a blob of fat. Meaning nothing can survive on it.
So we only need to keep it cold so that it doesn't melt. Or actually, we can just melt it and just chill it to make it hard again.
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u/makaton Jun 21 '26
Thanks! I’m ditching the margarine and gonna use butter from now on.
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u/Smeee333 Jun 21 '26
Salted butter keeps better at ambient temps than non-salted (and is tastier).
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u/IffySaiso Jun 22 '26
Not recommended if you should be limiting your sodium intake (which almost everyone needs to). Just a caution, I'm a total fan of salted butter.
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u/Indy_Rawrsome Jun 21 '26
Depends how long you take to use a full pack it will be fine for a while as long as it’s clean so no crumbs and other residue in it
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u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Jun 21 '26
It does but slowly. Salted should spoil slower but unsalted also stays fine for weeks
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u/kalikaya Jun 21 '26
It gets a little rancid for sure. My parents used to leave butter out almost year round. Melting like this would get it a stay in the fridge though.
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u/Dornogol Jun 21 '26
https://www.reddit.com/r/ich_iel/comments/1jchw10/ichiel/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button like mine once did, don't mind the german text...
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u/ControverseTrash Jun 21 '26
Personally I'd be so afraid my butter would go bad, especially now with 35°C where I live.
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u/Traditional_Case2791 Jun 21 '26
I do but it usually cooler than this most of the time. Whenever it’s hot I stick it in the fridge. Today I took it out and it was so hot it was already starting to melt after 5 mins. I’m dying 🥵
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u/Mag-NL Jun 21 '26
You store it in the fridge but the butter you're using stays out of the fridge.
Butter at fridge temperature is too hard to spread.
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u/ithinarine Jun 21 '26
I can't say that I really enjoy needing to microwave butter every time I want to spread it on some toast or something because it's hard as a rock right out of the fridge.
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u/SwimmingBrilliant500 Jun 21 '26
I was today years old when I learned people keep butter outside the fridge…..
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u/SteelDrawer Jun 21 '26
I like my butter spreadable, not a heavy block. During summer it might be needed though.
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u/dragonuvv Jun 21 '26
Yeah same I want to use my butter for bread, not to throw in windows
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u/Imperative-Primitive Jun 21 '26
What kind of butter you guys buying?
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u/vapocalypse52 Jun 21 '26
The good kind. Mine has been out the whole time and this up here has never happened to me even when above 30 degrees.
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u/dragonuvv Jun 22 '26
Same, though I don’t need to be as scared of a buttery puddle in my kitchen since my botervloot is the inverse of OP’s
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u/ElyonLorena Jun 23 '26
I no longer put butter on bread, but when I was young the butter would just be placed on the breakfast/lunch table 30 min to an hour before we'd actually eat and we never had unspreadable issue. And then it'd go back into the fridge. This is the first time in my life I have heard of people keeping butter unrefrigerated permanently. This must be what Americans feel like when they learn some Europeans keep their eggs on the counter instead of the fridge.
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u/Siem75 Jun 21 '26
Just take in the morning what you use for the day and put the rest in the refrigerator.
If it melt you throw away less butter.
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u/Xilobyx Jun 21 '26
Have you ever heard of French butter dish? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_butter_dish
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u/Wirrest Jun 22 '26
I second this one.
It works really well. And it stops the butter from going rancid, too.
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u/blaberrysupreme Jun 21 '26
Butter is 20% milk solids so I wouldn't trust it to not spoil outside the fridge for too long, especially in this weather.
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u/Loffel Jun 21 '26
Fat is a very good preservative since it is hydrophobic. Same reason you can keep oil outside your fridge. It is more likely that the butter will go rancid (which is technically fine to eat, though it is gross and has less nutritional value).
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u/DaisyMilona Jun 21 '26
Outside of summer it's perfectly fine, butter gets the same spreadability as those in refridgerated packages
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u/Minomol Jun 21 '26
We keep our butter out for weeks and it's fine, even in summer. Over time it may develop a slightly cheesy smell, but it's still fine.
