Salted vs Unsalted Butter

Your ancestors always had ‘salted butter’ even if they made their own butter at home. The reason is that salt is the best preservative. If the weather was good and the family could get fresh dairy from livestock to make butter, then they would have unsalted butter. Having the unsalted, fresh butter was desired but not always available. Having the butter salted worked best.

Even in recent decades where mass production of butter could be salted or unsalted, many of the famous chefs liked using unsalted butter, it was best for consistency in the recipes. Compare the salt: unsalted has zero sodium and salted has 90 mg of sodium per tablespoon. With salt the butter will last five months in the refrigerator vs unsalted for only three months.

So if you have ever tasted homemade butter, it may have been salted, since it did last the longest.

Photo: Salted vs Unsalted Butter

Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:

Leftovers – 1930s

Favorite Foods from 1850-1900

Breakfast Foods of your Ancestors

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