I left my 8 sticks of butter out on the counter and forgot about them. They were out for 2 days (went away). Are they still good?

Can anyone help me with this one? Thanks!!!

Actually they should be fine. A lot of people don't refrigerate their butter. It's in the butter keeper on the table.

Are they real butter? I would say they are probably fine. Half my family leaves there butter out in a butter dish so it is soft enough to spread and stuff...they have done this all my life and no one has even gotten sick from it. But that is only speaking from personal experience not science and I am sure there will be lots of people who will tell you to throw it out. You might also just use it in cakes...or in cooked items then you wouldn't have to worry about it. I honestly would just use it in anything and not worry about it but that is just me

Awesome...thanks all!!!!

I agree- my husband uses real butter and doesn't refrigerate it. We have never gotten sick from it, and it tastes fine.

The best way to tell is by smell. Spoiled butter smells bad, rancid. You'd recognize it if you ever smell it once.

I agree with the PPs. My in-laws keep their butter in a butter dish on the kitchen windowsill in one house and in their other house it's on the counter, so sometimes it's in a cool breeze and other times not (also depends on the time of year, weather, etc.). Either way no one has ever gotten sick from this. I'd say you're okay.

My grandmother never refrigerated butter and she lived 'til she was 93! Me, I'm paranoid if the butter is out for two hours that someone's gonna get deathly ill... Silly, huh?

I am on the oposite side on this one. I would toss it.

All fats go rancid eventually. The smell and the taste will tell you . 2 days no its not spoiled.

I think they're fine to use. Our butter is always out and it's longer than 2 days.

Today I was watching a kitchen gadget show and they now have a special made butter dish that they said keeps the butter at 65 degrees F. They said it keeps the butter soft enough to spread, yet cold enough so it will last a long time. The container was big enough for 2 sticks of butter. That being said, I would think that butter could stay out for awhile and be okay except for in extreme heat conditions. Like everyone else said, I would taste and smell it and see what you think.

I just spent about half an hour researching this at the FDA site and the foodsafety.gov site. So here's what I've found out:

At room temperature of 78 degrees fahrenheit or less, butter (salted or unsalted) is considered safe unrefrigerated for at least 7 days IF (and only if) the surface of the butter is not exposed to the open air. Whether this be still wrapped in its waxed paper wrappers, or in a european-style butter crock (the upside-down cup thingy where the butter's surface is actually submerged under water).

Hope that helps!