Butter..

[Farr Away]

A lot of things say "refrigerate after opening" that don't really need to be.

[safn1949]

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/powderedbuttercan.aspx

Powdered butter,I know it will last quite a while in a ziplock,as in months.It tends to clump when you open the can but it's no big deal.Just mix whith water and use.

It will not keep once mixed on the trail but will keep dry.

[vonfrick]

my mom also never puts the butter in the frig and i grew up in philly...

i'm sick of spending the money at minimus on olive oil packets bc last year they were a little oxidized and tasted bitter

i am planning to freeze pound blocks of butter, cut off slabs and vac-seal my own packets. as i do with the olive oil, i'll keep them segregated in their own ziploc in case one busts open (as always happens with the oils)

looking forward to real butter this summer

[Compass]

When you use a saturated fat like butter the "grease" will stick to your pot and be harder/messier to clean up than a nonsaturated fat like olive oil. Cold spring water just will not wash it out even with soap/detergent.

Below 20*F even extra virgin olive oil will be nearly solid but is still easy to clean up. Good light calories.

[kanga]

that is a great point!

[oldbear]

The real disadvantage of packing and using whole butter is that butter has a nasty habit of picking up and converting funky odors into funky flavors ....it also has a tendency to get a little messy.
However from a Food Service Sanitation POV butter is not a potentially hazardous food.
A good alternative to carrying whole butter is to carry clarified butter aka ghee
To make it;
Place the butter in a pot heavy bottomed pot that is 2x-3x the volume of your butter Have a 6-8 oz ladle available and a container to immediatley but your hot clarified butter in
Bring your butter up to a slow boil and leave it there
Initially you will see a big foamy mess of boiling butter that will try to climb up and out out of the pot -which is why you use a pot that is 2x-3x.
In time miot of the foaminess will subside
Be alert and be ready with your ladle.
What will happen next is hard to describe But if you can visually what it looks like when you're flying in a heavy storm ande you finally break -out of the clouds and can clearly see the ground below, that's what your butter will look like.
When that happens
Immediatley turn off your heat and using your ladle, quickly and gently remove your clarified butter .
Do not touch or otherwise disturb the still cooking milk solids on the bottom of your pot
16 oz of whole butter should give you 12-13 oz clarified butter

[Danielsen]

Ghee's a good alternative, coconut oil too.

I'd avoid any packaged wunder-alternatives made from hydrogenated vegetable oils and the like. Cold-pressed monounsaturates like olive oil, animal-derived saturates like lard, tallow, butter or ghee (obviously the first two aren't terribly appetizing) and plant-derived true saturates like coconut oil are the most nutritious and least likely to actually cause you any heart issues.