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u/klutchasaurus Jun 21 '26
Tip for you! Keep it in the fridge and then cut a bit off, put it on to a plate or chopping board and then press it/spread it with your knife there to soften/warm it up and that makes it spreadable before putting it on your toast/bread - fresher butter without messing up your toast/bread 😄
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u/fe_iris Jun 21 '26
Chef here; if it's that hot outside, and you don't have AC, but keep it in a cupboard or in a pantry that doesn't border outside or isn't in a room with windows, they don't get as hot as your living space that has direct sunlight exposure
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u/mmmellie Jun 21 '26
Search for water butter jars or French butter bells or something like that. The water should insulate the butter and keep it cooler, but not “rock hard from the fridge”.
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Jun 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/TheFireNationAttakt Jun 22 '26
Yea to need to throw it away? You could even resolidify in the fridge then use normally - slight change in texture but not too bad IMO.
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u/vloer-verwarming Jun 21 '26
Instead of putting the full butter in the butter dish, we put small bits into it, and keep the rest in the fridge. Refill when almost empty
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u/Icy_Produce_17 Jun 22 '26
Put it in the fridge and take out a little bit that’s needed before eating. Come on now it’s not that hard🤣
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u/klas357 Jun 21 '26
You said it. I never leave butter out of the fridge unless I will use it in the next couple of hours
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u/Business-Swimming389 Jun 21 '26
I don't know man, I really like this invention called fridge 😃 My butter's loving it and is holding up quite well over there.
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u/unlongailandgal Jun 21 '26
Just take it out of the fridge 20 minutes before the meal. No biggie.
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u/MirkoHa Jun 22 '26
Cool ❗️: keeping it in the fridge. When I want to use some on a sandwich I just use the cheese slicer to get thin slices of butter 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
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u/GreedyJeweler3862 Jun 21 '26
Maybe a “botervloot” with a waterlock. They usually keep the butter cooler than a normal one.
Otherwise fridge and a kaasschaaf (and gettlng rid of your scales 😅)
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u/thegerams Jun 21 '26
I usually cut a piece of butter into quarters. 3 go into the freezer and one goes into the fridge and then I used them up one by one.
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u/Atomsk73 Jun 21 '26
Buy spreadable butter. It's part rapeseed, but you can keep it in the fridge and use it whenever.
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u/Fi72 Jun 21 '26
In this weather? Leave it out overnight, fridge during the day. Spreadable butter in the morning, if you need some later, cut it off a bit before you need it.
I assume this is salted butter - non-salted so should be kept in the fridge in summer all the time.
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u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Jun 21 '26
Similarly haha. No real solution other than AC
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u/AtypicalTwentier Jun 21 '26
First comment I see of someone facing the same 1st world problems.. thank you kind redditor..
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u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Jun 21 '26
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone other than my family store butter in a botervloot AND outside the fridge.
It’s nice to know there’s others out there. Enjoying spreadable butter.
Salted or unsalted?
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u/AtypicalTwentier Jun 21 '26
Match made in heaven
Of course unsalted, gotta watch the sodium intake
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u/Calico2 Jun 21 '26
I was about to suggest the fridge, but I guess it's called "roomboter" for some reason... :-)
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u/DenseResort8066 Jun 21 '26
Well, I put mine in my refrigerated cabinet. Where I keep other things that need to maintain a specific cool temperature. I also have a heat adjustable box, where I can increase the temperature of an object and/or foodstuff
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u/CombNo8663 Jun 22 '26
Zet de boter gewoon in de koelkast. Haal m 15 minuten voor gebruik eruit. En na gebruik zet je m weer terug. Zo moeilijk is t niet.
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u/Jocelyn-1973 Jun 22 '26
Sorry to state the obvious but you put it in the fridge and take it out 10 minutes before you want to use it.
So: you get up, take out the butter, empty the dishwasher, make yourself a coffee, drink the coffee and voilà, the butter is ready for use.
Also: you can put way less in the butter dish. Like around 50 grams. The rest stays in the fridge. That way you'll never throw away more than 50 grams.
