Salted vs. Unsalted Butter

The whole salted vs. unsalted butter thing had been a mystery to me for a very long time. When I would go to the store and stare into the case, I would be confronted with a bewildering array of various brands and types of butter (i.e., salted vs. unsalted). What was the difference? Was it a chemical reaction thing? I really was clueless.

Until recently, that is. 

I confronted it head on while making Dad's Holiday Pie. The recipe called for butter, but it didn't specify salted or unsalted butter. What does one do when the recipe doesn't specify? Further, the recipe didn't call for spices of any kind, including salt. 

The first time I made the pie, I used unsalted butter because that's what we had on hand. But when I tasted the pie for the first time, I felt that it could have used a pinch of salt. This is when I turned to the Internet to do some research about the difference between the two types of butter. Here's what I learned.

Salt vs. No Salt

The basic difference between salted and unsalted butter is that salted butter contains salt. Sounds like a pretty ridiculous statement doesn't it? That much should be obvious, right? But the fact is, I didn't know this before. Clueless? Yes. That's why I'm writing this blog.

Salt in butter acts both as a preservative and a flavor enhancer. According to material I read, salted butter is typically considered the "default" butter: if a recipe calls for butter but doesn't specify which kind, one typically uses salted butter. Because it contains a flavor enhancer, salted butter is also typically used over vegetables, on toast, over pasta, etc.

However, many cooks prefer to use unsalted butter because doing so allows them to control the flavors in whatever they are making. No salt unless added. Because my original pie recipe didn't call for salt, I used salted butter for future pies.

About Salted Butter

I also learned that there are issues with salted butter. Because of the preservative quality of salt, the butter keeps longer (and is generally cheaper than unsalted butter). Because of this, one should be aware of the freshness of the salted butter being used. (Unsalted butter has a much shorter shelf-life.) Furthermore, the amount of salt in the butter varies from brand to brand. For example, a Good Housekeeping article lists the following levels of salt content in four well-known brands of butter:

• Organic Valley: 600 mg. sodium, per 1 stick butter
• Trader Joe’s Store Brand: 720 mg. sodium, per 1 stick butter
• Land O’Lakes: 760 mg. sodium, per 1 stick butter
• Horizon: 920 mg. sodium, per 1 stick butter

That's a lot of salt. Who knew? And who knew of the variation between brands? Next time I go to the store, I'm going to check the salt levels. Meanwhile, I checked the salt content of the Whole Foods' brand I have been using:

If I'm figuring this correctly, since there are 75 mg of salt in one tablespoon, there must be approximately 600 mg of salt in one stick of butter (8 tbsp x 75mg). That puts this butter at the lower end of the salt content spectrum.

Bottom Line

The bottom line, after all my research, is that using salted vs. unsalted butter is a matter of personal choice. If I ever get to the point where I become a connoisseur of various brands of butter, I'll let  my readers know. Meanwhile, at least I now know the difference between the two types, and I will no longer stand bewildered and intimidated in front of the dairy case, staring at boxes of butter. I am now a butter initiate.