Hey EFers! Just curious if Swiss Butter "Die Butter" can mould? Or maybe more... why doesn't it mould???
Maybe a strange question but we bought a few boxes of butter when it was on sale at Coop around Christmas time and it is still perfect and fresh like the day we bought it. I find that really odd because I remember when I was a child living in Canada... had we left the butter on the counter for more than a few days, it would run away with fur and all... Was butter in the 80s not pasturized? does raw butter mould and pasturized not? I dunno... just something I've been wondering about. Thanks

Have you left this butter out on the counter or has it been kept in the fridge? Because in the fridge pasturised butter should be able to last a good few months.

In Canada when I was a child in the 80s... if we kept it in the fridge, it wouldn't mould but on the counter it would after a few days. Here in Switzerland we keep it in the fridge but when I do leave it out on the counter (even if it is for a week) the butter is just soft and I can't see an mould... that's why I'm wondering what the difference is.

I don't think you will find an answer to your observation given that the only inputs we have are Canada, Switzerland, Butter and Mould.

It depends on what type of butter it is, ambiant temprature, humidity, contamination from usage (bread crumbs in the butter) etc etc

That's because your brothers and sisters were licking all the jam off the knife before plunging it back into the butter.

Haha, I am an only child *oops* How the heck would I know what kind of butter my parents bought when I was a child?! Just normal butter, I guess with salt. My curiosity has more to do with if unpasturized butter moulds and pasturized maybe doesn't... But I've never seen raw butter for sale here in Switzerland. I guess I'll have to make my own and find out LOL

I've never actually seen butter go moldy being left out, but have heard of it. Apparently salted butter is less prone.

Used to have what was called a "french butter dish"**, which is a sort of small crock, with a lid, and in the lid is a reservoir in which you pack your butter. In the crock goes water. When you set the lid on the crock, the water makes a seal around the butter. This is left on the table. The idea is the butter remains at room temperature making it easy to spread, the water keeps the butter from oxidizing, which would turn it rancid. Worked great- wish I still had it (disappeared in a move).

**Have asked numerous French and Swiss and none have ever heard of such a thing.

Not 100% sure about this one, but when making butter, the "milk" is pasturised removing all micro-organismes.

Each micro-organism has its own minimum water activity (aw) value below which, growth is no longer possible (growth is no longer possible but this doesn’t mean that the micro-organisms are not present). Under 0.5aw no micro-organismes can grow! One way to reduce the water activity is to add a humectant: one of the best know humectants is SALT!

The water activity in butter is pretty low (ever thought the moisture content is pretty high). The usage of salt helps preserve the butter.

So yes, butter can rot/mold! As The_Love_Doctor wrote it is usually the alien products in your butter that will mold, as their water activity will be much higher than the 0.5aw and this will help micro-organismes grow.

A small application note attached could help understand a bit more, the first 2 pages are pretty interesting (I'm not trying to sell anything here, just hand out some information)

Oh wow cool! Thanks guys... my husband also suggested it could be the fat content in the butter as well... or possibly our butter had other additives (like you guys mentioned) it just made me wonder why it doesn't mould now and used to bark after a week when I was a child

Butter is made from cream, not milk, and it is not necessarily pasteurized.

Tom

Dear Mud, found this butter crock on a german site which I think might be what you're looking for! They have it in two sizes and several colours, quite tempted to get one myself as I remember them from my childhood in Ireland.
http://www.porzellantreff.de/en/aff/...c&currency=GBP

A

Hey that's it! I'll hold off on getting a new one for a little while though- I remember my butter intake went up drastically during the time I had mine .

It'll probably have that effect on mine, but I can't stand margarine!

Think I'll get a small one though as leaving butter out during the summer results in a puddle of oil in a dish by the end of the day....