Butter: Salted and Unsalted

Unless otherwise stated in a recipe, assume that butter is salted. Based on the amount of sodium on butter’s packaging label (90 mg sodium per tablespoon), I calculate that a stick of salted butter (½ cup or ¼ pound) contains a little more than ¼ teaspoon of salt. The amount of salt can vary by brand: there is no standard. If a recipe calls for unsalted butter, you can usually use salted, but reduce the amount of added salt proportionately.