Everything you need to know about salt
Published July 27, 2015.
- Salt
comes in many shapes and sizes. Salt rocks. It's a culinary
ringmaster, a literal rock with an undisputed role as balancer and
enhancer of flavors. Name a more ubiquitous ingredient, one you use more
than salt. You can't. We all have our go-to salts (or maybe just one), but
if you don't know the difference between them, if you instinctively reach
for the same box at the grocery store because other salts - and there seem
to be many - look fancy or unfamiliar or unnecessary, it's worth
exploring. Our
guide: Mark Bitterman explains. Why do we think so little of salt
as we shower it into pasta water and over ribeyes? Getting to know this
kitchen workhorse makes buying it that much easier. The Main Types. There
are two types of salt, broadly speaking: sea or evaporative salt, which
comes from saltwater, and rock salt, which comes from the land. The
majority of rock salt never makes it into the kitchen; it's for industrial
use, such as deicing roads. The kind for old-fashioned ice cream makers is
so named by manufacturers because it's rocky, not necessarily because it's
rock salt, Bitterman told us. "It could be an evaporative salt. It
could be anything," he said. Sea salt is produced by evaporating
seawater in open pans or by boiling. Sea salt includes the uber-popular
kosher salt and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, delicate fleur de
sel. There are many nuances in between. Ageless, Never Tasteless. Salt
never gets old. We're talking literally here. It'll never go bad on you.
"I have Himalayan salt that's 600 million years old," Bitterman
said. He suggests storing delicate salts in an airtight container to block
humidity, which can mess with salt's supple texture. Glass is better at
this than plastic. Related Image Expand / Contract Rock salt and fine salt
should be used for different stages of cooking. Refined salts such
as kosher salt contain anti-caking agents, so there's no need to worry
about storage and texture loss. The Specifics. Here are some salts, both
refined and artisan, that you're most likely to come across when shopping.
Kosher salt. Hands-down the all-purpose favorite of chefs and home cooks
(and Epicurious editors!) for its coarse, uniform, easy-to-pinch granules.
It's industrially produced by boiling off brine that's pumped in and back
out of a salt deposit. Not kosher-certified; the name refers to how the
crystals draw out moisture in the meat koshering process. "It's a
processed chemical product," Bitterman said. Table salt. Otherwise
known as the stuff in shakers on tables across America. This is industrial
salt refined to about 99 percent sodium chloride, with additives aplenty
so it doesn't clump. Iodized table salt serves a need among
iodine-deficient populations in poorer countries; you can also get your
fix by eating iodine-rich seafood and other foods. Sea salt. Much of
what's generically labeled "sea salt" is industrial, made by evaporating
sea water in vast open pans. Harvesting is mechanized and removes most of
the salt's natural minerals. Commercial brands are inexpensive and often
contain additives, Bitterman said. Fleur de sel. French for "flower
of salt," this is the creme de la creme of sea salt, scraped by hand
as it forms on the surface of a salt evaporation pond. It's been done this
way for centuries in France. Irregular, delicate crystals are moist and
mineral-rich. Ideal as a finishing salt.
