Tip of the Month 1/10/2022

SALT to Taste:  Don’t think for a moment that salt is salt.  If you are into cooking then you know that salt is an important commodity!  Salts have become very trendy, however – red salt from Hawaii, Jurassic salt from Utah, and a multitude of sea salts from Europe.  At $30 a pound, you need to use good judgement when selecting salts for your kitchen and recipes.  For regular cooking, nothing beats 70 cents per pound kosher salt.  It blends well, is clean-tasting, easy to cook with, and additive free.  I haven’t used table salt in years.  It always seems to taste really salty and harsh.  The reality is that it isn’t any saltier than other salts, it’s just that the crystals are small and don’t dissolve well.  Because of this, the crystals tend to linger on the surface of the tongue.   All of the qualities of expensive salts get lost during cooking.  Their value is geared towards finished food, for example sprinkling on top of food just before serving.  My favorite finishing salt is Fleur de sel and Maldon sea salts.