Salt
3. Sea Salt
8.Flake Salt
Used for pickling and brining, pickling salt does not contain any added iodine or anti-caking agents, nor many of the trace minerals of sea salt, which can cause ugly discoloration of the preserved food.
A substance resulting from the chemical interaction of an acid and a base, usually sodium and chloride. And used to season foods. In the kitchen, there's no ingredients more important than salt. Aside from being one of the five basic tastes (salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami), salt has properties that release food molecules into the air, giving the food an aroma.
History of Salt
As far back as 6050 BC, salt has been an important and integral part of the world’s history, as it has been interwoven into countless civilizations. Used as a part of Egyptian religious offerings and valuable trade between the Phoenicians and their Mediterranean empire, salt and history have been inextricably intertwined for millennia, with great importance placed on salt by many different cultures. Even today, the history of salt touches our daily lives. The word “salary” was derived from the word “salt.” Salt was highly valued and its production was legally restricted in ancient times, so it was historically used as a method of trade and currency. The word “salad” also originated from “salt,” and began with the early Romans salting their leafy greens and vegetables. Undeniably, the history of salt is both broad and unique, leaving its indelible mark in cultures across the globe.
Types of Salt
Let’s take a look at 12 different types of salt and what they’re best for.
1.Table Salt
Table salt – the most common – is harvested from salt deposits found underground. It’s highly refined and finely ground, with impurities and trace minerals removed in the process. It’s also treated with an anti-caking agent to keep from clumping.
Most table salt is iodized, meaning iodine has been added to prevent iodine deficiency, which can (and does, in much of the world) cause hypothyroidism and other maladies.
2. Kosher Salt
Koshering salt – or kosher salt, in the U.S. – is flakier and coarser-grained than regular table salt. Its large grain size makes it perfect for sprinkling on top of meat, where it releases a surprising blast of flavor. Kosher salt also dissolves quickly, making it a perfect all-purpose cooking salt.
However, most kosher salt does not contain any added iodine, and only rarely any anti-caking agents. Despite the name, all kosher salt is not certified kosher. Rather, it’s used in the koshering process, when surface fluids are removed from meat through desiccation.
Harvested from evaporated sea water, sea salt is usually unrefined and coarser-grained than table salt. It also contains some of the minerals from where it was harvested – zinc, potassium and iron among them – which give sea salt a more complex flavor profile.
“Sea salt” is a pretty broad term, as it includes some of the specialty salts described below. Sprinkle it on top of foods for a different mouth feel and bigger burst of flavor than table salt.
4. Himalayan Pink Salt
Of the different types of salt, Himalayan salt is the purest form of salt in the world and is harvested by hand from Khewra Salt Mine in the Himalayan Mountains of Pakistan. Its color ranges from off-white to deep pink. Rich in minerals – it contains the 84 natural minerals and elements found in the human body – Himalayan salt is used in spa treatments, as well as the kitchen.
Its mineral content gives it a bolder flavor than many other salts, so use it as a cooking and finishing salt – or to add a bit of flair to a salt-rimmed margarita! Slabs of the stuff are used for cooking and serving (Himalayan salt retains temperature for hours), and unfinished pieces often appear in shops as lamps.
5. Celtic Sea Salt
Also known as sel gris (French for “grey salt”), Celtic sea salt is harvested from the bottom of tidal ponds off the coast of France. The salt crystals are raked out after sinking; this, plus the mineral-rich seawater its extracted from, gives Celtic salt its moist, chunky grains, grey hue and briny taste.
It’s great on fish and meat as both a cooking and finishing salt, as well as for baking.
6. Fleur De Sel
Literally “flower of salt,” fluer de sel is a sea salt hand-harvested from tidal pools off the coast of Brittany, France. Paper-thin salt crystals are delicately drawn from the water’s surface, much like cream is taken from milk. This can only be done on sunny, dry days with a slight breeze, and only with traditional wooden rakes. Because of its scarcity and labor-intensive harvesting, fleur de sel is the most expensive salt (five pounds will run you a cool $80), earning it the nickname “the caviar of salts.” It retains moisture, and has blue-grey tint,from its high mineral content and oceanic beginnings. If you can afford it, use fleur de sel as a finishing salt to add an impressive dash of flavor to meat, seafood, vegetables, even sweets like chocolate and caramel.
