Asking here because we don’t really have a cooking community lol
I’ve tried my share of salt; Himalayan pink, Persian blue, even smoked salt which gives off a nice smoky smell
But they all taste the same. It’s salt.
Am I missing something or is their value solely predicated on the geographical origins + unique colors?
Salt generally tastes the same. However, there is something very much to be said about the type of salt, size of crystal flakes, iodized etc.
Iodized table salt, to me, is terrible because it leaves a "burning " sensation, clouds consommés as well as being too fine a flake
In the US i used Mortons kosher salt because the consistency & flake size was just right. Diamond Krystal salt flakes were too large for me, but usable.
Sea salt is on par with kosher salt, here I had to get used to the smaller flake size so there was a bit of a learning curve.
Pink Himalayan I really haven’t tried because it seemed to faddish, however when Truffle oil pricing shot through the roof I looked for alternatives for our popcorn & tried Black Himalayan Salt, small flake and when we use cooking sunflower oil or cheap olive oil it gives off a buttery-sulphur flavor that is strangely addictive.
Redmond Real salt and most other salts out there are good in small amounts but waaaaaay overpriced.
Currently at home I use large “horno” baking salt in a grinder (enormous flakes), but only because it’s cool.
Seasoning your food properly & consistently helps you keep table salt off the table, where I tend to think that people who do not use salt while cooking over use salt at the table.
And yes, I’ve thought alot about salt.
Yeah iodized and fluorized salt (either or both) gets a slightly different taste, but I think it’s worth it for the health benefits 😁 (actually I had to look up the name of the disease you can get from a lack of iodine and I only find that it prevents a deficiency for your thyroid gland, when as a kid I’m pretty sure I consistently heard it prevents a specific disease)
You might be thinking of goitre (CW: gross medical images), which is a thyroid disorder. Iodine deficiency can also cause lots of other health effects to children, including harm to cognitive and physical development.
It’s why many countries have laws mandating that table salt contain iodine, specially in inland regions where seafood is less common. I definitely recommend keeping up with iodised salt (I think the pink one usually doesn’t have any) unless you already have plenty of fish in your diet.
Interesting, I don’t think I can even buy salt that isn’t iodized and fluorized. Apart from things like Himalayan salt. Maybe it is a local thing tho.
If you’re in Europe the salt you put in your dishwasher is the exact same as table salt, but it’s pure. I don’t plan on trying it but technically it’s edible.
Never thought of that. I always assumed that dishwasher salt is just a name for some specific thing, but it actually is just a salt. Thanks for the info!
Yeah, I learned that just a few weeks ago lol. Salt is a surfactant, meaning it makes water more slippery which avoids deposits and those streaks you see sometimes when you wash stuff by hand.
This person salts!
I’ll still give my view but I can’t top this!
I tend to use those flakes or fine or course sea salt, depending. There are some decent minerals in sea salt. I take active steps to avoid the stuff that is basically all sodium.
The size of the ‘grain’ makes a difference. A pinch of fine sea salt can be a lot more salt than a pinch of flakes or course sea salt. It’s easy to overdo it with finer salts, and
The timing, as with all cooking, makes a big difference. Salt pulls moisture from foods. So you want to think about the best time to do that. With meat, seasoning (salt and pepper) before cooking will generally be a lot tastier than doing it during or afterwards. Adding salt to some dishes during prep will make them watery (anything with mayonnaise, for example) so if you add any, it’s got to be last minute.