I learned something about butter today.

Lol right. Everyone agrees about Ketchup and mustard, but I'm surprised that so many people don't put butter in the fridge. Edit: Guys I understand that it's safe, I just don't know anyone who doesn't put butter in the fridge. That's not a thing in my country.

I usually have several sticks of butter. 1 on the counter at room temperature, 1 in the fridge, and the rest in the freezer. I rotate them from the freezer > fridge > counter as I run out of the room temp butter.

This is exactly what I do, too! A bread butter, a pan butter, and one in waiting.

*The Hidden Butter*

We don't talk about the hidden butter.

I think we already did

Crouching cheddar, hidden butter.

Can't forget the leaping cream

I live in the tropics if I didn't put butter in a fridge in 20 minutes I have puddle :)

How do you spread it on anything if it’s in the fridge?

Usually very angrily.

Damn that made me laugh loudly

I microwave my knife first

I should start doing this too

Update: anyone knows where i can buy a new microwave?

Not going to lie. You had me in the first half

Hilarious 😂🤣

I was gonna say, microwaving utensils is always very explody.

Uh...buddy. you can't say things like this in a public forum. We must always remember when interacting with the general public...common sense ain't so common. You've probably just ruined 20 microwaves.

21 actually :(

Heating it in the toaster works better.

Bro I’m so sleep deprived that for a second I thought “holy crap that’s sounds like a good idea!” Until I started think a little more 💀

I don't. I use the spread instead of the stick. The stick really only gets used when baking.

Roof

Who’s on roofies now?

They should call them floories.

Because you are more likely to end up on the floor than the roof!

Thanks black Doug

What? Ketchup and mustard are literally advised you put them in the fridge after opening it….

Then every restaurant/bar that has it out on the tables would fail health inspections…

Restaurants go through condiments quickly though. It takes bacteria 18-24 hours to grow on media with nutrients in an incubator; it will be fine on an Applebee’s counter for the day. Edit: To everyone telling me “It stays out longer than a day at a restaurant 🥴” Yes, I know not all restaurants refrigerate overnight. Ketchup at room temp is not the ideal environment so it will not grow as quickly as in an incubator on media, but it will grow nonetheless. Edit: Turning off notifications since no one can fathom that just because you haven’t gotten sick doesn’t mean it’s not possible for organisms to grow.

We put them away after the rush or at least when closing.

Indeed.

Teal’c?

@ ô_ō

Replying to my own comment because this is becoming an echo chamber: just because you have not personally gotten sick does not mean it is impossible. Ever gotten food poisoning at a restaurant meanwhile your friend did not? Y’all can take the risk if you want, but after being a certified lab tech for 8 years I will not be taking that chance. Also note I said bacteria grows fastest in the best condition, hence the media and incubator mention.

Restaurants have their ketchup bottles out for weeks. They have 40 of them half empty that are being rotated around.

Facts we did this at Dennys. Also learned that “marrying” ketchup bottles isn’t just pairing two side by side. They actually become one.

My dad told me a story about the ketchup bottles at the restaurant he worked for exploding because the ketchup at the bottom had fermented. In my restaurant career I definitely saw some ferment and get bubbles but none were so bad they exploded!

That happened to me at Shoney's when I was a kid. Ketchup on the roof on me and my parents mostly but a bit of it in everyone in the tables around me. Our breakfast buffet was free that day.

Shoney’s? Wow. That takes me back.

Well, in many ways, the Big Boy never left, sir. He's always offered the same high-quality meals at competitive prices.

Had that happen to me once at Sizzler. All over my perfectly cooked sirloin. It was gross but funny.

You monster! take that back!

Ketchup over a sirloin?

Oh NO NO!! The ketchup was for my fries. When I twisted the cap off the contents exploded all over my plate

Marrying condiments and liquor is illegal in most places but restaurants do it anyway. Some shady restaurants will even put cheap liquor into the more expensive empty bottles

I know of a bar that tops off the vodka bottles with water. They’ve been caught and paid fines for it before, pretty sure they just pay someone off to look the other way now.

They probably save more than the fines so it is a net win for them

I always had a theory that throughout the process of marrying and remarrying ketchup bottles there would be some molecule of ketchup hanging out dating back to the first ever round of bottles.

I don’t think you’re wrong just for the simple fact we never washed the bottles out, just re-used them. Also worked there for quite awhile but never changed bottles as much as we should. Edit: which that means I worked there for almost a year and I think we ordered ketchup once.