7. Kala Namak
Kala namak (“black salt” in Nepalese) is Himalayan salt that’s been packed in a jar with charcoal, herbs, seeds and bark, then fired in a furnace for a full 24 hours before it’s cooled, stored and aged. This process gives kala namak its reddish-black color, its pungent, salty taste and a faint, sulfurous aroma of eggs. It’s often used in vegan and vegetarian dishes to give egg-free dishes the taste of egg.
Harvested from salt water through evaporation, boiling or other means, flake salt is thin and irregularly shaped with a bright, salty taste and very low mineral content. This shapes means the crunchy flake salt dissolves quickly, resulting in a “pop” of flavor. Of the different types of salt, use it as a finishing salt, especially on meats.
9. Black Hawaiian Salt
Also known as black lava salt, black Hawaiian salt is a sea salt harvested from – you guessed it – the volcanic islands of Hawaii. It gets its deep, black color from the addition of activated charcoal. Coarse-grained and crunchy, black Hawaiian salt is great for finishing pork and seafood.
10. Red Hawaiian Salt
Also called alaea salt, this unrefined, red Hawaiian salt gets its name and color from the reddish, iron-rich volcanic clay alaea. Used for centuries in ceremonial ways for cleansing, purification and the blessing of tools, red Hawaiian salt is also great in the kitchen, adding an attractive finish and robust flavor to seafood and meat, as well as traditional island dishes likepoke and pipikaula, a Hawaiian jerky.
11. Smoked Salt
Slow-smoked up to two weeks over a wood fire (usually hickory, mesquite, apple, oak or alder wood), smoked salt adds an intense and, yes, smoky flavor to dishes. Depending on the time smoked and the wood used, tastes will vary from brand to brand. Smoked salt is the best of the different types of salt to use for flavoring meats and heartier vegetables, like potatoes.
12. Pickling Salt
How to Make Salt
Salt production is one of the oldest chemical practices performed by man. Although salt is produced naturally when seawater evaporates, the process can easily be reproduced to create a higher yield. Some salt is still produced using ancient methods, but new, faster, and less expensive methods have been developed. Depending on the source of the salt and the technique used to create it, the end product will have differing flavors and textures.
Today there are three main methods for obtaining salt: Evaporation from sea water, mining salt from the earth, and creating salt brines. Most common table salts are a product of salt brines, and salts used for industrial purposes are obtained through mining, while specialty or gourmet salts are still produced via evaporation of sea water.
Sea Salt
Salt accounts for about 3 1/2 percent of the world's oceans. It is naturally produced when shallow ponds and bays dry up in the sun and the wind and large salt crystals are left behind where the salty water once was. When producing sea salt on an industrial scale, seawater is placed in large "concentrating ponds" to allow efficient evaporation from the sun and the wind. The manufacturing of sea salt can only be performed in areas with low rainfall in order for enough time to pass for evaporation. For this reason, sea salt is often produced in dry climates such as the Mediterranean and Australia.
Sea salt is also produced on a much smaller scale and by ancient, skilled techniques. Fleur de sel is an example of an artisan salt that is still, to this day, produced by old-fashioned methods. This light, flaky salt is manufactured in small ponds in France and is only made during the summer months of May to September.
Rock Salt
Rock salt is present in the rocky under layers of the Earth's surface and can be extracted through mining. These large deposits of salt are the result of ancient underground waterways that have long since dried up.
Rock salt is extracted through dynamite, similar in fashion to the mining of any other mineral. Once it is brought to the Earth's surface, it is crushed and used for industrial and other non-food purposes. This type of salt contains many minerals and other impurities.
Salt Brines
While the ocean is a natural salt brine, hydraulic mining of salt involves pumping water below the Earth's surface to dissolve salt deposits and create a salt brine. This brine is then pumped to the surface and evaporated to create salt. The salty brine may be treated prior to evaporation to reduce mineral content, yielding a nearly pure sodium chloride crystal. This method is inexpensive, has a high yield, and produces a very clean salt. Most table salt is produced with this method.
Sources @ https://www.seasalt.com/history-of-salt
@ Webster's New World Dictionary of Culinary Arts by Steven Labensky, Gaye G. Ingram, Sarah R. Labensky
@ https://www.thespruce.com/how-is-salt-made-1328618
@ http://www.wideopeneats.com/12-different-types-salt-use/
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