# Why salted butter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2009, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-salted-butter/496945 "2009-05-19T11:23:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-salted-butter/496945/21 "2009-05-19T22:17:02Z")
I use salted butter and I never even bother using salt in recipes – why DO almost all recipes call for that 1/2 tsp of salt? Is it just out of habit? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-salted-butter/496945/22 "2009-05-19T23:27:12Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > You’ll find unsalted butter in every supermarket on the shelf right next to the salted butter! I don’t know what part of Britain you live in, but here the supermarkets only stock salted butter, boiled brains, turnips, pickled goat’s kidneys, and rows and rows of canned tomatoes (to be served cold, naturally). Suggested accompaniment: warm beer. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-salted-butter/496945/23 "2009-05-19T23:50:18Z")
> [@miamouse](#): > > you guys are crazy. cold unsalted butter on fresh from the oven bread is heavenly. Well, a rubber tire on fresh from the oven bread would be heavenly! > [@Guinastasia](#): > > I use salted butter and I never even bother using salt in recipes – why DO almost all recipes call for that 1/2 tsp of salt? Is it just out of habit? No, it’s not out of habit. Besides making things taste better by increasing electrical conductivity on your taste buds ([no, really!](http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6048569/description.html)) salt is needed, even if only in small amount, for many chemical reactions that occur during cooking, from raising the boiling point of water to retarding yeast activity in baking bread. Them sodium and chloride ions really get around! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-salted-butter/496945/24 "2009-05-20T00:21:31Z")
Ah! I told my mother there was a reason!!! (She keeps insisting on leaving salt out, claiming you don’t need it!) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-salted-butter/496945/25 "2009-05-20T00:31:47Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Well, a rubber tire on fresh from the oven bread would be heavenly! > > No, it’s not out of habit. Besides making things taste better by increasing electrical conductivity on your taste buds ([no, really!](http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6048569/description.html)) salt is needed, even if only in small amount, for many chemical reactions that occur during cooking, from raising the boiling point of water to retarding yeast activity in baking bread. Them sodium and chloride ions really get around! I agree, except for the raising the boiling point of water. You need a _lot_ of salt to raise the boiling point of water any useful amount. When a recipe calls for salt (say, salting your water before boiling your pasta), it’s as a seasoning, not to raise the boiling point. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-salted-butter/496945/26 "2009-05-20T01:31:33Z")
Why salted butter? Why salt on green beens? 'Cause without it, the taste is lost 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-salted-butter/496945.md?page=1)