Why unsalted butter?

[Janedujour]

I know I know, one has salt, the other doesn't!

I mean in cooking, sauces, baking. Is there a real difference in the finished product between say, using unsalted butter, then later adding salt to dry ingredients, or using salted butter, then later not adding additional salt?

I love using unsalted butter on my bread, but have often wondered if there's really a difference when cooking.

P.S. I am working on a project that may turn into a business and I may need some guinea pigs in the future for taste-testing. I'll keep you posted!

Jane

[Dave the Cook]

The difference is that with unsalted butter, you know how much salt you're using.

[Squeat Mungry]

I have heard that salt can mask some of the off tastes of, um, less-than-fresh butter.

I actually prefer salted butter on my bread, but I always buy unsalted and just salt it myself.

[Suzanne F]

We were just talking about this the other day in relation to making hollandaise.

In addition to what DtheC says, salted butter can sometimes be of inferior quality and less-than-up-to-the-minute freshness. The salt flavor covers a multitude of sins.

[Janedujour]

Dave, is that the only difference? I usually don't measure salt anyway (except for baking of course). I use the old palm method most often and taste as I go.

[Janedujour]

We were just talking about this the other day in relation to making hollandaise.

In addition to what DtheC says, salted butter can sometimes be of inferior quality and less-than-up-to-the-minute freshness. The salt flavor covers a multitude of sins.

OK, yes that makes sense:masking a multitude of sins.

Our wonderful food manufacturers!

Thanks for the tips

[SobaAddict70]

You definitely don't want to use salted butter in place of unsalted butter. For one thing, there's the flavor profile. Although unsalted butter has a shelf life of up to three months vs. salted butter, which has a shelf life of up to five months, the salt in the latter tends to mask flavors and overpower the sweet flavor of the butter. The amount of salt varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, so its not quite as simple as not adding additional salt -- you might have to ADD additional salt. Best to use unsalted butter in any event, since you'll be able to control the amount of salt added to the final product.

Freshness is another factor. Salted butter tends to not be as fresh as unsalted due to its longer shelf life. As time goes on, it tends to develop "off" flavors from absorption of everything from its packaging to the contents of your refrigerator. Ultimately, whether or not your butter has oxidized (grown stale) will determine the taste of your final product.

The water content is a third factor. Salted butter tends to have a markedly higher water content (which will produce a corresponding product in a sauce) than unsalted butter.

HTH,

Soba

[Janedujour]

Thanks Soba for your vast knowledge!

I'm ashamed to say that all of that is news to me, especially the added water content, and I grew up in Wisconsin:The Dairy State!

[edsel]

I usually cook with unsalted butter for the aforementioned reasons (I control the saltiness, unsalted is likely to be fresher, no salt in the butter to mask any "off" flavors). Even when using butter as a spread I prefer unsalted sprinkled with a tiny bit of coarse-grained fleur-de-sel. Crunchy!

In Jeffrey Steingarten's It Must Have Been Something I Ate there's a chapter on Alain Passard's conversion of Arpege (how do I do the missing accent thingy?) to a mostly vegetarian cuisine. Passard repeatedly talked about using salted butter in preparing his dishes. He didn't say "cook [vegetable X] in butter, he specifically said salted butter. I wonder why that seems so important to him. I should have asked Steingarten when he did his Q-and-A on egullet.

[Cusina]

Also, at least in the brand I purchase, organic valley, there is a higher butterfat content in the unsalted butter resulting in a creamier consistency.

I buy both, use the unsalted for cooking but prefer the salted for toast, scones etc... I think it is just a matter of being used to the taste of the salted.

edit for spelling... have to get in the habit of using iSpell more often and to say duh me... higher water content and lower butterfat are exactly the same thing, so I'm just agreeing with soba. Sorry!

Edited January 30, 2004 by Cusina (log)

[Katherine]

Salt acts as a preservative, so for two butters of the same age, likely the salted is fresher. This has been my experience buying butter in supermarkets, which is the only source available to me locally.

[Jeffy Boy]

Although unsalted butter has a shelf life of up to three months vs. salted butter, which has a shelf life of up to five months

So would this explain why, at the grocery store near us they keep the unsalted butter in the freezer section, and the salted butter in the refridgerator section? I imagine their turnover of salted butter is quicker.

[SobaAddict70]

Although unsalted butter has a shelf life of up to three months vs. salted butter, which has a shelf life of up to five months

So would this explain why, at the grocery store near us they keep the unsalted butter in the freezer section, and the salted butter in the refridgerator section? I imagine their turnover of salted butter is quicker.

