Some examples of salt and salt substitutes include table salt, bamboo salt, black salt, coarse salt, fine salt, Hawaiian salt, kosher salt, margarita salt, pickling salt, pretzel salt, rock salt, sea salt, sodium bisulfate, sodium met bisulfate, sodium sulfite. Just like shrimp dishes, there are many different salts. The uses of them have many different forms.
Salt also known as sodium chloride is your typical table salt. This kind of salt has additives like iodine which helps to prevent thyroid disease. It also contains an anti caking agent so the salt won’t get lumpy in humid weather.
Bamboo salt known as parched salt or jukyom or even jook yeom is made by roasting sea salt in bamboo cylinders plugged with yellow mud. The salt absorbs minerals from the bamboo and mud. This in turn leaches the salt of impurities. Most commonly found in Korean markets.
Black salt or kala namak can be found in Indian markets. It is either ground or in lumps. It’s more tan than black in color and has a very strong, sulfuric flavor. It is commonly used in Indian dishes instead of table salt.
Coarse salt, which most call canning salt, is used in recipes calling for finely ground salt, though coarse salt is better for certain things, like making beds for oysters and for lining baking dishes. We think of it most for margaritas though.
Unlike coarse salt, which is coarsely grounded, Fine salt in finely grounded. This is salt that is been grounded into small grains. Most recipes calling for salt, intend for you to use finely ground salt, even though coarse salt is better for certain things. Table salt usually comes finely grounded.
Cooking salt who some call curing salt is used to cure meats and fish. Smithfield foods are a big buyer of cooking salt for their hams. It is usually dyed pink so that it won’t be mistaken for ordinary salt. It consists of 93.75% table salt and 6.25% sodium nitrate.
French sea salt comes from sea water that is pooled into basins and then evaporated. It is unrefined, unlike most American sea salt. French salt consists of many different varieties called gray salt.
Hawaiian salt comes from, you guessed it, Hawaii. Hawaiian salt is also unrefined salt and gets its pinkish-brown color from Hawaiian clay, called ‘alaea, which is rich in iron oxide. The clay also transfers a subtle flavor to the salt.
Kosher salt was developed for the preparation of kosher meats, although many cooks prefer it over table salt. It’s easier to work with because of its coarser grains. It can easily be tossed up into pots or even with your fingers. Professional chefs prefer using kosher salt rather that table salt. Kosher salt is also free of Iodine.
Pretzel salt says it all in its name. Pretzel salt an opaque salt that contain crystals to coat the pretzel.
Rock salt also has many different names. You might call it ice cream salt, halite salt, sidewalk salt, or even land salt. This is a cheap, non food grade salt that we throw into icy walkways and use it to make ice-cream. We don’t actually use it in the ice cream, but rather into the wooden ice-filled bucket that surrounds the ice cream. The salt lowers the freezing point of the ice, which causes it to melt. As it is melting, it is absorbing the heat form the ice cream, helping it to freeze more quickly.
Bay salt which is known as sea salt comes from the evaporated sea water. Bay salt contains minute amounts of magnesium, calcium, and other minerals.
Sodium bisulfate and Sodium sulfate are used to prevent fruit from darkening and losing flavor and vitamins while it’s being dried.
While examining the different kinds of salt, you can see how the different affects of what is going on in the world will affect them. During the winter and summer we seem to use more salt. We use it for snow, ice and even for ice cream. What ever the reason, salt will always play a part in the economy. It is a substance that has many substitutes, and even is used for a compliment with so many things. Salt compliments food, snow, ice, ice cream, canning foods, preserving, hunting, and the lists goes on and on.
As for salt and blood pressure, the National Research Council recommends that adults obtain at least 500 mg of sodium daily, with an upper limit of 2,400 mg daily. The amount of salt, or sodium, in the diet is important for people who have high blood pressure or congestive heart failure.
