Comments on: Salt is Salt – The Rest is Hype

By: Crazy Uncle Mark

Crazy Uncle Mark — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:59:29 +0000

Actually Mike is correct in that for sea salts the mineral content change the taste dramatically, as well as smoked salt.

More importantly even though the professor is technically correct that NaCl is NaCl, the shape of the crystals, surface area, have a HUGE effect on rate of solubility and chemical reaction with the food - hence why kosher salt is used for rubs and other things - the surface area of the crystals behave differently when marinating, curing, smoking or cooking, so I think the professor was oversimplifying things a good deal, perhaps he did not do enough “lab” work on this one.

Alton Brown did an entire episode on “Good Eats” called “eat this rock” which on Foodnetwork was Episode EASP03 , transcript available here:
((http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/GEFP/index.htm))
Amazon will ship diamond crystal kosher salt.
Good luck and happy cooking!

By: Elisa

Elisa — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 01:56:13 +0000

I would like to know where I can buy Kosher Diamond sea salt. Please help thank you

By: Diane

Diane — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:05:11 +0000

I am commenting from a health stand point. I was told not to use salt because I was retaining an excess of water which caused my blood pressure to shoot up. My ankles looked like tennis balls! I stopped using table salt in cooking, on top of foods and little to no eating out. I was told by another Dr. I wasn’t getting enough salt and to buy sea salt. I use tons more (sea) salt than before and dropped 10 lbs and no more swelling. My blood pressure is great! I wonder what is in table salt that isn’t on the lable? or Why does sea salt work different in the body?
Any answers?

Thanks!

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:55:40 +0000

There’s a tremendous difference between certain types of salt and I agree with David…It’s true, NaCl is NaCl and it is a constant, but if a taste test was performed most people would agree there’s a taste difference in salt. Hey, H2O is H2O but there’s a difference in the taste from brand to brand and state to state!

As for the gourmet salts, well, I have to admit, I use them. I notice a difference in taste when using higher quality and smoked salts used for finishing. If use directly in the cooking process there’s no diffeence, unless the smoked salts are used.

For the record, I don’t consider sea or kosher salt as gourmet. I purchase both at my local supermarket for the purpose of cooking. Finer salts used for finishing which are more pleasing to the palet can be found and bought over the internet.

Great Site!

By: David

David — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 18:39:33 +0000

Actually there is a significant difference in different salts. While it is true that NaCl is a constant, salts contain other chemicals and minerals in addition to NaCl. Sea salt has many minerals and other salts in it, table salt generally has iodine added, kosher salt is generally pure. And when it comes to cooking the way each salt dissolves can be quite important to overall taste of the final dish.