I "get" grinding pepper. But grinding salt?

Cafe Society
41

Although I haven’t yet achieved your same level of refinement regarding salt, I am working on it. I only purchase Alae or other Hawaiian sea salt. I’m not sure if I would discern the differences between that and, say, Morton’s Table Salt, in various dishes. But I like the aesthetic experience of using Alae salt during the food prep process, regardless of whether my tongue knows the difference when it’s all done.

I also like to collect and purify my own salt - there are certain Hawai’i Island beaches that are excellent for collecting sea salt at certain times of year. It’s a pretty insane thing to do, I guess, but it’s fun! And there is a certain satisfaction in using salt that I collected myself.

42

It’s purely an appearance thing. There’s no culinary use for coarse ground spherical salt which is what comes out of a grinder. All coarse salt used in cooking is flat flakes which can’t be produced from a grinder. There might be some limited use in being able to produce extra fine salt on demand like for popcorn or fried foods but almost no salt shakers I’ve seen can go that fine and the quantity they produce at the finest grind settings is too miniscule to be practical.

That being said, appearance is not nothing. Lots of people I know just feel fancier grinding salt from a shaker and who is anyone to tell them they’re doing it wrong if it’s something that makes them enjoy the food more?

43

One of the things I’ve noticed with normal table salt is that it can taste a little chemically - and researching the topic reveals that it does, indeed, contain additives, designed to stop it clumping. Seasalt, or crystallised rock salt, are pure.

I don’t use a salt grinder, but I do use flaked seasalt (I think what Americans would commonly call Kosher salt). I favour Maldon’s.

44

When I was a child in the 1940s we lived in West Africa which, being sub-tropical, could be pretty humid.

We did not have salt shakers, but salt was put on the table in a small bowl with a tiny spoon. Sometimes it was almost set solid and the cry would go up - “Salt’s damp, sack the cook.” I had no idea at the time, but I assume that this may have come from some radio show or maybe from music hall back in England. Does anyone know?

45

Kosher salt is different than flaked sea salt. It’s just a type of large grained rock salt. We have flaked sea salt here, too. I’m pretty sure I have a box of Maldon around somewhere.

46

Ah, good to know. Any idea why it’s called Kosher salt? Always intrigued me.

47

As I understand it, because it’s used to kosher meats. I guess the large grains are better at drawing out the blood/moisture, which is part of the koshering process.

48

I agree a large part of this is to have symmetry between pepper grinders and a marketing gimmick. Obviously size, shape and their influence on texture play a role in the gourmet use of salt, but they have similar taste.
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When boxes of cake and cookie mix were invented, the marketers discovered that although they could put everything in the box so only water needed to be added, sales were better if consumers added their own milk or egg. They tasted the same, but consumers supposedly felt more involved and the product was more homemade. This popular story has always struck me as being partly true with a bit of puffery. I would bet adding milk and egg does make a. better product, and adding these ingredients in dry form would increase costs considerably, which is also a big factor.

But getting people involved, even by grinding their own salt, may make the eater feel it is higher quality or they are involved, and psychologically make this seem true - if you believe wine is more expensive you may give it higher taste ratings. Psychology tests suggest the same food served in gourmet restaurants on fine china gets better marks there than in the cafeteria. These things are silly but still influence people.

It’s not like the black or pink salt people, Himalayan salts people, sea salt people are above a little marketing. All are crystals of the same chemical.

49

Black salt (kala namak) is quite distinct and would not be confused with the other salts. There is a strong sulfur component to it, and I would only use it in certain dishes where that eggy flavor is desirable.

50

Try this:

51

Not that fancy. I have a cheap plastic set of salt and pepper grinders that I got at the dollar store.

I suspect that symmetry has a lot to do with it (as @Tibby suggested). Salt and pepper shakers traditionally come in pairs, and are made to look either alike or complementary. So if you’re going to put a pepper grinder on the table, why not have a salt grinder too.

52

“There might be some limited use in being able to produce extra fine salt on demand like for popcorn or fried foods but almost no salt shakers I’ve seen can go that fine and the quantity they produce at the finest grind settings is too miniscule to be practical.”

I don’t claim to be a super taster or gourmet in any sense, but this lends credence to to the idea that grinding salt changes the flavor profile by changing the surface area and amount of salt touching the tongue. Depending on my mood, I’ll use either coarse grain salt (Hawaiian alae) or ground salt on my hard boiled eggs, of which the white is rather bland. As I stated above, to my tongue, ground salt is less harsh (sweeter), in part because I’m probably using less for the same amount of surface area.

