It probably doesn't matter because the amount of salt that people taste is very subjective. Something very salty to me might need extra salt to your taste.

But look at it this way, by using unsalted butter for every thing, you control the amount of salt in each recipe.

I have always used salted butter in all of my recipes. The only place I have found a difference in taste, is since DH has decided I should only buy unsalted butter to cut out some of the salt in our diet, is for my popcorn. Sorry dear, but I will still buy some salted butter to butter my popcorn with! And yes, I salt my popcorn also!

So, in my opinion, it's up to you which you use.

Tami

Some recipes call for unsalted butter just because that's what that cook always uses. But in some cases it really will matter. There's a little more water in salted butter. In fine baking, and in the few recipes where the tiniest bit of extra water may matter, you may need it. Also in butter creams, to my taste. But in almost everything, you can just use salted butter in place of unsalted -- minus 1/4 teaspoon of salt for every stick (1/4 lb.) of salted butter. That works out well. Of course, if the recipe looks pretty short on salt to begin with, I don't omit that 1/4 tsp.

So maybe keep some unsalted on hand for when its called for or for more delicate recipes (pastries???). Then perhaps use salted for the majority of recipes and adjust salt if needed? See I think my issue is I really don't notice salt very much except in potatoes and maybe soup. We never have salt or pepper on the table except perhaps for corn on the cob. I really wish all recipes would be more specific about butter and other things.

I don't use much butter. I keep some unsalted Plugra in the freezer.
One thought, and why i buy unsalted, is it is a preservative. It might just be giving the manufacturer a longer shelf life. Not such a good thing for flavor. Also hard to tell how much salt each brand uses. Why i never buy store bought sausage anymore.
I just prefer to salt to taste. Butter tastes much better to me unsalted.
If you like one specific brand for daily table use, and are used to it, stick with it.
That is just a choice.
For baking, you might be over salting a recipe? You could keep your unsalted in the freezer to keep it fresh for baking. Thaws quickly.

Do whatever is easiest. Back in years past, when unsalted butter was significantly more expensive than salted, I never bothered with it. But now that they are within pennies in cost (if not exactly the same) I'll buy both and use whatever I have on hand. It doesn't seem to make any difference to anyone who eats my baked goods.

The only thing I will ALWAYS use unsalted butter for is ghee. For shortbread, which I rarely make, I would also use unsalted butter, but I wouldn't stress if I happened to be out of unsalted and had only salted on hand. There is nothing else it seems to make any difference for, that I ever make, at least.

We switched a few years ago to buying only unsalted butter. For cooking, you add salt separately anyway. For baking, ditto and I don't do much baking anyhow. The only problem is when the butter is directly eaten, like buttered toast or buttered corn cobs. In that case I sprinkle salt on the item as needed.

I don't have a big preference between salted and unsalted, but it was inconvenient to keep both on hand and since you can't unsalt salted butter, we settled on unsalted.

Occasionally we experiment with Irish butter (Kerrygold). I really do prefer its taste. But the large majority of our butter use is in cooking, so I usually choose a less expensive, more common butter. I have a sentimental attachment to Land O Lakes.

I've always used whichever one I had on hand. I never concerned myself over the small amount of difference it made in a recipe, except I might reduce the amount of salt in a recipe if it called for unsalted butter and all I had was salted butter, and it included added salt.

Now, I only purchase unsalted butter to use as a spread and for cooking/baking. We just like the flavor better since we don't like a lot of salty foods. When you are whole foods people, it's a whole different world of flavors compared to the ridiculous amount of added salt in commercial foods.

-Grainlady

Freezing unsalted butter is a great idea I will do.

Sounds like there are no rules. Here both butters are exactly the same price.

johnliu, Recently bought some land o'lakes butter as it was on sale. I thought it had a creamier taste then our usual store brand. DD said she didn't notice the difference. hmmmm....do you think there is a difference?

I buy the store brand (Giant) because it is better than Land o' Lakes. Kerrygold is better still.

I do all my cooking and baking with unsalted but use salted as a spread.

That's one thing I have a hard time with when traveling outside of Canada and the States. You can only get unsalted butter. I really don't care for it as a spread on breads, rolls and especially toast.

I've read two opposing theories on freezing butter from two different "experts" and choose to ignore both of the opinions. The first theory (which does at least make some scientific sense) was salted butter didn't freeze as well, or as hard, as unsalted butter because the salt acted like salt on a highway, it's continually trying to thaw the moisture in the butter. The other "expert" said unsalted butter absorbed odors from the freezer.

Aldi has butter for $1.69 - pound right now (it has been as high as $2.49 this year), so I've squeezed in as many one-pound boxes in my freezer as I can find space for. That's a true stock-up price.

On the rare occasions I can find Kerry Gold or Plugra, I'll add those to my stash at any price as a special treat.

-Grainlady

I think Cook's Illustrated compared supermarket butters in a taste test & decided Land o Lakes was the best. They were looking at brands that you could easily get at a supermarket, not like kerry Gold. I recently saw Kerry gold at the store, was tempted to get it but it was quite expensive. I may have to go back & try it though.
Somewhere I saw recently, I think on one of the cooking shows but quite possibly somewhere on this forum, that you should freeze butter because it absorbs odors in your refrigerator quite fast. No mention was made between salted & unsalted though.

Well land o lakes it is.

I wonder if you put the butter is a ziplock bag in the refrigerator if that would prevent odor absorption?

We now use only unsalted butter because my husband is trying to lower his salt intake. I don't see a difference at all in baking or cooking but have to add extra salt on popcorn and bread with butter.

We shop at Sam's Club so we buy lots of butter every 8-12 weeks when we make the trip there. I always freeze all but the pound we keep in the refrigerator. A stick always sits on the counter in the butter dish --- it never goes in the frig. I absolutely hate it when they bring you yummy fresh bread in a restaurant and the butter is rock hard! Why do they refrigerate it? It takes a long time (weeks) for butter at room temp to go bad.

Debra, I always keep the butter carton in a zip-loc freezer bag in the fridge. It seems to protect it from fridge-taste.
For extra butter, the freezer is the best place.