Different kinds of salt

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Many years ago, I developed what I thought was a sensitivity to salt. Therefore, when I first started cooking, I rarely salted anything. Man, my food was bland!

After I moved out on my own, and started buying/reading various cookbooks, I read a little blurb about the three main kinds of salt (back then, early 90's), table/iodized, Kosher, and canning/pickling salt. Obviously, Table salt has iodine added, which is the easiest way for the general population to get iodine, a necessary mineral. Kosher salt is pure salt, in large crystals that easily dissolve on the surface of food, and was originally used to draw the blood out of meat products to render them kosher. Canning/pickling salt is chemically pure salt, used in canning and/or pickling, as it won't cloud up the brine.

For some oddball reason, I decided to get a package of Canning/pickling salt, as it's much cheaper than Kosher. After using it to season my food a few times, I realized that I didn't really have a sensitivity to salt, but to iodine.

Nowadays, I only buy the Canning/pickling salt. I never got into using Kosher salt, or any of the sea salts. We have a container of Iodized table salt, as PeppA bought it, but we hardly ever use it.
 
I use both Kosher (pickling) and iodized table salt, depending on the use. I've bought sea salt a couple of times and have not found it worth the expense. Salt is a mineral, and if I remember high school correctly, is not organic because it does not contain carbon, which is the definition of organic. Thanks, Caine, for catching that one! (once again I wrote before I read!)
 
I use Kosher when cooking. I haven't tried any of the other types. Let us know what you decide on and how it is?
 
I like pink Himalayan salt. i know its mainly because its pink , but hey, wahts wrong with that? I find regular table salt a bit nasty tasting and was finding that to adaquately salt my food I could taste the nastiness. I am not a big salt eater though. I also use large grain sea salt, for when i want, er large grains on something. I had never heard of kosher salt before joining DC.
 
I bought some pricey large grain sea salt once, and it just about broke my teeth! I like the large grains of kosher because I feel like I taste more salt for the amount I use, and I can be a salt-o-holic. I use iodized salt for things where I want it to disolve quickly, and because my husband grew up in an era and place where a lot of older folk had goiters. So even though I don't think it is an issue for us (we take multi vitamins and eat a well-balanced diet), I do use the iodized for some dishes. The table salt is the kosher variety, though. I just like the texture, and I like regulating it with a pinch (as opposed to a shaker)(and yes, I have some nice antique salt cellars and spoons, it is a nice touch to the table and they aren't very expensive).
 
LOL Claire, my antique cruet set is pink....so so is my salt, and often my pepper....we found some pink dijon, but I don't like it.
 
jennyema on 03-23-2007 said:
subfuscpersona on 03-22-2007 said:
I have purchased organic salts in a fine grind that are distinctly saltier than the equivalent mesaure of supermarket-variety salt..
What makes it "organic?"
hi jennyema,

As others have pointed out, pure salt is just sodium chloride, so I guess organic was not the best adjective I could have chosen.

When I referred to "organic salts" I was primarily thinking of salts that contain additional trace minerals which are present naturally in the source (sea salt is one example but not the only one). However, minerals are minerals and minerals are not organic.

In my area, only "natural" or "organic" food stores carry a variety of these kinds of salts, so that's why I called them "organic". My bad if this created confusion.

The presence of other (naturally occurring) minerals besides sodium chloride in a salt is what makes these salts taste different from one another and different from a pure salt that is only sodium chloride (like kosher salt). There is a wide variety depending on the source and the processing techniques used; there is also considerable variability in cost. However, these kinds of salts (and/or those that have been smoked or roasted) do not have to be prohibitively expensive so it is fun to explore brands and see if there are some that you would enjoy in your kitchen - whether in cooking or as a finishing salt.

- SF
 
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