Salty Knowledge

 Salt isn't just salt. it could be the granualr sugar like one or flakes of melt in your mouth flavors of the sea. what kind of slat you use is vital to making or breaking any recipe. What;s good to use? Luckily there's a guide.

Regular contributor Melissa Clark wrote about this fascinating seasoning in today's New York Times Food section. We use salt almost daily  and what we use has a prfound effect on our cooking. Using salt as seasoning has been around since Neolithic times when early humans went into eating meat. Humans need it to survive. Sodium chloride or NACl regulates our body fluids and is essential for nerve, muscle and digestive function. Let's face it too - a lot of foods would taste horribly bland and unexciting without a dash of salr. Salt was also used for preserving meats , veggies and cheeses , espcially when global transport started in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The ancient Egyptians used it eve to preserve mummies/. Before mass production in the 20th Century salt was either found in mines or taken from any nearby ocean ro sea. That all changed in the 1900's when iodized salt came into being. Iodized salt , which was mined from salt mines  is important for regulating the thyroid gland.Now  howvermany are ditching that for the tastier flakier salts.

Ms. Clark also a guide to the different salts out there along with a recipe. You can use iodized or table salt for cooking and seasoning.It does have extra chemicals  like dextrose and sodium bicarbonate added to prevent it from clumping.Sometimes it does have a very briny or metallic tang to it.There is also kosher salt which does not need a rabbinical blessing to be used. it;s defined  by its coarse large crystals. These draw out blood from meat, which desalinates the meat.It also makes for a good crust around the meat. Then there are the darlings of the culinary world ; the sea salts.  Home chefs can buy common sea salt which is industrially produced from sea water. Keep in mind thse have additives too, namely anti-caking ones. They can come in grains like table salts or cubes used for pasta water.It has a cleaner flavor than table salt and is used a lot in baking. A better bet is traditional sea salt like fleur de sel, sel gris or flaky sea salt.They're made by evaporating sea salt in hot climates. They don;t have a uniform crystal size or salinity. Most are used in decoarting dishes but also had layers of complexity when being added to any swet or savory recipe. Sea salt flakes are probably the best salt to use. Maldon Sea salt which comes form the town on Maldon England on the Blackwater Estuary gives food a bright snap. They have less minerality than the other sea salts.  There is also fleur de sel, which has salty and bitter notes along with sel gris.it's harvested from the clay bottom hence te name grey salt. You can also try Himalayan pink salt from Pakistain whic has a slightly spicy flavor,

Salt is essential to life. It's also essential in bringing any dish to life. Sea salt is the best bit other work too in making food tastier.