HomeRecipe Articles Links Forum Sign In Register Categories Search for Recipes Ethnic Main Dishes Soups & Stuff Baked Goods Fruits, grains & veggies On the Side Sweets & Desserts Snacks & Appetizers Holiday Foods Special Diets Miscellaneous Pizza Famous Recipes Free Newsletter Get the Chef's top picks right in your inbox! Your Email Subscribe Unsubscribe Ask The Chef Can't find the recipe your looking for? Have a cooking or food preperation question? No problem. Ask The Chef! Latest Recipes Top Recipes Our Friends Article Home -> Recipe Information Quick Guide to Salt, published on 09 Feb 2007 Salt, although common nowdays, has always been one of the most important commodities in the world. Salt has always played a part in society. The word salt comes from the Latin "salarium" meaning salary. Roman soldiers were paid partially in salt. The ancient Greeks traded salt for slaves and gave rise to the phrase "not worth his salt'. Today, salt has over 40,000 uses from manufacturing to medicine. Salt's most important contribution to cooking has been in preserving and flavoring food. Today, salt is available in many different varieties. Here's a quick guide to some of the most common salts and a few of the specialties: -Table salt: also known as granulated salt, table salt is mined like coal or extracted by forcing water into underground salt deposits and processing the brine. Table salt is processed to form small uniformly shaped cubes with additives blended in to prevent caking. -Kosher Salt: Kosher salt was traditionally used as part of the kosher process to draw blood from freshly butchered meat. Kosher salt is made by compacting granulated salt between rollers to produce large irregular flakes. Kosher salt contains no additives. -Sea Salt: Sea salt is created when ocean water floods shallow beds along coastlines in the summer. The ocean water evaporates leaving large salt crystals which are flavored by the ocean waters and minerals from the nearby land. -Sel Gris: French for "gray salt". Sel Gris is harvested on France's Atlantic coast between May and September when ocean water floods shallow basins. The water evaporates and the salt is raked to the edges of the basin. The salt gets it's gray color and flavor from minerals from the clay layer at the bottom of the basin. -Fleur de Sel: French for "flower of salt", Fleur de Sel is a byproduct of Sel Gris. It is only created on warm, calm summer days when the gray salt blooms lacy white crystals. These crystals are carefully skimmed from the surface of the gray salt. -Maldon Sea Salt: England's delicately flavored sea salt is traditionally made by boiling sea water until hollow pyramid-shaped crystals form. There are many more specialty and flavored salts available today. Here's a quick recipe for strawberry salt: 1/4 cup strawberry gelatin granules 1 cup salt Place gelatin granules in a food processor or blender and process until fine. Add salt and blend. By Chef Jeff for www.recipequick.com . Related Articles •   Common Recipe Substitutions •   Common Recipe Abbreviations •   Quick Guide to Kohlrabi •   Quick Guide to Chocolate •   Quick Guide to Butter •   Quick Guide to Corned Beef Brisket •   Quick Guide to Poppy Seeds Related Recipes •   Quick Poppy Seed Cake •   Poppy Seed Dressing •   Fruit and Romaine Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing •   Easy Cheddar Cheese Balls •   Lemon Poppy Christmas Stars •   Banana-Poppy Seed Muffins •   Grandma's Dainty Daisy Biscuits •   Onion Cake •   Beef Bulgogi •   Cocktail Buns •   Mu Shu Pork •   Bootleg Beans •   Christmas Cranberry-Pistachio Fudge •   Crab-Boil Spices •   Spiced Popcorn •   Benihana's Fried Rice •   Broccoli Salad •   Broccoli-Raisin Salad •   Cajun Style Blackened Scallops •   Baked Stuffed Salmon

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