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I'm happy to have written proof that butter will not spoiled if left unrefrigerated. I think my husband believes that's one of my old-world delusions.

It didn't say that butter does not spoil. It does, but it does not turn rancid overnight. If you leave it out long enough, though, it *will* go rancid, and some people will be able to taste it. (Not everyone seems to be able to, though, which I find odd. Rancid butter is really strong tasting, to me.)

I don't suppose anyone *keeps* butter permanently unrefrigerated? I assumed this just referred to those instances when it stays out on the counter for a while.

Growing up, everyone I knew kept their butter out on the counter permanently, because it's too hard to spread when refrigerated. I still do, but only a small amount, so I go through it quickly enough that it won't spoil.

I keep one stick of butter out at all times so it stays soft for toast. We always did that growing up too, except when it gets really hot in summer. We use it quickly enough so it doesn't get rancid. And we keep the rest of the box in the fridge.

My mom always kept a stick of butter in a cabinet in a butter dish! It never went bad! Today, for myself, I use a butter bell! They are awesome! Water gives it a air tight seal! It's just enough, about 2 oz. worth. Then you just refill it! But be sure to clean it well, or it will turn the new batch rancid!

What, I always have my butter out on the counter! Never gotten sick.

Well, I'm another one who stores her butter out on the counter in a covered dome/dish. It only holds maybe 1-1.5 sticks max, so it doesn't last very long (this is Wisconsin, we use a lot of butter! haha). I give the dish a good wash every week - the only time we put it in the fridge is when it's super-hot in the house.

Oh dear, I have relied on that potato one.

Alton Brown debunked the mushroom myth. He soaked them for varying lengths of time, and none picked up much water at all. It's on youtube on likethehat's channel.

I never heard of the potato and salt one but I also attribute the mushroom myth to Alton Brown.

As for the first myth (about shortening), I always find it amusing when this site has posts that say things like "Did you know there are other ways to make pastry flaky than shortening??", and other wide-eyed revelations about shortening alternatives. Tins of thick, hydrogenated vegetable oil is just an American thing, guys! I know it's hard to believe, but cultures that make GREAT pastry like the French or Vietnamese don't use Crisco.

I just looked on the wiki for Crisco and saw that it was originally invented as a cheap substitue for tallow in candles, but "electricity began to diminish the candle market, and since the product looked like lard, they began selling it as a food." Do you really want to put something in your body that became a marketed food product because it *looks* like food?

I was happy to see that baking soda lasts forever since I have a box of an undetermined age in my pantry that gets used occasionally. The only sort of surprise was about the potatoes not actually being a good method to get salt out of liquids. That's something I had heard all my life and while I'd never actually tried it, it just seemed to make sense to me somehow. And I am another one who keeps her butter on the counter at all times and have never once had it go bad.

i just pulled a can of baking powder out of the pantry that said "Best By Feb. 2005" and put some in a glass of water- it bubbled!

i used to think, as a young child, that adding pepper would cancel out oversalting. then i'd taste too much pepper and add more salt. (vicious circle begins!)

then in school i learned about ph and killed salt's alkalinity with acids :)

crisco may work but i won't use it. well spotted, rosiegreenie!

i have and will always have butter in a dish on the counter. box in the freezer, one stick in the fridge, and one in a dish.

I keep a stick of butter out on the counter at all times. (I do this all year 'round, but my kitchen is chilly enough right now that even now the butter's not spreadable on a room-temp piece of bread. I'm not sure whether to be amused or horrified by this.)

And my husband, sober for 18 years, refuses to eat anything with alcohol in it. It means that I can only make my favorite pasta--penne a la vodka--when I cook for a girls-only dinner, but it's so unhealthy that once a year is about how often I should eat it.

But the thing about the baking powder having a shelf life--well, I'll test mine tomorrow. I have no idea how old it is.

My dad has always kept butter on the counter (in the cupboard actually) and grew up that way on a farm. It never went bad, and we never got sick. It's not like it ever sat around uneaten for months, though!