We love butter almost as much as Paula Deen does . And its irksome when refrigerated butter is too hard to spread smoothly over toast, or melt into a cup of morning coffee (yes, you read that correctly). Which summons an important question:

Should you refrigerate butter, or can you leave it out on the counter in a butter dish?

The simple answer is yes, most butter survives just fine without refrigeration. But any longer than a week on the countertop or any warmer than 70 degrees Fahrenheit could put it in a danger zone.