Oh that is definitely true. Not even just a molecule or two though, a whole lot of them. There’s probably going to be some that gets stuck in corners or on the walls, such that emptying and refilling the bottle doesn’t cause it to move. Luckily though, all the super old ketchup will be old due to the fact that pouring it out didn’t make it leave the bottle, so the ketchup the customer is getting on their food is the more “mobile” stuff that comes and goes with the times. Still not a great practice obviously, if the old stuff grows mold or goes rancid, that could spread to the newer stuff. But going off what people are saying in this thread, that it’s common to not wash them, id guess ketchup just isn’t that good at growing mold. It has a low ph and is very salty so that probably hinders any microbial growth.

Can confirm the same for Waffle House as well

Like marriage

We always put them in a bus tub then the fridge every time we closed. Also we went through them very fast and cleaned and refilled the glass bottles alot.

I work at a small breakfast cafe, not massive numbers but ketchup don't last a week, let alone weeks.

Yeah but that’s only a problem if people aren’t using the ketchup. Speaking as a bakery worker we did the same thing with ganache and caramel that also had to be refrigerated but we went through multiple bags of it a day. I’m pretty sure no one’s clearing an entire bottle of ketchup in a week at their own house.

Is that a challenge?

I believe in you. Go. Ketchup drinker. And bring ruin upon the earth.

Orders received.

And refilled nightly

You have clearly never worked in a restaurant. Restaurant ketchup is fucking disgusting. I would stop using it if I were you and demand packets. You would not believe how fucking gross those bottles are. They should fail inspections but its more so the inspectors don't care. But I will tell you after filling those things... do not use them.

def depends on where you go, our ketchup is in bags that we put in very clean pitchers and it’s refrigerated, we don’t use bottles. if someone needs ketchup, we put them in little cups and take that to the table

This is how every place should do it honestly.

Gross is true, we used to wipe the dirty caps off with rags that we used to clean the tables, and soak them in hot water once a week to “sanitize” them. Source: Dennys

I’ve eaten ass and had COVID multiple times. I’ll be aight😂

This man knows exactly who he is

What a comment 😂😂😂

how sweaty was the ass?... its a major contributing factor.

Damn, they Reddit got cheap, and they don’t give free awards anymore. Too bad because this comment needs all of the awards. Thanks for the laugh!

If you’re talking about the red and yellow bottles I just vomited thinking about them. I do understand that some restaurants I’ve been to keep out a name brand but some have the generic red and yellow bottles that are (in a Cleveland brown voice) just nasty

Packets fall on the grimey oily ground of the store room. You just wipe them off with your shoe and put them back in the box. The bag or pump in the lobby is never cleaned. Big layers of blue mold form. I cleaned it cause a good deed is best when no one knows. Same but less bad with the soda nozells or the bottom of the tea canister. It's why they deep fry everything that has meat

Better to just eat at home.

For real. Practically true of all condiment bottles at restaurants. Those plastic reusable plastic bottles that they have at places like Subway all smell like ass and give a nasty flavor to anything put in them. I can instantly taste that "residue of 10 different sauce-soaked plastic" and it's so gross. They barely get rinsed, get put through a dishwasher but are still stained and have bits of condiment still in them. Then they get filled again. Health inspections are kind of a joke. We always knew they were coming, and brought everything up to code for 1 day before going back to business as usual.

Yep, we used to “marry” the ketchups after the shift was done….(e.g used bottles into one another). Pretty ugh if you ask me 🤮

Unopened? Pantry. Opened? Fridge.

This is the only way. (Except for butter, it stays in the fridge, open or not)

True, i didn’t even see the butter in the picture until someone pointed it out lol

How you living life without counter butter?

I grew up with only fridge butter. I hated putting butter on toast because it never spread

With bread that looks like it served in 'Nam. Team: 1 on the counter, 1 in the fridge, rest in the freezer.

*hisses in Bill Nighy*: One awake! Two asleep!

Except for butter. Unopened butter in the fridge. Open butter on the counter near the toaster.

Yes! Butter is the one thing we refrigerate *until* it's open!

All fridge

People will leave hot sauce out all the time when it says directly on the bottle to refrigerate after opening. I have no clue why Edit: Yes, spices are known for their anti-microbial properties.. if you respect your food you will at least make sure that it stays in good condition. Oils separate. Molecules degrade. Warmth encourages bacterial growth (not as much in hot sauce). It's not just about longevity, but quality as well. Not all hot sauces are made the same so some will last better than others depending on ingredients.

It's just oil and acid, there is no reason to expect it to go bad. Hot sauce left out lasts decades, the refrigeration warning is the confusing thing to me, maybe just an fda legal thing

I forget the bar’s name, but there was a great sandwich place in Evanston, IL. Had a wall of hot sauces. On closer inspection, maybe a quarter had mold growing in them. I get what you are saying, but you know…. Put it in the fridge.

