# Kosher salt, not Jewish, why should I?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 21, 2017, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263 "2017-08-21T07:03:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/21 "2017-08-21T21:28:59Z")
At work I had a woman ask me if the salt was “fresh”.
I wasn’t sure I heard that right so I asked her to repeat. She wanted to know the salt was fresh and not stale. She couldn’t find a “best by [date]” on it, or anything of the sort, so she wanted to know it was fresh. Also, how long would it remain good to eat.
:smack:
It’s a freakin’ ROCK, lady! I’m not sure what she wanted here: “Yes, ma’am, this was mined by barefoot monks last new moon, you can’t get fresher than that!” or “Ma’am, this salt will remain wholesome until the heat death of universe.”
_It’s a rock!_
I was expecting her to ask if it was organic next, but alas, she disappointed me…
And Himalayan pink salt is pink due to impurities in the sodium chloride deposit from which it is mined. It’s about 95-98% sodium chloride i.e. “salt”, with the remainder being mostly potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, oxygen, hydrogen (I’m guessing those two are mostly in the form of water), fluoride, iodine, and a lot of “traces” of [just about everything else in the periodic table](https://themeadow.com/pages/minerals-in-himalayan-pink-salt-spectral-analysis) although I’m guessing that anything listed as \<0.001 ppm in that link can probably be translated as “not in the sample”.
I doubt very much that it’s any better or worse for you health wise than pure white table salt, and possibly a lot better than some of the dodgy ways salt has been obtained in the past.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/22 "2017-08-21T21:32:06Z")
> [@kambuckta](#):
>
> (where’s the little jewish smiley-fella when you need him?) 🙂
Didn’t he get banned? (Or am I thinking about the ‘putz’ one?)
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### Author:  [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/23 "2017-08-21T22:13:01Z")
> [@jz78817](#):
>
> crystals of NaCl are actually clear at first, then abrasion and moisture absorption make them cloudy over time.
But not pink, right? Cloudy white.
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### Author:  [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/24 "2017-08-21T22:15:36Z")
I bought the pink salt because I thought it would look nice as a finish on some foods. And besides it was Costco so it wasn’t expensive.
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### Author:  [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2017, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/25 "2017-08-21T22:32:13Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> I wasn’t sure I heard that right so I asked her to repeat. She wanted to know the salt was fresh and not stale. She couldn’t find a “best by [date]” on it, or anything of the sort, so she wanted to know it was fresh. Also, how long would it remain good to eat.
I own a container of salt with a “Best By” date on it. It’s 5 years past that date now, and eating it hasn’t killed me yet…
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/26 "2017-08-21T23:21:01Z")
> [@Rysto](#):
>
> I own a container of salt with a “Best By” date on it. It’s 5 years past that date now, and eating it hasn’t killed me yet…
salt _is_ hygroscopic (absorbs moisture from the air) which is what causes it to clump. but I highly doubt it could absorb enough for anything to start growing on it.
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### Author:  [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/27 "2017-08-22T00:48:03Z")
Kosher salt is for removing the blood from meat. I’ve always suspected most Leviticus diatary laws were invented by someone with OCD who was just easily skeeved out by food. “The peas shalt not touch the mashed potatoes. it is abomination to you.”
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/28 "2017-08-22T01:56:16Z")
> [@jz78817](#):
>
> salt _is_ hygroscopic (absorbs moisture from the air) which is what causes it to clump. but I highly doubt it could absorb enough for anything to start growing on it.
I think food producers are now legally required to stamp some sort of date on things, but in some cases it’s quite arbitrary - canned goods, for instance. Most of them seem to have a 2-year expiration date but really they’ll stay good longer than that. Some of the Mountain House freeze-dried foods have a _thirty year_ shelf life, which is hilarious when a customer comes up saying “there must be some mistake… this says it’s good until 2045…?” Yes, yes it is as long as the packaging is intact.
There probably is some extremophile critter that can survive in (nearly) pure salt, but if so, it probably couldn’t survive the normal, relatively un-salted interior of you so no health hazard there.
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### Author:  [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2017, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/29 "2017-08-22T12:23:01Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> I think food producers are now legally required to stamp some sort of date on things
Nope, putting dates on things is at the discretion of the manufacturers.
> [@FDA](#):
>
> FDA does not require food firms to place “expired by”, “use by” or “best before” dates on food products. This information is entirely at the discretion of the manufacturer.
[https://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/transparency/basics/ucm210073.htm](https://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/transparency/basics/ucm210073.htm)
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### Author:  [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2017, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/30 "2017-08-22T14:14:00Z")
The salt in the friendly mountains is guaranteed for a few 10,000 years.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2017, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/31 "2017-08-22T14:20:33Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Naah, that sounds like _[Kala namak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kala_namak)_. Hawaiian black salt/“lava salt” is [salt with added charcoal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_salt#/media/File:Black_Salt.jpg). It’s used for decoration, I wouldn’t cook with the stuff.
Yeah, kala namak (literally, “black salt”) is used in South Asia, especially salted snack foods, where it imparts a distinctive eggy taste because of its sulfur content. As far as salts go, this one does need be treated as quite different from normal NaCl. It’s like the difference between filtered water and sulfurous well water (if you’ve ever experienced it.)
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### Author:  [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/32 "2017-08-22T14:55:57Z")
I have never thought sulfur a desirable smell/taste/internal feeling; which just goes to show that we are not all the same, you and I.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/33 "2017-08-22T16:06:26Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#):
>
> I have never thought sulfur a desirable smell/taste/internal feeling; which just goes to show that we are not all the same, you and I.
It’s basically “eggy.” There’s plenty of sulfurous foods that are delicious: onions, eggs, garlic, cabbage (the brassicas in general), etc. Kala namak is definitely more on the eggy side of sulfurous, but all those others have a sulfur flavor to them, as well.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/34 "2017-08-22T16:18:49Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#):
>
> Nope, putting dates on things is at the discretion of the manufacturers.
I suppose that would explain why that salt container my customer had lacked a date…
Still, people in the US have come to expect them, whether they are required or not. One thing working retail teaches you is that there are a lot of not very smart and not very informed people out there.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kosher-salt-not-jewish-why-should-i/794263/35 "2017-08-23T18:19:08Z")
The size of the grain won’t affect packing density at all, but the shape can.
Neither the size nor the shape of the grain will matter at all if it’s dissolved, but not all salted foods have the salt dissolved. A big pretzel wouldn’t be the same with small-grained salt as with large-grained.
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