What exactly are the (supposed) advantages of using sea salt in place of ordinary salt in foods? I just saw a commercial for Campbell’s Soup where they substituted it in their low-sodium soup. Sea salt obviously isn’t non-sodium. So what are the advantages?
Thank you in advance to all who reply 
There are lots of different types of gourmet salts and the market is growing. They certainly aren’t any better for you but they do taste a little differently and have different textures than your standard Mortons. Sea salt tastes a little like the sea and usually has much bigger grains generally speaking.
No, it isn’t non-sodium, but it is lower sodium. Sea salts typically contain higher percentages of magnesium chloride and potassium chloride to sodium chloride than those found in mined salt. You also typically get other minerals not found in mined salt and so sea salts present different taste and micronutrient profiles than mined salt.
Sea salt and kosher salt are (usually) not iodized. I can taste a distinct difference between them, with the iodized table salt having a strong chemical flavor when compared with the other two.
*I only eat good sea salt
White sugar don’t touch my lips
And my friends are always begging me to take them
On macrobiotic trips
In the daytime I’m Mr. Natural
Just as healthy as I can be
But at night I’m a junk food junkie
Good Lord, have pity on me*
– Larry Groce, ‘Junk Food Junkie’
Real-life difference: Sea salt crystals are shaped differently and are larger, so when you sprinkle it on top of food just before serving (so it doesn’t dissolve), the taste and texture will be nicer than table salt would be.
Of course, if it’s dissolved, the differences between the types of salt go away.
So the advantage for Campbell’s is just that it sounds schmancier, hence will hopefully improve sales.
Exactly. Chemically, they are identical.
Now there is a rather rare sort of sea-salt called “grey” salt, which isn’t cleaned and purified as much as regular sea salt. It can only come from a few special locations. There is a slightly different taste to it. It does appear grey.
Now, what Chefguy said is also true- *Iodized *salt does have a slightly differnt taste than non-iodized. But you can get both rock and sea salt in iodized and non-iodized forms. You can specify either.
Thus, in soup, there is no difference other than the word “sea”. :rolleyes:
Basically true, though sea salt may contain flavor-altering minerals that are not found in rock salt. This is true for several varieties of sea salt other than “grey” salt.
Aren’t all salt deposits (aka “Rock” salt) actually from ancient sea beds? Shouldn’t rock salt be pretty similar to modern “sea salt”.
Incidentally, i have seen sea salt evaporation ponds (in Brazil)-it looks pretty disgusting to me! Just flat ponds with bird and bugs walking through them-yechh!
At least rock salt doesn’t come with all the added organics!
Not necessarily.
I spent 5 years working for the company that now owns Morton’s, but the salt business happens to be the only one I never touched directly. The realization that “our” salt was mined instead of evaporated hit me like a brick - in Spain it’s always from the sea! And it can be fine grain (similar to regular Morton’s) or coarse grain, which is the one HH is talking about. It can also be iodine-added, but it naturally has some potassium and iodine.
This is my idea of what a “salt plant” looks like. Shallow basins, let the sea fill them, wait till the water evaporates, grind it to the desired texture. We’ve been doing it like that for several thousand years…
Ever seen a vegetable garden?
Be nice to the townie, Swan. I think he’s related to my classmate who almost had to run and puke when she found out potatoes were roots…
Not in the USA. It only can contain NaCl + Iodine.
yes, in fact i have one. the difference-I wash the veggies-I don’t feel like EATING the added bird shite!
The salt mined is identical to sea salt, and underwent the same process, just on a larger scale and less recently.
There are preferences in granularity, though difference in taste. The flavor of salt comes from the chlorine ion, and the 2% difference in elements in sea salt is hardly enough to overwhelm that.
Salt is salt is salt is salt. It all tastes the same. There may be reasons for finer (picking salt needs to dissolve quicker) and coarser grinds (chefs prefer kosher salt because they like the way they can sprinkle it easily with their fingers), but taste has nothing to do with it, and once its added to a recipe no human being can tell the difference.
Sea salt is sold because its manufacturers can make a bigger profit with it than with regular salt.
Then why does the bottle I am holding in my hand say:
“…sea salt retains calcium, potassium, magnesium, copper, iron & iodine…”
What makes you think that you are eating it in salt?
This is consistent with everything I have heard about Sea Salt.
But you do eat it. It becomes part of the veggies, and not just on the outside.