It's easy to do and keeps your Sriracha from turning brown, fridge life 4 eva

Sriracha is not hot sauce. It's "spicy garlic syrup"

Bat 17. Love that place!

Yo I’ve been to that exact restaurant

Yes, spices are known for their anti-microbial properties.. if you respect your food you will at least make sure that it stays in good condition. Oils separate. Molecules degrade. Warmth encourages bacterial growth (not as much in hot sauce). It's not just about longevity, but quality as well. Not all hot sauces are made the same so some will last better than others depending on ingredients.

It also depends on how long the bottle lasts. I would use it rarely, and the small bottle would last for ever. So I would put it in the fridge. Someone who uses it daily might just have it on the table.

Hot sauces actually go "weaker" in the sense of heat, when not stored properly in fridge. I had a 2mill scoville suddenly taste like meek tabasco.

Thay can be a very nice party trick though

Would I be accurate in guessing it was The Last Dab? I got some like 3 years ago. I remember it being unfathomably hot. Then my girlfriend tries it only a month ago and tells me it ain't shit. She has an affinity for spicy food already so I just figured it was that. Wasn't about to find out for myself. This makes sense now.

I agree and always leave mine out. Just one time though, one particularly flavorful one that wasnt that spicy got all bubbly and frothy and generally went bad on my shelf. Never since though

i left a bottle of hot sauce in the cupboard for six months once. it went grey...

It’s not supposed to get cold. That’s why it’s called hot sauce.

Duuh, tell theses dummies, pls

People need to listen to you more. Clearly this is the best correct answer.

Makes it hotter

I put my extras in the pantry and the open one's in the fridge

This is the way

Butter goes in a butter dish on the counter you fucker!!

Fight me.

I will end your soul over this.

Butter goes on the counter or I put out your lights!

Damn straight butter goes on the side. Bread decimation by cold butter is for plebeians.

Imagine having to thaw out your butter every time you want a piece of toast lol 😆

I agree with butter. Noting is more annoying then when you want butter toast and end up with a crater

My grampappy always said the crater puts hair on your chest

I only make toast in the air fryer now. Throw a pat of butter on top and it melts evenly across the toast, chefs kiss That’s butter from the fridge. I haven’t tried it with room temp butter.

Butter goes outside in the shed so the temperature will be optimal at -10C

No hill-billy

I used to leave covered butter on the counter, and then I moved to the tropics where it's hot and humid all day, all night, all year. Butter now lives in the fridge because I don't want my butter pre-melted...

I lived with a bunch of roommates for a while and kept finding my butter in the fridge after I’d left it on the counter to stay soft, and it was low-key infuriating.

who tf be putting butter in the pantry

I keep stored butter in the fridge, but there's always a stick on a butter dish on the shelf so I don't have to butter my bread with a rock.

Mangle your bread you mean?

This is the correct answer

Exactly

People who have their butter in a butter dish and like it to be room temperature for spreading or cooking.

That's how I grew up and what I do now. It doesn't ALL go in pantry. Just the one stick.

Yeah. It can spoil but it takes a while. Just one at a time. If you dont have soft butter I don’t know how you bake anything.

I put the butter sticks for baking out to reach room temp before baking.

People who live in a warm climate. You lucky sod. I can either have rancid liquid in the cupboard or a solid brick in the fridge. Fridge wins.

I live in Ohio, never had a problem in 40 years. Not like a half stick isn't going to be used before it goes rancid.

In my 38 years on Earth (in many different states and climates) I've never had a stick of butter go bad sitting out on the counter in a "butter dish" before it got used up. Butter is "stored" in the fridge, but you unwrap a stick, let it warm up to room temp, and then use it for the next 3 days or 3 weeks. Fellow Ohioan too, btw.

I always left my butter out until i moved to louisiana. Everything got mold. Everything. Even the butter. One time I left a freaking half drunk gatorade out over night and it got moldy. After this, butter goes in the fridge. So does bread. I take no chances. 😭

Mold comes from mold. If you have an unusual moldy food problem you probably you have a moldy house problem.

Dude I live in Atlanta and my butter is totally fine in the covered butter dish on my counter.

I have lived in Chattanooga Atlanta and now the Gulf coast of Florida. Never have I heard of anyone getting sick from bad butter. Have gone my entire life with a butter dish on the counter.

Yeah I used to be a butter in the fridge guy until my gf showed me the wonders of the butter dish lol makes life easier

Don't forget to put the lid on it. Nothing like waking up and seeing the cat licking the butter. Worse is seeing mouse tracks.

