Cooking School - Salt 101 Uses and Types for Vegans

In food preparation, there's no ingredient we appreciate and yet disregard  more than salt. As you know it is one of the five basic tastes which include salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami. Salt has the peculiar property to release tiny food particles into the air which intensifies the aroma of food. This of course is very important to taste and that is why unfortunately the food industry abuses it as a quick shortcut to make food more appealing. Just think of the last time you had a cold and how bland and tasteless food tastes. That’s because you aren’t able to smell it properly. That's why using the right type of salt for the right application becomes so important. Knowing how to use them can help you use less of it and in a healthier manner. 

Many of us say that salt makes food taste better and that’s all there is to it but nothing is farther from the truth.  Salt highlights and suppresses certain flavors when used correctly. In the right amounts, salt suppresses bitterness, but enhances sweet, sour and umami. That’s why salt is used in baking and desserts. Sour flavors also benefit from it just like when you sprinkle salt on lime before you bite into it. If you use more of it, it reduces sweetness and enhances umami, making it a welcome addition to savory dishes.

If you have the opportunity to browse a gourmet spice shop, you’ll learn so much about this amazing ingredient. You may even get lucky and do a salt tasting just like a wine tasting. You’ll find a fascinating diversity of ground styles such as powder, coarse, chunk and flakes in a rainbow of colors ranging from crystalline black, iron red, rose pink, fire red and sea grays. Is it worth it to have so many varieties at home? Well… that depends on how much of a foodie you are. Here is a look at the 12 types of salt we use on a consistent basis at the workshop so you can decide. 

1. Table Salt

Table salt is harvested from salt deposits found underground. It’s also the kind you find more frequently in a box with a fairly inexpensive price tag.  It's highly refined and finely ground. The impurities and trace minerals are removed in the process. It's also treated with an anti-caking agent to keep from clumping such as sodium silicoaluminate or magnesium carbonate. Iodine is added to most table salt to prevent iodine deficiency which commonly happens in much of the world causing hypothyroidism and other illnesses. 

It has too much of our bite and because it’s so refined it makes it the less healthy choice. For this reason we do not use it much in the workshop. It does make a good all purpose use salt but be careful not to use too much.

2. Kosher Salt

Kosher salt or Koshering salt as it’s known in most of the world has a flakier and coarser granule consistency than table salt. Its large grain size makes it perfect for sprinkling on top of dishes, where it releases a surprising blast of flavor every time your tongue interacts with the salt. Because it sparks your tongue in little areas at a time, it keeps food more interesting when consuming it. Kosher salt also dissolves quickly, making it a perfect all-purpose cooking salt. That’s why it’s one of the most used by restaurants in the United States. 

However, kosher salt does not contain any added iodine as a general rule, and only rarely any anti-caking agents which we like because we try to avoid added chemicals to all our foods. Despite the name, all kosher salt is not certified kosher. It's used in a koshering process at the workshop, where surface fluids are removed from vegetables through desiccation. For example, sprinkle it on chopped cucumber and it will extract much of the liquid which gives the cucumber a more luscious flavor.

3. Sea Salt

Sea Salt is harvested by evaporating sea water. You’ll find that sea salt is usually unrefined and a coarser grained than table salt. Because not all ocean water is the same, it will contain some of the minerals indigenous to the harvesting source such as zinc, potassium and iron. This gives the salt a more complex flavor profile.

"Sea salt" used as such  is a pretty broad term. It includes specialty salts described below. This is our finishing salt of choice in the shop. We sprinkle it on top of foods once they’ve been fully cooked or prepared. It gives a very different mouth feel and bigger burst of flavor than table salt

4. Himalayan Pink Salt.

If we could only keep one salt in our workshop it’s hands down Himalayan Pink Salt. It is the purest form of salt in the world because it is harvested by hand from Khewra Salt Mine in the Himalayan Mountains of Pakistan. Depending on the batch it’s color ranges from warm-off-white to deep pink. It is rich in mineral content and it has eighty four natural minerals and elements found in the human body. You’ll find it used even in spas for treatments. The mineral content gives it a bold flavor when compared to many other salts. We recommend using it in both cooking and finishing. We also love it to prepare and garnish libations. Think margarita time! 

5. Celtic Sea Salt

In France is widely known as sel gris, which translates to grey salt. It is found at the bottom ponds created by the tides off the coast of France. It’s crystals are raked out after sinking. Add to that the mineral-rich seawater its extracted from and you get a salt with moist, chunky grains, grey hue and briny taste. When trying to accentuate the taste of “seafood” it is the perfect choice. Another use we give it quite often is in baking.

6. Fleur de Sel

The French documented and named many of the products and terms used in food preparation by popularizing the french names. It literally translates to "flower of salt". It is a sea salt that is hand-harvested from tidal pools off the coast of Brittany in France. It has crystals that are as thin as paper as it is delicately drawn from the water's surface. It’s like skimming fat off of boiling milk. It requires a very sunny day and just the right breeze so the sheet of salt can form and be harvested. This laborious process makes this an expensive salt that has been referred to by many authors as the “caviar of salt”. It runs about $20 a pound for the real thing. You’ll find that it retains moisture, and has bluish-grey tint, due to its high mineral content. If it’s in your budget, use it to add it in preparation and finishing as it will impress your guests. It’s even a great addition to desserts especially caramel or chocolate. 

7 Kala Namak or Black Salt

Kala namak the name comes from Nepalese. It’s really a Himalayan salt that has been prepared with charcoal, herbs, seeds and barks. Once it’s packed in a jar, it gets baked in a furnace for 24 hours before is stored and aged like wine. This process gives Black Salt its reddish and black hue. It is pungent in taste and has a touch of sulfur to it’s aroma. It's often used in savory dishes because it gives a mild eggy taste.

8. Flake Salt

When we need a salt with a low mineral content so it doesn’t overpower other flavors, we use flake salt. It is harvested through different methods such as evaporation or boiling. You’ll find it is thin and irregularly shaped with a bright, salty taste. Its irregular shape helps it dissolve quickly. This is literally like salty pop-rocks bursting with flavor. We use it often to finish dishes. 

9 Black Hawaiian Salt

You may find it also under the label of Lava Salt. Self explanatory, it originates from Hawaii and the volcanic islands gives it a deep black color because of the addition of activated charcoal. Most of us associate it’s taste and coarse grain crunch with the sea. That’s why we use it when we want our dish to have a taste reminiscent of seafood.

10. Red Hawaiian Salt

A counterpart to Black Hawaiian Salt it’s also referred to as Alaea Salt. It is an unrefined product and it gets its color from the iron rich volcanic clay soils of Hawaii. It’s highly priced by the locals and it’s even used in ceremonial cleansing, purification and the blessing of tools. In the workshop we used as an enticing finish that provides a robust flavor to mushroom jerky and potatoes.

11. Smoked Salt

Salt that has been smoked up to two weeks over a wood fire gives it the edge. Common smoking woods include hickory, mesquite, apple, oak or alder wood. It adds an intense and smoky flavor to dishes. One of our favorite uses for it is in bbq sauce. Different brands smoke with different woods and different durations so it’s taste can vary greatly from brand to brand. 

12. Pickling Salt

We had to include it in this discussion even though it’s not really used in cooking but it is used widely in pickling. It contains no iodine or anti-cracking additives. It’s fairly pure that’s why many of the trace minerals of sea salt are not present. It has to be that way because some of these minerals and additives may cause discoloration on the preserved veggie of choice. 

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