I just remembered that the salt on *Soko Ga Shiratai" I memtioned above was flaked sea salt and the chef rubbed it in his hands to different degrees of fineness and it was the fineness “grind” that the reporter found the sweetest. Which may have influenced my perception of the difference between the coarse and ground version.

Can I test the difference once added and dissolved in food? No. But I do notice when I add my non-ground salt to my cooking, especially liquids, I need to wait a while for the crystals to fully melt or there’s salt bombs in some spoonfuls.

As an aside, somewhat related, having eaten short grain rice all my life, I can definitely taste the difference between high quality rice like Kokuho Rose and regular calrose, despite what non-regular rice eaters often say.

High quality has a sweetness and less starchy flavor. I once bought a new brand of low priced calrose rice and it had a distinct off putting wood flavor. It was the first and only time in my life I’ve ever thrown away a bag of rice. Sacrilege for an Asian. “Every grain is a farmer’s tear.”

Note that I’m not talking about mochi rice, which is much sweeter and starchier, and completely different than regular table rice

"One of the things I’ve noticed with normal table salt is that it can taste a little chemically - and researching the topic reveals that it does, indeed, contain additives, designed to stop it clumping. . Seasalt, or crystallised rock salt, are pure".*

Iodine, as in iodized salt is the primary additive (iodine is an essential dietary chemical), but then requires an additive like calcium silicate or sodium ferrocyanide to prevent caking. Sodium ferrocyanide can change into cyanide!* GASP LOL

Morton’s Coarse Kosher Salt contains sodium ferrocyanide [Na4Fe(CN)6]as an anticaking agent , which can decompose in acid to give cyanide, but the concentration is 0.0013%, so low that it can’t be a problem.

*From this article with lots of interesting salt facts: https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/General_Chemistry/Book%3A_ChemPRIME_(Moore_et_al.)/02%3A_Atoms_Molecules_and_Chemical_Reactions/2.12%3A_Formulas_and_Composition/2.12.04%3A_Foods_-_Salt_Additives

Sea salt is far from pure sodium chloride. It contains dissolved numerous minerals from the sea or ocean from which it originated and to my taste buds, with at least Hawaiian sea salt is different. I suspect one of these (or other additives) to be the source of the bitterness I perceive in iodized salt compared to non-iodized. Yes, Morton makes a non-iodized version, which in my experience, you find out after your container of salt hardens in a clump.

Black salt and other colored salts contain impurities other than sodium and chloride that gives it the color and flavor.

53

As others have stated, I don’t consider salt grinders fancy because they’re the same price as regular salt shakers. Some people might grind salt for “appearances” but I’ve definitely noticed one practical difference. It’s much easier for me to control the amount of salt I’m adding to dishes when I use a grinder. This only applies to things like sauces, stews, soups, veggie dishes, cod fish, steaks, and anything else that I season to taste. I use regular salt for baking and whenever I need an exact measurement.

54

I agree different salts can have impurities affecting colour and chemical composition. I just think these are too small to much affect the flavour. However, most chefs think adding salt during cooking produces much better results than at the table. I am sure they have good reason, it mixes better, probably, and reacts with more ingredients.

55

Agreed. Impurities are inevitable in food, but most pose no health risk, or degradation of flavor, particularly in the concentrations you’re likely to encounter. If it doesn’t hurt me or taste bad, I don’t worry about it. Some impurities even enhance flavor.

Heck, you could hand me a glass of water with visible non-lethal vermin suspended throughout and if I’m thirsty, I’ll just drink around them.

…unless the vermin are spiders. I don’t want anything to do with spiders.

56

My wife recently got a piece of junk mail from some environmentalist group or other and they had printed a spider on the envelope. I had to go down to the street and pick up all the mail that she threw down when she saw it. “Who fucking does that?!” was her repeated line. She’s big into green causes, but that group ain’t getting any money from her - ever.

57

I need to up my

salt game. Get in on

that good grind A crunch

of salt flake a finishing

touch I Like it

On Chocolate

58

Yeah, I don’t have any personal grudges against spiders. They are industrious little animacules and they’re good at killing and wrapping up insect pests. I would just prefer that they live on a different planet than me.

59

They probably wanted to separate the wheat from the chaff and only attract the REAL environmentalists who like ALL critters.

60

Once again, not in the case of black salt/kala namak. That totally adds an extra flavor to any dish and is detectable a mile away. It is a crucial component of chaat masala, an Indian spice mix that is typically used on chaat (various types of snacks) and is immediately detectable in that mixture. Kala namak is funky.