Right, because it contains no salt (which acts as a preservative), unsalted butter is more perishable than salted butter and is therefore stored in the freezer section of some markets.

I should point out that any package that is labelled "sweet cream butter" may actually contain salted butter. Unsalted butter is exactly that, butter made without the addition of salt.

Soba

[mamster]

There are also butters that are technically salted, but much less so than supermarket butter; the one that comes to mind is Vermont Butter & Cheese. You can taste the salt, but no so much so that fleur de sel would be inappropriate on top when you butter your bread.

Packaging has a lot to do with keeping butter fresh-tasting. Foil or impermeable plastic wrap is good.

[Eric_Malson]

I mean in cooking, sauces, baking. Is there a real difference in the finished product between say, using unsalted butter, then later adding salt to dry ingredients, or using salted butter, then later not adding additional salt?

I love using unsalted butter on my bread, but have often wondered if there's really a difference when cooking.

Have you ever eaten a cake made with salted butter?

There's a helluva lot of salt in a stick of salted butter.

[Suzanne F]

But isn't there a version of caramel made with salt butter that's supposed to be dynamite?

[ExtraMSG]

Just to emphasize a couple things mentioned with my own experience: salted butter seems to move off the grocery store shelf much quicker than unsalted butter. So my experience is that salted butter is actually fresher, doubly fresher because it has preservatives that keep it fresh.

Technically, I think you get more for your money from unsalted butter because weight and volume isn't taken up with salt. But I buy salted butter about 2 to 1 just for convenience and use unsalted only in baking.

It's much nicer having salted butter for things like toast and english muffins. Actually, it's one of my pet peeves at restaurants because they so often use good quality, but unsalted butter, for the table, meaning that I need to salt my bread and butter.

[Jon Tseng]

Unsalted butter tastes like butter, salted butter tastes of salt.

Definitely in the unsalted camp!

J

[Katherine]

I mean in cooking, sauces, baking. Is there a real difference in the finished product between say, using unsalted butter, then later adding salt to dry ingredients, or using salted butter, then later not adding additional salt?

I love using unsalted butter on my bread, but have often wondered if there's really a difference when cooking.

Have you ever eaten a cake made with salted butter?

There's a helluva lot of salt in a stick of salted butter.

Actually, American baked goods, pastry included, have traditionally been made with salted butter, and then the recipe called for adding even more. So I seriously doubt there is anyone reading this who has never had a cake, cookie, or brownie that was made with salted butter.

There's no place in European-style cakes for salted butter, especially in buttercream.

It's much nicer having salted butter for things like toast and english muffins.  Actually, it's one of my pet peeves at restaurants because they so often use good quality, but unsalted butter, for the table, meaning that I need to salt my bread and butter.

Yes, yes, yes. I know that salted butter doesn't have as much salt as it used to, and I think they've cut back on the salt in English muffins, too, which means that they're totally blah unless you salt them.

Actually, my favorite table butter is made at home from glass-bottled cream, and I can control the salt exactly (grind kosher to a powder first).

[NulloModo]

Hiya,

I have seen numerous references lately to unsalted butter supposedly being 'better' than salted to keep around. Is there a reason for this? I could see perhaps if you wanted to cook something where there would not be any salt added at all, but then again, even in dessert items there is usually a little salt added, so why not just use salted butter and omit the extra salt?

Is salted butter anything other than simple unsalted butter with a little salt thrown in?

[FistFullaRoux]

First, it allows you to control the amount of salt you are adding. Secondly, unsalted butter is usually fresher. The salt acts as a preservative.

[Basilgirl]

It is my understanding that salted butter may be a little "off" and that the salt helps mask any off flavors and that unsalted is more "pure."

Also, unsalted butter makes it easier for you to control the salt level of the dish or cookie or whatever.

[Mr. Blister]

In addition, no two butters a re salted alike.

[lala]

I won't venture as to all salted butter being old, but salted butter usually tastes funky to me - if it's served with bread, I'll ask for olive oil instead.

And since I generally cook low salt anyway, I use unsalted, to control the salt level better.

[M. Lucia]

I always keep unsalted butter in the fridge because I can add salt if I want to but if something calls for unsalted I have it on hand. I am a big fan of unsalted because I think it tastes sweeter and fresher. Here is the test that convinved me:

Have on hand salted and unsalted butter. Take 2 slices of bread and butter each slice with one type of butter. Sprinkle the tiniest bit of salt on the unsalted piece. Do a taste test.

It's even better if you have high quality unsalted and a bit of fleur de sel.