She surely sees sea salts are shady.

Forums: Cooking, Salt, Sea Salts
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Today I came across a collection of sea salts, still factory sealed, for $3.00 so I decided to buy them.

I noticed something interesting* on the packaging so I looked up the product:

Quote:

Summary
Each of the sea salts in this special sampler is prized for its distinctive flavor and characteristic color. Use any of them as a finishing salt with meat, poultry, seafood, vegetable and fruit dishes.

Set includes four of the finest salts in the world, each with a distinctive natural flavor.

Haleakala red sea salt: red salt from Hawaii with a nutty flavor and a briny sweetness that complement fish and pork.

Kilauea black sea salt: Hawaiian black salt with a subtly smoky, sweet-salty flavor well suited to fish dishes as well as tropical fruits. It gets its color from activated charcoal, a prized digestive.

Australian pink salt: pink-colored salt flakes from Australia's Murray River have a rich yet delicate flavor, the perfect finish for seafood, meats, vegetables and salads.

Cyprus flake sea salt: mild in flavor and pyramid-shaped, the white flakes are hand harvested from the Mediterranean and work well with hors d'oeuvres, salads and seafood.

Set of four includes one of each; 8.5 oz. total.
A Williams-Sonoma exclusive. $39.50

*

2 salts list "salt" as their ingredient

The red sea salt ingredients: sea salt, Hawaiian red algea.

The black salt ingredients: sea salt, activated charcoal

Do you find this slightly deceptive?

I'm still looking forward to trying the salts.

Have you ever tried such things? What did/do you think about them?

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Type: Question • Score: 9 • Views: 3,543 • Replies: 24

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@boomerang,

I want them.

0 Replies

I use a smoked sea salt for flavoring meats... it's fantastic.

Ingredients: Salt, Smoke.

Cycloptichorn

0 Replies

In principle, this stuff is great. Unfortunately for me, I no longer add salt to any of my food.

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

In principle, this stuff is great. Unfortunately for me, I no longer add salt to any of my food.

Wow. My Grandpa was like that - he didn't have a bit of salt during my entire life.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

Alton Brown did a t.v. show on salts, I really learned a lot and posted about it here on a2k but someone posted that Alton was just selling salt. Unfortunately that thread ended, it was very informative about the variety of salts and how to use them.
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/seasonings/salt-101-alton-brown-and-the-power-of-salt-104293

1 Reply

@dyslexia,

dyslexia wrote:

Alton Brown did a t.v. show on salts, I really learned a lot and posted about it here on a2k but someone posted that Alton was just selling salt. Unfortunately that threaded ended, it was very informative about the variety of salts and how to use them.
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/seasonings/salt-101-alton-brown-and-the-power-of-salt-104293

I saw that episode. He refused to believe that a substance for which we evolved a major sense of taste was inherently bad for you.

Cycloptichorn

0 Replies

If I ever come across another set for $3, they're yours, dys. I can't imagine spending $40 on salt.

I use Tabasco sauce more than table salt. I don't use much table salt at all so this will be an interesting experience.

I'm going to watch the salt show to learn more. Thanks for the tip!

2 Replies

@boomerang,

I wouldn't mind trying various sea salts, if they landed on my porch.
I don't use much in the way of packaged food with a lot of sodium, so I do add salt to what I am cooking much of the time.

0 Replies

@boomerang,

I wouldn't pay $40 for a buncha salt, but I do occasionally pick up smoked salts when I can find them on sale sale sale (most often at one of t.j. maxx's sister companies up here).

I don't use it to cook with, but I do use salt to finish some dishes. A little bit of smoked salt adds a nice touch.

I'm a friend of Frank's hot sauce. I keep a bottle at my desk. Today it zippity zipped an emergency-run tuna sandwich.

1 Reply

Oh, that's Williams-Sonoma. That's a gift set. You know, for the people on your Christmas list who have everything.

Salts almost always contain trace elements of other things. That's what gives them different flavors. They're only required to list the other substances on labels when they exceed certain percentages.

0 Replies

I bought some Hawaiian black salt at Trader Joe's once. It drew moisture. I do like smoked salt. That said, I am not a big salt eater. I like it on mushrooms but not on many other things. I do buy both sea salt and kosher salt as they don't seem to make salad greens limp.

You have a bargain!

0 Replies

@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

edgarblythe wrote:

In principle, this stuff is great. Unfortunately for me, I no longer add salt to any of my food.

Wow. My Grandpa was like that - he didn't have a bit of salt during my entire life.

Cycloptichorn

I was informed by a medical person once (she told me not to quote her) that there is sufficient salt in the water around Houston, so that we don't need additional.
Last year, I began adding salt to my dishes and noticed it affecting my blood pressure. Which is the only reason I stopped adding any. I also buy low sodium products when I get processed food.

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What is this smoked salt everyone is talking about? I believe it's impossible to naturally smoke salt granules.

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I'm not sure how they'd do that either, tycoon. Seems the salt would dissolve during a smoking process.

I'm always teasing Mr. B because he will always complement me on the ONE thing I didn't actually cook for dinner -- the bread... the butter.... the whatever was store bought. Tonight he complemented me on the salt!

I liked the red salt on the steak and the black salt on the watermelon.

It's kind of fun to experiement!

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

The chipotely sauce is great on the Subway tuna sandwich.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

What's up with that? Complimenting on the ONLY thing that was not handmade?

And THIS burned me: scratch gravy, uneaten. "Could you maybe just make half of the package next time?" Grrr.

0 Replies

When I use sea salt, I only take Fleur de Sel. (Crystals are rather small, so you can still sprinkle it onto food just before serving.)

I've seen how it's made in Maldon/Essex/UK ... and done it myself in Guérande/Brittany/France.

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

Fleur de Sel is wonderful. Too bad American salt producers have been buying the small French packagers.

1 Reply

Boomie, I think that salt is cold smoked. My ex-husband has a smoker and used to smoke and cure lots of things, including turkeys.

He never liked to ask for help or to admit he made mistakes. When he lost the instructions to his smoker, I suggested he call/write LLBean to get another copy. After all, Beans prides itself on their customer service. HE could not make himself do that so he threw the smoker away, only to buy another after we were divorced.

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She surely sees sea salts are shady.

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