Store Brand Unsalted Butter Or Name Brand?
Decorating By Kookie Updated 11 Nov 2008 , 4:24pm by Kitagrl
Let me start off by admitting I am not a frosting snob - I wish I were 
I have used both brand and store brand. I think I can taste a difference when I taste the butter straight up - but I can't tell the difference after the frosting is made. I use a 1/2 butter & 1/2 shortening recipe with unsalted butter - it always tastes good.
Maybe in a recipe like one of the SMBC's or something it makes more of a difference.
I started off using a name brand butter, but switched to the Target brand because of cost. I also use the Target brand powdered sugar.
Honestly, I can't tell a difference in either.
Target also has the best every day prices for brand name cake mixes...usually under a dollar.
HTH
Kim
I like Land o Lakes unsalted for buttercream best, but not enough to pay more than the store brand (Giant) that I usually buy - either way, I only buy butter on sale. I never use margarine or Crisco. I do use good flavorings though.
I did try an uber-generic brand that the store was carrying one time, and it was AWFUL - we chucked it out. So I think it's a matter of finding WHICH store brand works for you - they're not all equal.
I've tried Plugra for pound cake and may try a couple other high-end butters that are cropping up. I don't think it's practical to use that kind of butter unless you're making a basic pound cake where the butter is the primary flavor....even then, it's pretty much just to appease my food snob side 
I use store brand unsalted butter. Once I bought an uber-cheep brand of salted butter (didn't have unsalted) to make cookies with, and I could tell the difference in my cookies, so it's not worth the $.14 a pound savings for an inferior end result in my product.
I know most, if not all of us, have heard that store brands are *the same* as name br4ands but.........for the most part I have been very unhappy w/store brands.
I did know a guy many yrs back who worked at the processing plant for Knudson (a west coast brand well accepted) brand butter and he insisted that when they filled the day's requirements for Knudson what ever is left over is labled for stores and is exactly the same.
There are some great commercials here for Meijer Brand, which is a store brand. One has a liittle girl doing a spinach taste test. First she tastes the Meijer Brand and makes a face and says "Yeegh!" Then she tastes the national brand and makes a face and says "Yeegh!" Then the voice over says something to the effect of Meijer brand being just as good or better than the national brand. It makes me giggle every time!
My butter of choice is Sam's club unsalted butter. Nice flavor, light color and affordable.
Cindy
I will agree that not all store brands taste the same as national brands...at least for certain products. Products with multiple ingredients can easily taste "off." For things like butter and other basic products, I can't tell a difference. After all, butter is cream, salted butter is cream and salt. There isn't a whole lot of room for messing it up.
I use the Costco brand because it is very reasonable. The actual labels for the individual sticks are the same as the store brand ones you buy in the local grocery store-they all seem to come from the same place. I have done a taste test of the butter and yes the store brand versus Land of Lakes taste is different but after the final product is baked I really can't tell the difference. HTH
I use store brand (Giant Eagle) and have also used GFS brand. Tasted the same to me. $3 for grocery store brand, $2.50 for GFS brand.
I think it absolutely makes a difference.. the store brands have more water.. cookies will spread more, and burn faster; it has a lower melting temp. Same with icing.. lower melting temp.. Pulgra is the only butter I will use for pate a choux dough, as it requires more fat to perform properly.
Butter on your bread... it doesn't make much difference...
I was told (by a pastry chef) that salt is added to butter not only for flavor but as a form of preservative. With that in mind it was recomended that I buy the store brand because..."since it is less expensive, there will be a quicker turnaround and therefore the store brand will almost always be fresher". For salted butter it was "name brand hands down"...
....for what it's worth.
I was told (by a pastry chef) that salt is added to butter not only for flavor but as a form of preservative. With that in mind it was recomended that I buy the store brand because..."since it is less expensive, there will be a quicker turnaround and therefore the store brand will almost always be fresher". For salted butter it was "name brand hands down"...
....for what it's worth.
I am not sure what you mean by "quicker turnaround", but you are right about salt being a preservative. The salted butter will have a longer shelf life, equating to a longer expiration date.. therefore, unsalted butter is fresher - shorter shelf life.. I always just assumed that would apply to name and store brands.. 
Interesting....
I was told (by a pastry chef) that salt is added to butter not only for flavor but as a form of preservative. With that in mind it was recomended that I buy the store brand because..."since it is less expensive, there will be a quicker turnaround and therefore the store brand will almost always be fresher". For salted butter it was "name brand hands down"...
....for what it's worth.
I am not sure what you mean by "quicker turnaround", but you are right about salt being a preservative. The salted butter will have a longer shelf life, equating to a longer expiration date.. therefore, unsalted butter is fresher - shorter shelf life.. I always just assumed that would apply to name and store brands..
Interesting....
By "turnaround" I meant that folks are more likely to buy the "cheaper" butter and therefore it moves off the shelf faster....so since it moves more quickly, the idea is that the chaper butter is fresher sort of by default...get it?
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