>Yeah I know Michael, I was making a concession to my Westerner's taste.
>Besides, I don't keep rancid butter laying around my fridge...that's called
>unsanitary over here.
>
>(Wouldn't a person have to leave their butter OUT to get it to go rancid? I
>have no idea how to rancidify butter...)
>
>Melinda

Butter keeps an awfully long time if its salted, up to 6 months in a
fridge, 2 years in a freezer, and probably a month at most
unrefridgerated. You'd have to have a lot of butter laying around for
it to go rancid before the family uses it all. Growing up, we left the
butter out of the fridge in its covered dish, but a stick lasted at
most 2 weeks before we had used it. Imagine how much butter the
Tibetans must have lying around if they drink pots of it daily!

The butter at Makye Ame was not rancid, and the Tibetans working there
preferred to drink their Tibetan brandy over any butter tea they
served. After having some myself, and finding it a more delightful,
more fiery, less heavy version of kirschwasser, I can't blame them!