Salted vs. unsalted Butter

[lindag]

I've been buying my butter from Costco for many years, always unsalted for baking.

Recently I had a revelation!  I was low on butter so I picked up some Land-o-Lakes and added a cube to my butter dish.

I was stunned when I spread some on my toasted bagel, it was SO GOOD!

I never new there was such a difference.  I'll continue using Kirkland butter but now I'll buy both types; one for cooking and one for spreading.

[heidih]

I was taught to use unsalted for baking.  Several years ago I randomly decided to just use salted. I generally only bake in quantity for holiday gifting and don't use much butter in my cooking. I don't butter my toast so I can't comment on that. Perhaps my palate is not very finely tuned but in baking I've noticed no difference and the reviews from regular giftees have been more effusive than before. I'll add that my recipes are loose rather than to the decimal point weighed.

[rotuts]

I buy unsalted;

 

its easy to add my own salt or not.

 

I used to get supermarket brands 

 

now I get ' premium '  bands

 

Land o lakes ,  Challenge 

 

when on sale , and vac and freeze.

 

open the vac bag , take out one stick

 

reseal the same bag , back into the freezer.

 

unsalted.

 

some time ago I I got  KerryGold ,  etc

 

but I dont taste a big diff.

 

and KG etc is over priced.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I started using unsalted (sweet) butter roughly when our son left for school.   He came home and commented, 'I leave home and you start using margarine?" 

We have since switched back to using, including cooking, salted butter.   If you cook by recipe, I suppose you would need to change salt quantities, but if you cook by taste, there is no problem.  

 

Currently, I really like Irish and Finnish butters that we buy at Grocery Outlet.    $3.99/8oz.    Higher fat content, I believe.   

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I should add/confess, I have a heavy hand using butter in cooking.    A healthy splat in sauces and soups = magic, the difference between good and really GOOD..

[Anna N]

29 minutes ago, lindag said:

Recently I had a revelation!  I was low on butter so I picked up some Land-o-Lakes and added a cube to my butter dish.

So I’m trying to figure out if this was Land O Lakes salted or unsalted butter. Are you comparing Kirkland to Land O Lakes or salted to unsalted?

[chromedome]

I've just always used salted for everything, because until very recently unsalted butter was hard to find where I live, and cost $1/lb more. I'm unabashedly a cheap bas  frugal, so that's what I went with.

 

In the current Food Network/food blogger/Instagram era unsalted butter is now equally available and equally priced, but I still only buy it occasionally.

[lindag]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

So I’m trying to figure out if this was Land O Lakes salted or unsalted butter. Are you comparing Kirkland to Land O Lakes or salted to unsalted?

The Land-o-Lakes was salted.  I was comparing salted to unsalted, my assumption was that both salted butters would taste the same but I haven't tried them side by side.

[AlaMoi]

table butter in Germany ( other European.?? - Nordic countries for sure....) is always unsalted.  having traveled overseas with many work colleagues, they were almost always  surprised/pleased at the taste of the butter served in 'Continental (hotel) breakfasts' - having been USA raised on salted butter.

 

that said, there a bit more to it.  broadly generalizing, European butters have more fat, less water than USDA Grade AA.

rather a lot / most of cows are free pasture during temperate months - their diet does impact the flavor of the cream and hence the butter.

 

debate and arguments on the topic abound.

 

I used to buy imported brands for special occasions - but have repeatedly experienced off flavors / lack of freshness / spoiled(?) products - so now for special occasions I fire up the stand mixer and make my own butter....  which is definitely known to be fresh....

 

two recent revelations/realizations..... 

Weis Market store brand eggs are not USDA graded,

Giant/Ahold brand butters are not USDA AA graded....

assumptions can be untasty....

 

 

[Katie Meadow]

Salted was what I grew up with, but when I left home I started using unsalted for just about everything. We usually have two types of butter, both unsalted: regular for baking, Irish for most other stuff. It's really pretty easy if you have a yen for toast with salted butter to simply sprinkle a little good salt on your toast.

[Kim Shook]

I have a peculiar situation as regards salted vs. unsalted.  I used and liked unsalted for years.  Within the last 5 or so years, I started noticing that unsalted butter was smelling "off" to me - just slightly rancid - even when it was fresh.  Neither Mr. Kim nor Jessica can smell it, so I'm wondering if it is connected to my Burning Mouth Syndrome.  I switched to salted and haven't had any problem with it since.  Lately, I'm starting to notice the same thing with sour cream and cream cheese.  ☹️

[weinoo]

Once I scored a line on le beurre bordier, it gets used pretty much exclusively (particularly like the demi sel), except for baking, where the expense would be crazy. For that, I can usually find Land o' or Cabot on sale. I've always baked with unsalted, but then I saw something somewhere, and decided it didn't matter as long as I adjusted the salt for the finished product.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

34 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

table butter in Germany ( other European.?? - Nordic countries for sure....) is always unsalted.  having traveled overseas with many work colleagues, they were almost always  surprised/pleased at the taste of the butter served in 'Continental (hotel) breakfasts' - having been USA raised on salted butter.

 

that said, there a bit more to it.  broadly generalizing, European butters have more fat, less water than USDA Grade AA.

rather a lot / most of cows are free pasture during temperate months - their diet does impact the flavor of the cream and hence the butter.

 

debate and arguments on the topic abound.

 

I used to buy imported brands for special occasions - but have repeatedly experienced off flavors / lack of freshness / spoiled(?) products - so now for special occasions I fire up the stand mixer and make my own butter....  which is definitely known to be fresh....

 

two recent revelations/realizations..... 

Weis Market store brand eggs are not USDA graded,

Giant/Ahold brand butters are not USDA AA graded....

assumptions can be untasty....

 

 

Both salted and unsalted butters are available in France, and the Finnish butter I am buying in the US is salted.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

Once I scored a line on le beurre bordier, it gets used pretty much exclusively (particularly like the demi sel), except for baking, where the expense would be crazy. For that, I can usually find Land o' or Cabot on sale. I've always baked with unsalted, but then I saw something somewhere, and decided it didn't matter as long as I adjusted the salt for the finished product.

 

Exactly.

[AlaMoi]

Both salted and unsalted butters are available  . . .

 

both are available pretty much anywhere. 

it's a question of what is put on the table, not what's available.

[MetsFan5]

I don’t bake so I always use salted butter. And sometimes and more butter and salt than needed. A nicely toasted English muffin heavily buttered with a sprinkling of sea salt is a thing of beauty. 

[liuzhou]

When I first moved  to China, butter, known in Chinese as 黄油 (huáng yóu, literally 'yellow fat') was impossible to find. Then it began to appear very occasionaly in obscure stores. Always salted. A few years ago, there was a very short lived fad for baking and then butter became more widely available but always unsalted. The salted stuff disappeared. Grrr!

 

Now, it's gone to both being available, albeit it absent in most stores and supermarkets and rip-off prices in the few places that carry it. Also, the stuff in my local supermarket has been sitting in those chill cabinets undisturbed for months!

I buy mine online.