Table, Kosher or Sea?

Every kitchen has its own chef; every chef has his or her own opinions and specific tastes. Many cooking tastes vary but most at-home chefs can at least agree on one thing: salt makes things taste good. Salt is the essence of flavor. How many times have you baked cookies and forgotten the salt, only to taste the boring and unflavorful dessert?

While I'm not trying to advocate over-salting all your food (because we all know that can be detrimental to your health) I am, in fact, trying to bring up the current discussion of the different types of salt--iodized salt, sea salt, kosher salt, and rock salt. What do all of those names mean? What kind of salt is the best? Is there a "healthier" type of salt? Do they taste different?

Table Salt

Table salt is the salt that most of us think of when we think about salt. It is typically fortified with iodine which helps prevent iodine deficiency which can lead to stunted growth, mental retardation, and goiter. This type of salt has a smaller grain size and easily dissolves in fluids. Because of the small grain size, it is ideal for use in baking so that the salt can be evenly distributed throughout the product. You only need about a teaspoon of salt to meet your daily requirements for sodium--not usually a difficult feat for most Americans.

Kosher Salt

Kosher salt has been growing in popularity in recent years. Many gourmet chefs exclusively use kosher salt in their cooking beacuse it has a slightly different taste than generic table salt. The salt itself is not kosher, but it is termed "kosher salt" because it is commonly used in the process of koshering meats or drawing the excess blood from animal products. The large crystalline structure of this variety of salt allows it to absorb more moisture than other types of salts, making it an excellent meat curing product. There is no significant nutritional difference between kosher salt and table salt except that kosher salt does not provide iodine. One teaspoon of kosher salt provides less sodium than one teaspoon of table salt simply because the larger grain size of the kosher salt means you cannot get as much salt by weight into the same teaspoon.

Sea Salt

Sea salt is obtained by evaporating sea water and is typically used in cosmetics and cooking. It is generally more expensive than regular table salt and is often used by gourmet chefs because it's believed to provide a purer flavor. Typically, sea salt lacks iodine and is therefore not recommended to be the only source of salt in the diet.