Facts and fiction about food and cooking, by Peter Aitken
Many cooks and recipes specify that kosher salt be used. Why? Truth be told, because it’s trendy, mostly. Kosher salt is relatively pure sodium chloride, and so is the usual table salt that is available in every supermarket and half or less the price. If you think you can taste the iodine in iodized salt, buy the uniodized version and save some money.
I do like the larger grains of kosher salt because when cooking I prefer to grab salt with my fingers to add to a dish, rather than using a shaker, and the larger grains don’t stick to my fingers as much. But, I am not fooling myself that my food tastes better as a result.
By the way, kosher salt is really misnamed. It is not “kosher” in the sense that observant Jews can eat it, but can’t eat other salts. It’s true name is “koshering salt” because it is traditionally used to salt meats in the kosher butchering process.
Kosher and table salt do taste the same, but they have different densities. A tablespoon of table salt has a lot more salt than a tablespoon of kosher salt, so take care when substituting or you’ll end up with a very salty dish.
Good point! And to make things worse, different brands of kosher salt differ from one another.
The structure and shape of salt also changes how it is ingested. One will notice you rarely (if ever) see granulated crystal shaped salt on sweets, however, flaked salt is often used on top of confections. The surface area of Kosher salt makes it better for finishing dishes, whereas table salt needs encouragement to break it down.
Kosher salt and iodized salt absolutely taste different. Iodized salt has a metallic flavor which a discerning palate can detect. Kosher has a much cleaner, pure salt flavor.
But what about uniodized table salt – as mentioned in the original post?
I have to laugh at the high-dollar, tiny packages of ‘gourmet salt’ that some stores carry. It’s pink or green or brown. Other expensive types are are proudly labeled ‘sea salt’. Got news for all the people who spend a fortune on these things:
Firstly, if it isn’t white, you’re eating dirt with your salt.
Secondly, all salt is sea salt. ALL of it.
It’s amazing how gullible supposedly intelligent people can be.
Though I do agree with the sentiment in the gullibility of people overpaying for something just because it’s “gourmet” I have to disagree with both your points.
1. Unless you call pepper dirt then a lot of “mixed salts” contain other stuff which add, retain or enrich the salt’s taste. Whether these are worth 3 times as much, that’s a whole different story!
2. Not all salt is sea salt (obtained through evaporation), salt can be mined and refined for food use, widely known as table salt though the word ‘table’ does not guarantee that the salt is mined.
Generally speaking, sea salt will have all its minerals and other elements (including iodine) which table salt won’t have so it MIGHT have a difference in taste.
Personally, I believe that if you want your salt to have all the taste then your food is the problem!
I think we’re talking at cross-purposes. Kosher salt, the topic of my post, is a different thing than the specialty salts you are talking about, which can indeed contain traces of other materials that change the taste (e.e., red Hawaiian salt). Also, I believe the comment that “all salt is sea salt” refers to the fact that all salt, even that which is mined from underground, had its origin in the sea, albeit millions of years ago.
DIfferent brands of salt do taste different, though I don’t know I could tell regular iodized salt from regular uniodized salt as both kinds of salt from the ‘regular’ brand have a smell that makes me gag. No other salt bugs me, just that brand. It may be super cheap, but even the pretty pink salt at the store is inexpensive and comes in a giant bag where I live, and doesn’t smell nasty. Its cheaper than the salt labeled ‘sea salt,’ too.
I just had to comment – be careful if you cut out all iodized salt. I lived for 3 months in a country that does not iodize their salt, and by the time I came back to the States my neck (thyroid) was feeling tender. I didn’t know why until a friend suggested maybe it was an iodine deficiency – then it all clicked. After beginning to consume iodized salt again, the tenderness went away.
Maybe I’m extra-sensitive…and there are other ways to get iodine. Just take caution! It used to be a major problem in the U.S. before the introduction of iodized salt.
(Great blog by the way!)
…”By the way, kosher salt is really misnamed. It is not “kosher” in the sense that observant Jews can eat it, but can’t eat other salts. It’s true name is “koshering salt” because it is traditionally used to salt meats in the kosher butchering process.”…
Thats half correct: Things that are Kosher you can say there “organic”. The reason why Jews shouldn’t eat it is because in the Bible and Torha God said to take care of your body because its Gods Temple. Table salt like Morton Salt is not that good for you. that put Silicate (Aluminium) in it to keep it free flowing. Aluminium risk factor risk is Alzheimer’s disease.
Thanks for your post, but I am afraid you are wrong on 2 counts. First, the silicate added to salt is calcium silicate, which contains no aluminum. Second, it has been known for quite a while that there is no link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s (see my myth on that topic).