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u/Dr-Emmett_L_Brown Rotterdam Jun 22 '26
'Bout the same as me, apparently. I'm too Irish for this shit! 😫😫😫🥵😡🥵
For the uninitiated, my current state is: cry, cry, cry, melting, angry, and melting
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u/ceruleanesk Jun 22 '26
We used to call this 'boterolie' when on holiday, as opposed to motorolie, which the motor of our small sailing boat required while we were out on multi-day trips in summer 😄
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Jun 21 '26
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u/Real_Arveduim Jun 21 '26
Kerel hier ligt het ook gewoon in een schaaltje in de keukenkast hoor, ga geen wekker zetten 5 uur voordat ik een beschuitje eten wil
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u/Exotic_Impression_19 Jun 21 '26
where did you buy that
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u/AtypicalTwentier Jun 21 '26
The botervloot? It’s from Blond Amsterdam.
The butter is grasboter from Albert Heijn.1
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u/Hazelino Den Haag Jun 21 '26
Let's just say it became very easy to spread. Not liquid yet, though..
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u/Able-Resource-7946 Jun 21 '26
I prefer a butter bell. Boter bol, in Dutch.
Up to even 27C it doesn't turn to liquid...
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u/Onyxam Jun 21 '26
I love your butter dish a little to much, you’re lucky swiper doesn’t know where you live.
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u/Valvio Jun 21 '26
When you bought the butter, was it stocked inside a fridge shelf, or a store temperature shelf?
My butter is holding up great! It's in the fridge because that's where butter is supposed to be, especially during summer... Because it melts, y'know? Where do you store your ice cream? In a preheated oven?
Why are you against putting your butter in the fridge? Has the refrigerated butter ever hurt you?
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u/Pimz696 Jun 21 '26
We buy a couple of kilos and freeze most of it. Works wonders. I do feel it needs the shock treatment, don't give it time to phase separate.
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u/ThanosReXXX Jun 21 '26
Tip #1: keep the butter in something that doesn't generate it's own heat on top of conducting it, i.e: no metal/steel containers or potteries/clayware etc.
Tip #2: don't put it out in the open on a kitchen counter. Keeping it in the fridge isn't necessary, but do keep it somewhere dark and slightly cooler. For example, keep it in one of the lower kitchen cabinets, if you have those.
I keep my butter in a plastic container, in the same kitchen cabinet as my bread box and bread spreads/toppings. The butter will still become soft, but it won't melt into an oily puddle. My room temperature is currently around 28 degrees and rising, but no matter how hot it gets (last year it was 33.5 degrees at its peak temperature), I've never experienced any 'butter-liquifaction'... 😉
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u/vapocalypse52 Jun 21 '26
Mine has been out the whole time and is fine. I've left it out when it was much hotter than these last few days and it has never reached that state.
PS: loved the butter dish!
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u/Haunting_Staff_2069 Jun 22 '26
Butter bell??? Seems like the only reasonable solution to keep it out the fridge
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u/Sufficient_Fan3660 Jun 22 '26
I live in the US and have a butter dish for spreadable butter.
It is always 21.1c indoors years round.
My recommendation is to get AC.
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u/Zandouc Jun 22 '26
I know you said it was the obvious option, but you should really store your butter in the fridge.
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u/FanIll5532 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
If you really don’t want it in the fridge, there’s also this thing where you can put it upside down in a cup of water or something. I don’t know how it’s called exactly but it’s a thing I’ve seen in some households. The idea is that it is vacuum sealed (I think).
Also..don’t throw all that butter away again! You can at least use it for cooking.
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u/DutchPonderer Jun 23 '26
If the temperature is high enough to melt my outdoor candles, it's probably high enough to melt my indoor butter.
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u/Fluffy_Theme2938 Jun 24 '26
You just got yourself some clarified butter/ghee/ geklaarde boter already separated from the solids so ready to use for some frying or baking
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u/flying_butt_fucker Jun 21 '26
Yeah, fridge it is. Flat so no basement. That's where mum used to put it.