Salt is an amazing cube shaped, crystalline mineral. Take an unstable metal… sodium and put it with a poisonous gas… chlorine and you have an essential, life-sustaining ingredient. Think on that a moment. Dr. Axe  has good health information on salt.

Salt was so valuable throughout the ages that it has been a bargaining coin in wars throughout history, including the Civil War. A ritual of “salting the earth” was a tactic used when a city was conquered including the biblical account of Shechem, Carthage, and Pope Boniface the VIII ordering the salting of Palestrina. Spain would salt a traitor’s land. Who knew salt was such a valuable tool of the conquerors?

I was just wondering which was the best salt to use in cooking! So with a little bit of research I found that there is a plethora of salts and they do have different characteristics! I see a lot of experimentation with salts in my future!

Table Salt

• highly refined
• Anti-caking agents added
• iodine added
• msg added
• aluminum derivatives added

Sea Salt

• evaporated sea water
• Coarse texture with a flavor burst
• Contains up to 60 trace minerals depending on the source
• May contain heavy metals from pollutants

Kosher Salt

• Large flakes useful for extracting the blood from meats which is forbidden to eat by the Jews
• Large plate like shape or hollow pyramidal shape

Celtic Salt

• From seawater
• Course texture with flavor burst
• Grey in color
• Trace minerals found

Alaea Salt or Hawaiian Salt

• From seawater
• Pink to brown color comes from the trace minerals from the red alaea volcanic clay
• Be careful, many made in California and not the true Hawaiian salt

Fleur de sel- “Flower of salt”

• Harvested by hand from salt marshes when sunny and dry with a slow and steady wind that provides the perfect conditions for the salt to “bloom”
• Harvested off the coast of Brittany from the town of Guérande
• Historically harvested by women because it was thought to be so delicate it was best harvested by the “delicate of sexes”
• Fine and delicate flavor
• Used as a finishing salt

Maldon Salt

• English sea salt – hand harvested in Essex, England in the town of Maldon
• Large, thin, crunchy salt flakes
• Used as a finishing salt

Smoked Salt

• Sea salt that is cold smoked over hardwoods
• I have seen that this is another whole plethora of flavors to try

Himalayan Pink Sea Salt – Heidi’s favorite

• Course texture with flavor burst
• mined from Khewra Salt Mine
• trace amounts of iron oxide give it the pink color
• 84 trace minerals found naturally