Taylor Reveley Tries to Tell The Difference Between Salted and Unsalted Butter

The recipe for this old fashioned quesadilla clam bake calls for a stick of salted butter. Let me go then to my luxurious refrigerator located precisely in the geometric center of my kitchen- like a proud obelisk dedicated to keeping delictable nourishment colder than a normal temperature. 

As usual, my refrigerator is full to bursting with unwrapped sticks of butter of various hues and salinities. I will select two at random and attempt to discern if either has been infused with that ever-precious and desirable sodium chloride.

This first stick tastes rich and delicious. It was a happy cow from which this butter draws its lineage. But is it salty? I suspect that it may be. Although, it is well documented that human beings such as myself naturally produce salt through bodily excretions such as sweat. It is possible that I am merely tasting the salt of my fingertips which have touched this buttery slab.

This is a hazardous venture. The very fate of the old fashioned quesadilla clam bake rests on the discernment between butter with intentional salt additives and butter merely corrupted by the ambient salt of everything. I will retire to the veranda and thoughtfully ponder this dilemma with my fist tucked under my chin, just so.