Butter, part II: Salted or unsalted?
Beccapie/Wikimedia Commons
We’re having a nice dialogue about butter, one of the most important ingredients in any kitchen, and I’d like to expand it by addressing a question recently posed by a blog reader: “I guess salt was originally added to butter for taste. Some recipes call for no salt butter. Some do not specify either. What difference does it make? Is there any ‘rule’ for when to use and when to not use either?”
My initial thought when I read this question was that the difference is only in the flavor. Salted butter obviously contains salt while unsalted butter does not. I’ve always heard that when baking, one should never use salted butter, and I assumed that was because you didn’t want too much salt flavor in the baked goods. But I buy salted butter as a general rule and use it in baked goods and have never experienced any negative effects.
Further research indicates that flavor is part of it, but not the whole story. Salt also acts as a preservative in butter, so the salted variety lasts longer in the refrigerator (about 5 months) while the unsalted kind only lasts about 3 months unless you store it in the freezer, which you can do for up to 6 months. Some say salted butter may not be as fresh because the salt masks any off taste. How can you tell that your butter is too old? If you cut it through the center and find that the outside is darker than the inside. This reportedly means it has oxidized.
Joyofbaking.com says you can use salted butter in baking recipes, but if you do, you should omit any salt called for in the recipe. If you think about it, though, under what circumstances would you cook anything and need to use salted butter – unless you happened to be out of salt? The only situation I can think of is when you are buttering toast or muffins for breakfast. It would be a little weird to sprinkle salt on your toast.
I’m thinking about changing my ways and only buying unsalted butter from now on. There’s no way it’s going to last as long as three months in my house anyway, and I can add salt to any recipe according to taste.
One final piece of advice in terms of whether to use salted or unsalted butter comes from the FAQs on the Land O Lakes’ website: “Unsalted butter gives recipes a uniquely delicate, cultured flavor (and, it is not necessary to add more salt to the recipe). When you are baking recipes where sweet cream is the main flavor – such as butter cookies and pound cakes – the sweet delicate flavor of unsalted butter will really come through.”
Now, that makes good sense to me.
July 7, 2011 - 6:51 AM
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Just for your consideration, from the 2009 Texas State Fair…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjQ3lx6bQXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB3WSqxA85w&feature=related
something new learned already! Its unsalted for me from now on!
win
I always buy the unsalted because that’s what most recipes call for, and I read somewhere that it’s fresher than unsalted.
For the most part I’ve always grabbed salted butter for my cooking and baking. But I’m kind of a salt fan and usually even keep the salt in the recipe when it’s called for along with the butter. My baked goods always turn out great and I love it when my chocolate chip cookies have a very faint almost savory flavor to them. (I’m a huge fan of anything salty/sweet). But I’ll keep that delicate flavor thing in mind next time I make a pound cake or butter cookies just to see how it turns out.
Butter only for me, I just use it sparingly. Question: Why do recipes call for unsalted butter then list salt as an ingredient? Isn’t unsalted butter more expensive than salted? Lindsey, great info above!
Hey Lindsey,
I use unsalted butter 95% of the time. We never have a problem with butter spoiling. When it comes to toast, English muffins, corn on the cob, etc., I prefer Irish butter, salted or unsalted. It just tastes better.
By the way, I did not chime in yesterday on the butter vs. margarine question.
People still use margarine??
Abdnva, I can’t get those videos to play at the moment but I’ll check back later.
Carol, that’s a good question. I have yet to see any evidence that unsalted butter and salted butter turn out different results when baking, other than that Land O Lakes suggestion. It does seem odd, doesn’t it?
I’m like Bailie, I have never had a problem with using salted butter and salt in baked goods, and I do like the touch of saltiness in sweets.
I think this might warrant a call to one of my expert baking sources. I shall report back.
I used to buy only salted butter, but in the last few years, I switched to unsalted. For one thing, I want to be able to control the amount of salt in our food because my husband has hypertension. Another reason is that since cutting back on the salt, we’ve found that the true taste of the food is more pronounced. A few years ago, I stopped smoking and many foods taste differently to me now. Salted and unsalted cost the same, so the only differences are shelf life
and taste.
Tigress in a Jam/Pickle, recently did a series of posts on the making of butter, cultured butter, and various other dairy products. A commenter yesterday mentioned liking cultured butter and the difficulty of finding it. Apparently making it is pretty easy and Tigress offers very good directions here: http://tigressinapickle.blogspot.com/2011/06/cultured-butter-and-creme-fraiche.html
I have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I use all the time, and it’s the only instance in baking where I notice the difference between salted and unsalted butter.
If I use salted butter in these cookies, they are too salty.
If I happen to only have salted butter on hand, I just omit the teaspoon of salt called for in the recipe and they taste just fine.
“It would be a little weird to sprinkle salt on your toast.”
You should try it. It’s the only way I eat toast. Butter and a sprinkle of salt. Very nice.
I only buy the salted but for health reasons. The unsalted varieties use “natural flavoring” or some other artificial flavor to make it taste better. I have yet to find an unsalted butter that just says “sweet cream”. I have not noticed a different in my baking (and I bake a lot), but maybe we just really like salt.
@Tass, I will give it a try! I’ve been known to salt my grilled cheese sandwich on top, which surely sounds weird to someone
I’m the fan of whipped butter for toast, pats of butter on veggies, etc., and that’s usually salted butter. I buy sticks of unsalted for baking.
Oh no, you ALWAYS put a sprinkle of salt on grilled cheese — and also eat with dill pickle slice.
Ditto #3 Debbie
Unsalted tastes better. You will notice that fine restaurants only serve unsalted. Always buy unsalted. Salt is east to add.