# What's your salt?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 7, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625 "2004-12-07T21:50:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/21 "2004-12-08T04:15:51Z")
Coarse. Kosher. In a Salt Cellar. Thanks [AB!](http://www.altonbrown.com/)
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### Author:  [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/22 "2004-12-08T04:17:47Z")
I use aquarium salt in my salt water aquarium.
Beyond that, I’ve never found a use for salt.
I would say pepper or garlic is my salt. 😃
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/23 "2004-12-08T04:30:34Z")
I always keep Sea salt (Fleur de sel actually), Table salt and kosher salt in the house as well as one I haven’t seen mentioned yet: pocarn salt.
Popcorn salt is just table salt but its a much finer grain - sticks MUCH better to things like fried foods (french fries are MUCh better with popcorn salt) and, well, popcorn.
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### Author:  [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/24 "2004-12-08T04:55:09Z")
I use kosher for cooking, baking, and seasoning because its larger size means that it is less salty per volume, so there is more leeway for error.
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### Author:  [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/25 "2004-12-08T05:17:41Z")
Morton’s Iodized. We hardly ever use salt (don’t even own a salt shaker), a canister lasts us years.
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### Author:  [@ihsus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ihsus)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/26 "2004-12-08T06:31:28Z")
Excuse me if it’s a bit off topic, anyway we have Jane’s Krazy Mixed-Up Salt at home and it goes very well with almost anything.
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### Author:  [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/27 "2004-12-08T11:24:31Z")
> [@ihsus](#):
>
> Excuse me if it’s a bit off topic, anyway we have Jane’s Krazy Mixed-Up Salt at home and it goes very well with almost anything.
Yep. That’s pretty good stuff. I don’t use it very often, because my food would tend to all have the same background taste. It’s great on roasted chicken.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/28 "2004-12-08T13:35:36Z")
Er, okay, I’ll bite. How is normal salt non-kosher? Is it crystallised out from ground-up hog juice, or something? 😕
Oh, by the way, just a chemistry nitpick:
> [@bouv](#):
>
> Even if something nasty got in there, it would almost certainly die from the low pH…
Salt doesn’t have a low pH. It’s not acidic - it’s a salt, which is produced from the reaction between a strong acid (NaOH) and a strong base (HCl). Therefore, it is pH neutral in solution.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/29 "2004-12-08T13:59:42Z")
I don’t use salt (except for potato latkes). Other than that and some other potato dishes, I’ve never found a recipe where it was necessary. Never add it at the table; we usually have to do a search when a guest comes over and asks for a salt shaker.
As far as type, I get the cheapest available.
Basic Science Fact:
NaCl = NaCl = NaCl
There is no difference in flavor between one salt or another. All are nearly pure NaCl. There can be a difference in grain\*, but once the salt dissoves in a recipe, there is absolutely no way to tell one type of salt from another.
\*The preference for kosher salt by some cooks is simply because the larger grains make it easier to put into a recipe with your fingers – you can control them better and they don’t stick to your fingers as much.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/30 "2004-12-08T15:49:05Z")
> [@Colophon](#):
>
> Er, okay, I’ll bite. How is normal salt non-kosher? Is it crystallised out from ground-up hog juice, or something? 😕
It’s not actually “kosher” salt, but more properly “koshering” salt. It’s salt used for cooking kosher foods. The salt itself is not kosher.
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### Author:  [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/31 "2004-12-08T16:22:20Z")
Is it wrong to use kosher salt on pork? What about on fried clams?
Just askin’, is all…
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### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/32 "2004-12-08T16:33:51Z")
Good old store brand iodized salt. 40 cents for a 26 oz. cannister.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/33 "2004-12-08T17:04:26Z")
Real sea salt has iodine - it doesn’t need to be added unless the processing process removes the iodine. I use [Redmond RealSalt](http://www.realsalt.com/) , which is not bleached, heated dried or chemicalized. It’s from a salt flat in south central Utah, and it’s the best tasting salt I’ve ever had. It’s not too salty, if that makes any sense. It has a well rounded taste that is quite different from Morton’s. It contains 98.32% Sodium chloride, and trace amounts of calcium, potassium, sulphur, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, iodine, manganese, copper and zinc. It’s not even white!
Too much iodine can [cause goiters](http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/section1/chapter4/4c.jsp) , as well as too little.
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### Author:  [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/34 "2004-12-08T18:10:40Z")
I’m a sourdough bread baker, I use sea salt for that. (Sea salt doesn’t have the anti clumping compound that regular salt does).
We have kosher salt for other cooking or brining needs…and regular Mortons salt for general stove top cooking.
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### Author:  [@myrnajean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myrnajean)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/35 "2004-12-08T23:11:49Z")
Why would anyone want salt that wasn’t salty? Why not just put flour on your french fries then? :dubious:
I’ve had the unsalty salt, it just makes me use twice as much.
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### Author:  [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/36 "2004-12-08T23:23:35Z")
My wife, who’s into cooking, has several kinds of salt in the pantry. Other than grain size, for the life of me I can’t tell the difference. So I stick with Morton’s iodized, so as not to get a goiter.
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### Author:  [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/37 "2004-12-09T00:00:24Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Basic Science Fact:
>
> NaCl = NaCl = NaCl
>
> There is no difference in flavor between one salt or another. All are nearly pure NaCl. There can be a difference in grain\*, but once the salt dissoves in a recipe, there is absolutely no way to tell one type of salt from another.
I think that’s true if all the salts on the market were pure NaCl - which they’re not - they are made up of a number of other minerals, including iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc and iodine. Some salts like Grey Salt from France is light grey, which comes from the clay found in the salt flats, while others are red, green or black - the colour is a giveaway that it’s not pure NaCl.
So if you compare different salts, you will get different flavours - in fact a cooking magazine here did a salt taste test last year, and noted really different flavours between brands.
I use Maldon’s sea salt flakes btw.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/38 "2004-12-09T00:14:13Z")
> [@Casey1505](#):
>
> Good old store brand iodized salt. 40 cents for a 26 oz. cannister.
So _that’s_ what you guys mean by “cannister”? the round cardboard package most salt is sold in.
:rolleyes: (At me.)
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/39 "2004-12-09T01:29:50Z")
> [@kelly5078](#):
>
> My wife, who’s into cooking, has several kinds of salt in the pantry. Other than grain size, for the life of me I can’t tell the difference. So I stick with Morton’s iodized, so as not to get a goiter.
**JESUS CHRIST, PEOPLE, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GET A GODDAMN GOITER BECAUSE YOU DON’T EAT IODIZED SALT ON YOUR FOOD!**
Thanks, I feel much better now; but please read the thread before repeatedly posting this sort of nonsense.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-salt/278625/40 "2004-12-09T02:01:18Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> **JESUS CHRIST, PEOPLE, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GET A GODDAMN GOITER BECAUSE YOU DON’T EAT IODIZED SALT ON YOUR FOOD!**
> Thanks, I feel much better now; but please read the thread before repeatedly posting this sort of nonsense.
Now you went and made The Baby Jesus frown. 😉
But hey, I just asked (up there, somewhere).
Common wisdom, back in the day, was that if you lived _near_ a large body of salt water, you were probably ok. Otherwise, iodized salt was a good idea.
Do you have a reliable source to back up your, ahem, tirade? 😛
Love ya anyway, **Chefguy**.
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