Salted butter in Japan

Back in the Netherlands, I always bought and used unsalted butter. The thought of eating salted butter never crossed my mind. In fact, I always believed that butter wouldn’t taste as rich if it was salted. However, ever since I arrived in Japan last March, my wife has been buying salted butter by default, and since then, I’ve started enjoying Japanese toasted bread with salted butter spread on it.

While it’s nice, it still doesn’t taste as rich as the butter back in the Netherlands. Initially, I couldn’t pinpoint the reason, but I had the impression that Japanese salted butter contains more water. Upon further research, I discovered that Japanese salted butter does indeed have a higher water content.

What surprised me was that salted butter is actually cheaper than unsalted butter here in Japan. It’s not a significant difference, but salted butter is consistently priced lower than unsalted butter. The reason behind this is that salted butter doesn’t spoil as quickly as unsalted butter, thanks to salt acting as a natural preservative.

While this might not be groundbreaking news, it’s certainly a change from my usual gardening posts.

Enjoy your bread with butter whichever way you prefer!