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Salts

Salt is one thing we cannot live without. Archaeologists have found evidence of salt production that goes back as far as 8,000 years.

From a physiological standpoint, sodium (Na⁺) is absolutely essential for life. It is the most abundant cation in extracellular fluid in the human body and is crucial for the maintenance of plasma volume, acid‐base balance, normal cell functions, and transmission of nerve impulses. In healthy persons almost 100% of sodium ingested by food is absorbed during digestion. On the other hand, urinary excretion via the kidneys is the most important way of sodium elimination from the body.

But modern day foods contain lots of salt. World Health Organization (WHO) issued a “strong recommendation” about the upper sodium intake which was set at 2.0 g/d, which is equivalent to 5.0 g/d of salt (NaCl) (4). Among the diseases that are developing under prolonged high DSI, the most important is increased blood pressure (hypertension), which is the most common chronic disease in many developed countries. If not treated, hypertension may lead to heart failure, heart attack, and stroke, and potentially to death. Beside hypertension and related CVD, high DSI also affects the kidneys, which are the main excretion organs for sodium cations and chloride anions. A progressive decrease of the kidney function as a consequence of high DSI can lead to kidney failure (4,5). Taking medicines for all these health disorders is usually not enough if not accompanied by a proper diet, including reduced salt intake, which is also crucial for the disease prevention.

This global health issue can be solved by various public policies that would lead to decreased sodium consumption through the regular diet.

Common salt, or predominantly sodium chloride (NaCl), is a crucial food ingredient with several important functions (3):

(i)source of essential nutrients, when sodium and chlorine are in the form of physiologically essential sodium (Na⁺) cations and chloride (Cl^—) anions;
(ii)main salty taste‐providing food ingredient;
(iii)taste‐enhancing and taste‐modifying ingredient;
(iv)osmotic preservative for meat and some other food products; and as
(v)auxiliary food processing ingredient for food dehydration hastening/drying after salting, due to its osmotic activity.

There are several salts that are flooding not only the markets but social media. So people are asking me which one is the best.

Health wise potassium chloride is better than sodium chloride.

There are various salts...The variety of sea salts is almost endless. Basically, anywhere there is salt water or where there used to be salt water (even millions of years ago), there can be salt production.

So let us talk about some now.

Sendha namak or Rock salt

Ayurveda says: it can be considered as healthiest form of salt. Rock salt or commonly known as "Sendha Namak" is the purest type of salt which is devoid of any chemical components and environmental pollutants (this is not true now). It contains less amount of sodium chloride and contains various nutrients like potassium, copper and calcium.

Sea salt

This is made by evaporating seawater. It is unrefined, which means it contains more minerals like potassium, zinc, magnesium, calcium, and iron and also helps in enhancing the flavour of the dish. This salt does not dissolve easily. Unrefined sea salt is also very healthy.

Iodide is added to it to make it table salt ( and sea salt doesn't contain iodine naturally most of the time ) as some in India suffer from goitre.

Table salt

Table or iodised salt is the most common type of salt used in home kitchens. It is an industrial salt refined to about 99 percent sodium chloride and contains additives to prevent it from clumping together. It is preferred as it dissolves in food very easily.

Most table salt is mined, but that salt is put into water, purified of other trace minerals, then re-dehydrated to create a uniform product. Table salts are usually 97 to 99 percent sodium chloride, with some added anti-caking agents, and a lot also include iodide, which is an essential nutrient that can get removed during the purification process (not to be confused with iodine). That’s why the packages of many unrefined kinds of salt say “not a source of iodide.”

There is another salt called Low-sodium salt

The key ingredient in this kind of salt is potassium. Regular salts are rich in sodium and hence, low sodium salts are helpful for those with blood pressure problems. Low sodium salt contains 30 per cent less sodium than normal table salt.

Kosher salt

Kosher salt originates from either the sea or the land and is named for its use in the Jewish meat preparations. It is a coarse-grained flaky salt and is preferred nowadays as it does not contains any additive.

Himalayan pink salt (this is also a type of rock salt)

Himalayan pink salt is found in Himalayas in Pakistan. It gets its pink hue from trace minerals in the salt, like magnesium, potassium and calcium.

It is primarily used as a food additive, to replace refined table salt, but is also used as a material for cooking and food presentation, decorative lamps, and spa treatments. The product is often promoted with groundless claims that it has health benefits compared to regular table salt.

Himalayan salt is chemically similar to table salt. Analysis of a range of Khewra salt samples showed them to be between 96% and 99% sodium chloride, with varying amounts of trace minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, chromium, magnesium and sulfate, all at safe levels below 1%.

Due mainly to marketing costs, pink Himalayan salt is up to 20 times more expensive than table salt or sea salt. The impurities giving it its distinctive pink hue, as well as its unprocessed state and lack of anti-caking agents, have given rise to the belief that it is healthier than common table salt. There is no scientific basis for such claimed health benefits (1).

Image credit: Google images

Black lava salt
This salt is made from sea water that evaporates in pools situated on hardened lava flows. The crystals are then mixed with activated coconut charcoal (again, for detoxification). It looks like little bits of hardened lava rock and brings a really earthy flavour along for the ride with just a slight sulfur aroma from the minerals in the lava pools.

Truffle salt
One of the most common flavoured salts, truffle salt is a great way to impart a subtle amount of truffle into a dish without needing to buy actual truffles. There are versions that incorporate both black and white truffles, and different brands use different salts mixed with varying amounts of tiny truffle bits. The white truffle salt pictured here is made with fleur de sel and is superb for finishing a simple dish that needs a little something special.

There are some salts to which distinct flavours are added to make them tasty.

Other salts (2):

Persian Blue Diamond salt: Extracted from salt mines in the Semman province of ancient Persia (now Iran), the mineral content of this unique salt gives it small flecks of blue on some of the crystals.
Kona deep water sea salt: Water is brought up from depths of about 2,200 feet off the Hawaiian coastline and is then evaporated in the sun. This salt has only 78 percent sodium and has a very clean flavor despite its rich mineral content.
Alaska flake sea salt: Harvested directly from the seawater around Sitka, Alaska, this salt has nice, clear, brittle flakes.
New Zealand Lake Grassmere salt: Water is harvested from the deep ocean and brought to the seaside ponds surrounding Lake Grassmere. At the end of the summer, the salt crust is lifted from the bottom of the ponds.
Korean sogeum salt: Used for making kimchi, this salt is solar evaporated on a small island off the coast of Korea and looks like little blocks.
Sal de Gusano: Dried worm larvae are toasted and ground with rock salt and chile peppers to make this traditional Mexican salt, used as a smoky seasoning and as an accompaniment to mezcal.
Antarctic sea salt: Antarctic waters are carried up the west coast of Africa by the Benguela current, then pass through an underground aquifer on their way to being dried under the severe African sun coupled with strong offshore winds.