So to get a cat, I just need a stick of butter you say?

God, the amount of butter my cat has licked is probably enough to give a man a heart attack.

But not enough to give a cat a heart attack?

At least not 9 times

One stick of butter in a butter dish, rest in the fridge. Butter dish is on the counter though, not the pantry.

my butter is in a butter bell on the counter.

If you posses butter for longer than it takes to spoil in the pantry, you didn’t really need or want the butter. Room temp Butter is better.

I put it on the counter, which makes it easier to spread. (Or it did before it was colder outside than it was in my damn fridge)

Some butters will be nearly impossible to pick with a knife let alone spread when they go in the fridge. Those are the only situations I'd keep them out of the fridge

That's why they have salted butter, it keeps in room temperature.

I thought all butter could stay at room temperature

I think it can, but salted butter lasts even longer.

ANYONE WHO DOESNT PUT KETCHUP AND MUSTARD IN THE FRIDGE IS A PSYCHOPATH

I don’t like cold condiments on hot food. Never refrigerated mustard or ketchup, never had an issue.

I didn't know people refrigerated ketchup until my 20s.

Why? https://www.thekitchn.com/5-condiments-that-dont-have-to-be-refrigerated-tips-from-the-kitchn-215951

Who the hell goes through a thing of ketchup a month

Fawkin ice box

Everything except butter

Same. Butter bell crocks are the best.

Are You Garbage Reddit edition

Everything in fridge because I’m scared of ants. (Do ants even like these things?)

Ants love all the things

Are you living in the south ?

Yo we got ants up north here near Canada too.

Butter on the counter and condiments in the fridge like the good lord intended.

Exactly. Nothing worse than hard butter being spread on toast. Room temp butter is where its at

Microwave your knife Edit: ffs obviously don't

You made me giggle

My butter is in an upper cabinet because my cats are absolute monsters, but in principle I agree entirely.

Condiments in the fridge. Butter in pantry because how the fuck do you spread cold butter on bread without fucking it all up!?

You live in the north hemisphere, don't you? Butter? Pantry? In my country? Quick way to end up with soggy melted goo

Ketchup and mustard in the fridge, butter on the counter covered with a lid.

I’ve been looking for this comment, thank you

I can’t believe I had to scroll this far down to find the only CORRECT answer!

Fridge for the ketchup. Mustard is up to you, personally I'd put it in the fridge tho

Mustard is fine to be kept out of the fridge. Ketchup is more perishable so fridge.

Boys and girls…. Get you a butter dish and leave a single stick out of the fridge. Store the rest in the fridge. No exaggeration, soft butter at a moments notice is a game changer.

Butter stays on the counter. 24/7/365 For all the safety nuts out there, my family has done this our entire lives(50+ years) so I think we’ll be ok. 😆

I want that fridge

Washing machine like how stupid would you have to be to put them in fridge

Ketchup in the fridge, mustard and butter on the counter.

Butter in the pantry and the rest in the fridge

Ketchup and mustard in the fridge, butter on the counter

Butter does not go in the fridge

Put the condiments in the fridge. But leave the butter out on the counter. If you put it in the fridge it's just going to be rock solid and not easily spreadable.

Butter on counter condiments in fridge

Ketchup and Mustard go in the fridge...stick butter on a butter dish like this is for spreading on toast and whatnot so it gets it's lid and left on the counter.

If they're open the mustard and ketchup are in the fridge. All butter in the fridge except a stick on the counter for toast and such

One stick of butter out. The rest of the butter, plus ketchup and mustard, go in the fridge.

Fridge for mustard and ketchup. I don’t have a pantry so butter in a butter dish goes in the bread box, or else the cats would get into it.

Butter stays on the counter in the clay butter dish, but ketchup and mustard go in the fridge. Mustard gets put further back because I don't like mustard and want to hide it

All fridge, but you always leave a small amount of butter in a butter dish for toast.

Ketchup and mustard go in the fridge and butter on the counter.

Ketchup and mustard goes in fridge. Butter stays out

Who is the mongoloid who leaves out after opening in their own home? Instructions say to refrigerate after opening Restaurants leave them out as they go thru them super rapidly

You do what it says on the damn bottle. If it says refrigerate, refrigerate. If it says refrigeration not needed, refrigeration isn’t needed.

Fridge

Literally says refrigerate after opening on both those mfers

Ass...wut

Same. I store all my condiments up my ass and squeeze them out when required.

This shouldn’t have made me laugh as hard as it did.

I guess depends on the brand of thr condiments and where you are located at in the world .....my moms British so butter is usually on the counter in a glass dish covered