My baking group chat is abuzz: Dairy production is down, milk prices are up and it looks like there may be a butter shortage looming on the horizon. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) backs up the whispers, stating in its weekly "Dairy Market News at a Glance" newsletter that "in the Northeast and West, butter inventories are tight." It's disconcerting news given that holiday baking season doesn't really begin in earnest for another month.
However, I'm here with some good news: Butter lasts a long time in the refrigerator. It lasts an even longer time when properly stored in the freezer. Now, the word "properly" is doing a lot of work in that last sentence. No one wants to make gingerbread cookies with freezer-burned butter. But no worries — here's a guide for how to best store your butter for later use and make sure it tastes the same as the day you bought it.
