New Whey of Thinking

Room temperature evangelist Joelle Mertzel (WSJ)

Growing up in Hawaii, I always put perishables in the refrigerator. Food spoils rapidly in tropical weather, and dairies especially turn rancid. It was maybe 20 years after moving to the Mainland that I took the chance of leaving food out overnight. Soups and rice would keep 1-2 days, and butter could last a week during the winter.

Butter lover Joelle Mertzel is petitioning the government to declare that it is safe to store butter at room temperature for up to three weeks.

Ms. Mertzel said she came to her epiphany one morning about 14 years ago. She had forgotten to put away the butter the night before and at breakfast discovered how easy it was to spread. “My life changed in so many ways at that moment,” she said.

She has since written a children’s book, “Change Your Life for the Butter,” and developed a line of countertop holders with flip-top lids that keep clear of the softened butter inside. Traditional butter dishes, she said, “are a train wreck. The lid gets all gross.”

Food-safety scientists say butter usually doesn’t require constant cold. Butter made from pasteurized cream is safe to store at room temperature for a stretch because of its high fat content and low moisture, among other reasons. Salted butter tends to stay fresh longer.

Yet getting a definitive answer from the government’s butter bureaucracy has been a slippery endeavor. Ms. Mertzel this year petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to issue official guidance that butter could be safely kept out of the refrigerator at room temperature for three weeks.

Chefs and connoisseurs come down on both sides of the issue; some prefer the taste of cold, hard butter, while others like the easy spreadability over toast and pancakes.

I wish Ms. Mertzel well on her quixotic quest to convert the FDA. In the meantime I'll continue to adapt my behavior to the environment, i.e., leaving butter out in Northern California and putting it away in Hawaii.