Salt 101

"Salt is what makes things taste bad when it isn't in them." - anonymous (as far as I know)

In my cooking adventures over the last... well, many years, I have learned a whole heck of a lot about salt.  It is one of those things that is so basic, many recipes don't even include it in the ingredient list, even though it's essential to that recipe.  Why is salt so damn important?  Are we just addicted to it here in the U.S.?  Let me tell you, most assuredly, that it isn't just addiction.  Although, yes, many of us are.  But it's everywhere because it's so essential. 

When you add salt to foods, it doesn't just make them salty.  Sometimes it might not make them salty at all -- in fact, in many foods, if you can taste the salt, there's too much salt.  There are many different scientific perspectives on the whats and whys of salt.  But one thing on which many scientists agree is that salt sortof "electrically charges" your tastebuds for eating.  If you add a little salt to something, it actually makes that thing taste more like itself.  It enhances virtually any flavor for this reason.  Even sweet flavors are helped along by a slight touch of salt.  In most foods, if you've omitted the salt, your food will be bland, no matter what else you did to it.  Salt helps us taste the flavors of foods.

But salt is bad for us, right?  Well... maybe.  Salt itself is not the problem; Sodium is.  As a preservative, Sodium is found everywhere in our groceries: boxed foods, canned foods, jarred sauces, instant things, all-in-one frozen bags, microwavable dinners, etc.  It's the sodium from these foods that make our diets overfull of the stuff.  The crappy chain restaurants with the college kids in the kitchen that aren't cooking, just reheating frozen and pre-mixed stuff, aren't helping, either.  Do you have any idea how much sodium is in TGI Friday's Alfredo sauce?  Do you know how much sodium it would have if it were made the real way?  "Less" is an understatement.  My point is, that pretty little salt grinder sitting on your dining room table is NOT the culprit.  Stop hating it, and enjoy it.  That huge bag of potato chips soaked in salt (that you really should not have eaten in one sitting.  Ahem.) is way more the criminal here.

There are an endless variety of types of salts, and these days they aren't too hard to get a hold of.  Except, of course, for the price.  Specialty salts can get super expensive.  Are they worth it?  Well that's all relative.  If you feel like you really need to have a certain type of salt and it's worth it to you to spend 17 dollars an ounce, then go for it.  But for a gourmet meal, you absolutely don't have to.  The salts available to everyone at the grocery store for cheap are great.  People eons ago waited for the salt caravans to come so they could get blocks of salt harvested from the salt flats, and paid an amazing sum to get them.  Now salts, like spices, are widely available, and we can all get as much as we could ever want.  Aren't we lucky?

Regular old table salt in the blue paper canister is in most of our kitchens.  You know, the iodized kind.  But why is it iodized?  This has to do with health.  Remember how you vaguely recall being told in elementary school that a hundred years ago there were a ton of diseases that we don't have to worry about anymore?  Well some of that is due to iodized salt.  Table salt would normally not be iodized except that long ago they discovered that iodine helps prevent some diseases.  One by one, places started putting iodine in their salt as a way for everybody - since everybody uses salt - to get iodine in their diet for cheap.  Now we don't have to worry much about our iodine intake, thanks to salt.

But table salt is not the only salt out there, and iodine isn't great for all salt applications.  You can still get regular ol' table salt without the iodine in it, for whatever reason, and salts for brines and pickles are also iodine-free, as that's no good for that application.  One very popular salt is kosher salt.  This salt is not actually kosher (unless there is the little kosher mark on the box), but is instead is the type of salt used in the making of kosher foods.  Kosher salt is preferred by many chefs and cooks because of it's large size and crystalline structure.  For example, it's pretty and noticeable, so it's nice as a finishing salt. 

 Lately, unrefined and specialty salts have been making an interesting blip on the culinary radar.  Fleur de Sel has been around a while, but now there are so many other types of unrefined sea salts around that it's hard to keep track.  I've come across black Hawaiian sea salts, pink Hawaiian sea salts, various river salts, smoked salts, truffle salts, Asian salts, South American salts.  The list is never-ending.  Do you need them?  Well, that's up to you.  Having a combo of Kosher and regular table salt in your kitchen will probably allow you to do anything with salt you wanted to do.  But, it can be pretty to have a nice grinder of beautiful sea salt on a table.  Or, if you taste a salt and think it would be perfect for the dry rub on your chicken, go for it. 

One nice option if you want to find some interesting salts but don't know what you would use or what you'd even like, is to find a local spice shop that allows sampling.  We are lucky here that we have Savory Spice Shops, who carry several types of salt and always let us try them out before buying.  But there are plenty of places across the country that sell spices this way.  Look around, you may be surprised.  Just go in and find the salts, and give a few a try, not unlike tasting wine.  Have some water and maybe a few (unstalted) crackers with you so that you can clear your palate (i.e., rinse the flavor out of your mouth) between each sample.  Just put a little in your palm and use your finger to put some on your tongue.  If you find one you love, get a little.  Sometimes it's not about flavor but about the look you want to put on your dining room table.  That's fine, too.  There's nothing wrong with enjoying food because of it's appearance.  Whatever you like, it's all good.

One example of a specialty salt: Hickory-smoked salt, the kind that's actually smoked instead of fake flavor just added.  It's often very strong and therefore doesn't have a lot of applications it won't overwhelm.  When used very sparingly or mixed with another "plain" salt, however, you can add a touch of smoke flavor to some dishes.  The bonus here is, that means you don't have to buy very much of the expensive smoked salt... a tiny baggie has lasted me for months.

Speaking of baggies, you should make sure you are storing your salts the right way.  Like most spices, it is best to keep salt in a closed contatiner in a cool, dark space, and away from humidity.  Don't keep your salt (or your spices) right above your stove; while convenient, that heat-cool-heat-cool process ruins your spices and salt much much faster.  For that reason, I don't like to use humongous salt and pepper shakers.  Use a nice small-ish one and refill it more often, keeping the refills tucked away from the heat and light of the counter or dinner table, and it'll be fresher longer.

This is some of what I've learned about salt(s) over the years.  Some of it may be old hat to many of you, but hopefully somebody learned something.  And remember - don't leave salt out of your dishes!  Whatever you are cooking, salt makes it more yummy.

Happy eating!