Salt

Summary

Salt is an essential element in the diet of not only humans but of animals, and even of many plants. It is one of the most effective and most widely used of all food preservatives.

Contents

Most recipes that call for salt are referring to table salt, which has additives like iodine (to prevent a thyroid disease), and an anti-caking agent so the salt won't get lumpy in humid weather. Salt connoisseurs, though, often prefer to use Kosher salt for cooking, and sea salt for table use. They claim that both have a softer flavor than table salt. Exotic salts include the expensive French and Hawaiian sea salts, the smoky, sulfuric Indian black salt, and the intensely salty Korean bamboo salt. Specialized salts include pickling salt, which is free of the additives that turn pickles dark and the pickling liquid cloudy, and rock salt, used primarily to de-ice driveways and make ice cream.

Kosher salt gets its name because of its integral role in making meat kosher. Jewish law dictates that blood must be extracted from meat prior to consumption. Although kosher salt is harvested like table salt, it is raked during evaporation to give the grains a block-like structure that allows the crystals to better absorb blood from animal carcasses.

Kosher salt can be used in nearly all applications, but it is not generally recommended for baking with recipes that use small amounts of liquid (wet ingredients). If there is not enough liquid, the kosher salt will not dissolve sufficiently, and this can result in small bits of salt in the resulting product; in certain applications this is undesirable. In recipes where there is enough liquid to dissolve all the salt, table salt can be replaced by kosher salt, but the volume must be adjusted. Because kosher grains occupy more volume (for equal weight) the volume of kosher salt should be increased. Because kosher salt grains can vary in size considerably from one brand to another, it is recommended that one check the box for a conversion guideline, which is generally provided. If there is no guidance provided, twice as much kosher salt (by volume) to replace table salt serves as a rough estimate. Another reliable technique is to use an equal weight; a gram of kosher salt is equivalent to a gram of table salt.

Table salt is made by sending water into salt deposits and then evaporating the mixture until only salt crystals remain. The Morton Salt Company began adding iodine to salt in 1924 to help prevent goiters which, at that time, were typically caused by iodine deficiency. According to the Salt Institute, nearly 70 percent of table salt sold in the United States is iodized.

Salt--called sodium chloride by chemists--has been such an important element of life that it has been the subject of many stories, fables ( and folktales (such as "Salt on a Magpie's Tail" from Sweden) and is frequently referenced in fairy tales. Some cultures ascribe magical powers to salt. Charles Dickens penned a Victorian era Ghost Story "To Be Taken With A Grain of Salt." Forty years later, author George Gissing's last book was "The Salt of the Earth." Salt so infuses our culture that there are innumerable quotes drawing on salt. There is even a current "Words of Salt" literary competition, keeping alive the link between salt and culture.

Salt served as money at various times and places, and it has been the cause of bitter warfare. Offering bread and salt to visitors, in many cultures, is traditional etiquette. It is used in making pottery. While we have records of the importance of salt in commerce in Medieval times and earlier, in some places like the Sahara and Nepal, salt trading today gives a glimpse of what life may have been like centuries ago. Alchemists use the square symbol to represent salt. "Salt," is common in the jargon of other professions.

Evidence shows salt was important as long ago as when mastadons roamed the earth. Salt was in general use long before history, as we know it, began to be recorded. Some 2,700 years B.C.-about 4,700 years ago-there was published in China the Peng-Tzao-Kan-Mu, probably the earliest known treatise on pharmacology. A major portion of this writing was devoted to a discussion of more than 40 kinds of salt, including descriptions of two methods of extracting salt and putting it in usable form that are amazingly similar to processes used today. Chinese folklore recounts the discovery of salt. Salt production has been important in China for two millennia or more. Nomads spreading westward were known to carry salt. Ancient saltmaking in Europe and North America is well-documented

Egyptian art from as long ago as 1450 B.C. records salt-making.

All salts that we consume are made from sea salt or mined from inland salt deposits. There are four common varieties: iodized table salt, kosher salt, sea salt, and fleur de sel (a type of sea salt).

Sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium are available in unrefined salt, as are other vital minerals needed for optimal bodily function. Too much or too little salt in the diet can lead to muscle cramps, dizziness, or even an electrolyte disturbance, which can cause severe, even fatal, neurological problems. Drinking too much water, with insufficient salt intake, puts a person at risk of water intoxication (hyponatremia). Salt is even sometimes used as a health aid, such as in treatment of dysautonomia.

The risk for disease due to insufficient or excessive salt intake varies due to biochemical individuality. Some have asserted that while the risks of consuming too much salt are real, the risks have been exaggerated for most people, or that the studies done on the consumption of salt can be interpreted in many different ways

1. http://www.sonic.net/~alden/Salt.html
2. http://www.saltinstitute.org/38.html
3. http://www.slate.com/id/2117243/