Tuesday, December 02, 2008

What's with salted butter?

Meijer had butter on sale the other day, so I was going to get a pound to stick in the freezer. I don't go in for any of that fancy gourmet butter, so I was just looking for my usual, 1-pound box of unsalted butter quarters. For some reason it seemed to me the section for salted butter was enormous compared to the one for unsalted butter. Why?

People put salt in butter before the days of refrigeration so it wouldn't spoil as fast. These days, it seems everyone has access to both a refrigerator and electricity; some people even have indoor plumbing. So the need to add salt to butter to stop if from spoiling is rather unnecessary. So why is there such a demand for salted butter?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have no idea and get really pissed if the store runs out of unsalted butter. I guess people like salted butter on their toast?

We are making Russian Teacakes and Bittman's Favorite Butter Cookies this weekend, so thanks for the head's up on Meijer's Butter Blowout.