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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Volga bomb here. Salt is perhaps the

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Speaker 1: most used seasoning in the world. It's also a food preservative,

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Speaker 1: and most of us use it every day without really

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Speaker 1: thinking about it. But some recipes call for different kinds

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Speaker 1: of salt, from kosher salt to flaked sea salt, to

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Speaker 1: pink or black salt. But is it really important which

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Speaker 1: one you use. All of the salt that we eat

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Speaker 1: is at its base the same crystalline mineral compound sodium chloride,

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Speaker 1: but in specialty spice shops and other cooking stores you

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Speaker 1: can find dozens or over a hundred types of salt.

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Speaker 1: Even these are produced in different regions and in different ways.

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Speaker 1: Salt comes from all over the world and is either

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Speaker 1: mined or evaporated from seas, oceans, and salt lakes. And

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Speaker 1: just like terroir makes a difference in how wine tastes,

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Speaker 1: place and source explain why salts have different flavors and

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Speaker 1: colors and us is and so, just like all wine

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Speaker 1: is fruity, it comes from grapes. After all, all salt

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Speaker 1: is salty. But there's more to it than that. Table salt.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps the most common variety, and what's in most salt

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Speaker 1: shakers is also the most processed. It's mind either brought

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Speaker 1: up as rocks, as in rock salt, or dissolved underground

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Speaker 1: and then evaporated later. Table salt is treated to have

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Speaker 1: fine grains and to avoid caking. It's also often fortified

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Speaker 1: with iodine, chemical that our bodies don't make, but that's

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Speaker 1: essential for proper thyroid function. In the US, the practice

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Speaker 1: of iodizing salt began in the nineteen twenties as an

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Speaker 1: inexpensive and effective means of combating iodine efficiencies, which are

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Speaker 1: common in many spots around the globe. Kosher salt is

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Speaker 1: also usually mined, but it comes in larger crystals than

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Speaker 1: table salt, and the crystals are flaky and course, and

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Speaker 1: this makes them great at drawing out moisture for meat.

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Speaker 1: Kosher salt got its name because of a Jewish kosher

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Speaker 1: tradition requiring all meat to have the blood removed before eating.

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Speaker 1: Since this type of salt can do that easily, it

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Speaker 1: became known as kosher salt. Most kosher salt is not iodized,

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Speaker 1: nor does it typically contain anti caking additives. Since the

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Speaker 1: crystals are larger it's these larger crystals that make kosher

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Speaker 1: salt favored by some chefs, who find it easy to

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Speaker 1: pick up with their fingers and sprinkle over food. Larger

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Speaker 1: crystals are also a little easier to control, which means

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Speaker 1: less over or under salting. A Many chefs also feel

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Speaker 1: that iodised salt has an off putting flavor. Meanwhile, there

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Speaker 1: is a wide variety of sea salts, and the flavors

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Speaker 1: of that salt can vary based on where the salt

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Speaker 1: water was obtained. A most grocery store sea salt is

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Speaker 1: evaporated through man made means instead of naturally, but more

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Speaker 1: expensive sea salts come from shallow pits or pans of

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Speaker 1: sea salt that are allowed to evaporate naturally, and the

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Speaker 1: salt crystals are then harvested. A salt from the top

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Speaker 1: of the pans is usually white and neutral and flavor,

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Speaker 1: such as Florida. Cell salt from the bottom of the

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Speaker 1: pans usually has some color and more nuanced flavor due

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Speaker 1: to extra compounds in the salt picked up from the

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Speaker 1: water or the pans, such as cell gree or gray

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Speaker 1: sea salt. The sea salt produced via natural evaporation can

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Speaker 1: also have a variety of textures. For example, Maldon Sea salt,

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Speaker 1: which comes from England's East coast, is known for its wide, flat, fragile,

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Speaker 1: crunchy flakes. But mind salt can also have different colors

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Speaker 1: and flavors based on where it comes from. For example,

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Speaker 1: Himalayan pink salt comes from a mine in Pakistan that's

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Speaker 1: the second largest salt mine in the world and one

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Speaker 1: of the oldest. It's believed that Alexander the Great discovered

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Speaker 1: the location circuit three D and twenty b C, and

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Speaker 1: the pink color comes from traces of rust in the salt. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: black salts are made by adding charcoal of some kind

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Speaker 1: during production. Hawaiian black lava salt incorporates coconut charcoal, Cypress

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Speaker 1: black flake salt uses soft woods from the area, and

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Speaker 1: smoked salt can be made by evaporating the water out

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Speaker 1: of salt water or over smoky fire. The added compounds

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Speaker 1: in these salts can change the taste. Smoked salt in

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Speaker 1: particular has a powerful flavor, but there's more to our

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Speaker 1: flavor experience of salt than taste alone. For one of

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Speaker 1: the articles this episode is based on how Stuff Works.

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Speaker 1: Spoke via email care and Page, co author of The

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Speaker 1: Flavor Bible with Andrew Dornenburg, Page said the texture is

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Speaker 1: a key aspect of mouth feel, though, which is often

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Speaker 1: a function of the size of the salt grain. Very

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Speaker 1: fine grains will melt into a dish more easily, while

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Speaker 1: crunchy coarse grains will add texture to the dish. Think

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Speaker 1: about how the coarse salt adds to the crunchiness and

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Speaker 1: deliciousness of a hard pretzel. The size of the salt

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Speaker 1: grain also makes difference in how the salt is used.

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Speaker 1: A fine salt is more often used during the cooking process,

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Speaker 1: while larger grain salt is sometimes used just before serving,

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Speaker 1: what chefs call finishing salt. Page explained finishing salts are

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Speaker 1: those whose flavor and texture are not enhanced by the

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Speaker 1: cooking process and should be added at the very last

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Speaker 1: minute to a dish. If you're in a jam, you

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Speaker 1: certainly can swap different types of salt for each other,

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Speaker 1: just beware of the quantity you're using, as you can't

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Speaker 1: substitute one for the other at a one to one

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Speaker 1: ratio most of the time. Due to the difference in

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Speaker 1: grain sizes, More table salt would fit into a teaspoon, say,

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Speaker 1: than kosher or flaky sea salt. So you need to

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Speaker 1: use more kosher or flaked salt if you're swapping it

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Speaker 1: for table salt, or use less table salt if you're

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Speaker 1: substituting it in Many chefs keep a variety of salts

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Speaker 1: on hand for different effects. Try some yourself to see

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Speaker 1: how they work. Today's episode is based on the articles

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Speaker 1: What's the Difference between Kosher Salt and table Salt? Written

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Speaker 1: by Belinie Rin Zeph McManus and all Salt is Not

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Speaker 1: the Same written by Sean Chavis on house to works

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Speaker 1: dot com. Breen Stuff is production of by Heart Radio

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Speaker 1: in partnership with hous to works dot com, and it's

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Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my heart

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Speaker 1: Radio visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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