A Salty Business

July 2, 2016

Hi, we would like to welcome you to our very first blogpost. It is here that we hope to share some new insights for you to make more informed health choices.

Table, Rock, Sea, Himalayan, Celtic, Kosher – From the supermarket to health stores, from celebrity chefs to your favourite home cooking programs. So is it a matter of taste or nutrition? Is there more to it than their names and colour?

Sea salt is made by the evaporation of sea water. It is basically sodium chloride, like our table salt, but may contain other minerals in trace amounts like iron, potassium and zinc. Sea salt may contain traces of heavy metals like lead if harvested from polluted seas. It may be grey in colour due to presence of “impurities” (compounds other than sodium chloride). The darker the sea salt, the more impure it is.

Himalayan Pink salt is harvested in Pakistan. It is pink because of the presence of iron oxide (which is rust). Claimed to have many health benefits because of its rich mineral content and a slightly lower sodium content than regular salt. However, harmful radioactive materials, like uranium, is not uncommon in Himalayan Pink Salt and has been detected in assay reports.

Celtic salt is considered nutritious because it is harvested as its most natural form, without additives such as bleach or anti-caking agents. It is light-greyish in colour as it contains trace minerals. Its sodium content is also lower than table salt. It is characteristically moist as it is still in its brine-rich state.

Kosher, a salt originally used by the Jews to extract the blood from meat before the meat can be eaten. Kosher salt is particularly efficient in this function due to its coarse and flaky structure.
For taste, some like it better because it is flakier than regular salt and may give food an extra punch when sprinkled on it.
Other than that, there is not much difference as compared to regular salt.

A matter of taste:
How salt plays with your palette, whether it leaves you with a deeper impression than the others, depends on the size of the salt grain. A large grain is going to give you a stronger burst of flavour and will also linger longer on your tongue. But once the salt is dissolved before you taste it, the difference in taste among them is negligible.

The impact on nutrition:
Mineral content is the main reason why some salts are purported to be better than table salt.
True indeed that the mineral content of the different salts differs.
Celtic salt has the least amount of sodium, highest amount of calcium and magnesium as compared to table and Himalayan salt. Himalayan salt on the other hand contains a little potassium.
However, bear in mind that these differences in content are minuscule, and the same trace minerals can be obtained from other foods.