The butter is an essential product for numerous sweet and savory recipes: indispensable in the preparation of many desserts (from biscuits to tart, from the grandmother’s donut to puff pastry), it is also used to stir in risotto, to make vegetable soups more creamy or simply to accompany toasted bread.
However, if you do not make frequently use of this product or if you live at home alone, the butter is likely to end up in the garbage basket. It is in fact a perishable product that has a rather short expiry date.
Furthermore, it may happen that butter molds or goes badly even before time, if the package is open or if it is not preserved correctly.
How can we prevent this from happening and keep the properties of this food unchanged for long periods of time? The solution is to freeze it: frozen butter can be kept in the freezer of up to three or four months – a significant elongation of the “life expectancy” of our dough that can save us money avoiding waste.
When we buy a loaf of butter (at the supermarket we find different pewing ranging from 100 grams and 250 grams), we can choose to freeze the portion that we do not need for our recipe or an aperitif.
We can freeze the butter as it is, within its original paper package – as long as it is not damaged. However, our advice is to reduce the remaining dough in smaller portions, all with the same weight (for example, 50 grams), in order to defrost only what is needed.
The defrosted butter, as indeed any food extracted from the freezer, must be consumed in a very short time and cannot be recalled, if not after cooking.
Once the portions are made, we wrap them in parchment paper sheets, in order to keep them separate from each other. Finally, we arrange all the mini-small within a glass container suitable for the conservation of foods in the freezer.
The game is done: when we need a little butter, we will have to do nothing but bring out of the freezer the necessary quantity a few hours before use and let it defrost in the refrigerator.
Which butter freezes better?
Not all types of butter freeze in the same way. Clarified butter or salty butter, for example, tend to preserve their consistency and flavor better than the normal one, especially if intended for cooking. The low -fat butter, on the other hand, can undergo alterations in the consistency once thawed.
How to defrost the butter quickly (without ruining it)
If you don’t have time to make it thaw in the fridge, you can:
How to understand if the butter went bad?
Even if frozen, the butter can spray if it is not preserved correctly. The main signs to keep an eye on are an unpleasant, pungent or acidic smell that recalls that of cheese, a change of color (the butter tends to darken or take a brownish nuance) and a bitter or rancid taste. If you notice one or more of these signals, it is better not to risk and throw the butter away.
An extra anti-pier trick?
If you have butter close to expiry and you cannot consume it in time, you can transform it into flavored butter by adding ingredients such as fresh herbs, chopped garlic, lemon zest or spices to taste. Once mixed everything, divide it into small ice molds and freezes: you will get ready-to-use mini-referections, perfect for cooking or quickly flavoring any dish.
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