Penzeys throws down the salt gauntlet

[Fat Guy]

At my mother-in-law's house this past weekend, I was flipping through a Penzeys catalog from a couple of months back. On the page listing the salts, I found this message:

We’re cutting back on salt.

A really good and healthy thing going on with food right now is that people are using less salt. We want to be a part of this. Going forward we will continue to sell reasonably priced generic salts of the earth and sea, but we will no longer be selling the higher priced specialty salts. I feel things have gotten to a point where the specialty salts are glamorizing the use of salt and, with that, encouraging people to use more of it. I have also found that along with the marketing of specialty salt has come a great deal of misinformation, including claims that some salts don’t affect your health like others do. This is just not true and not something we want to be a part of. Salt is salt, it really is, and it tastes no different no matter where it comes from.

With our belief that cooking comes from caring for those around you we feel part of that is caring for the well-being of the people we cook for. We all have our own relationship with salt and I respect that, but as a cook and as a business I feel so much better about working to cut back on the use of salt rather than encouraging the use of more. I hope this makes sense to you,

Bill

I've got to say, I find his reasoning -- such as it is -- unpersuasive. He's still going to sell regular salt but not fancy salt? This is somehow going to improve people's health? Not to mention, salt is only an issue for one segment of the population. I don't get it.

[LindaK]

I remember reading this a while ago in their catalogue and also found it odd. Not so long ago they had begun offering several specialty salts. My guess is that they were pulled because they weren't selling very well. It's worth noting that since that little sidebar first appeared, Penzeys has returned grey sea salt to their catalogue line-up, saying it's "back by popular demand."

[Doodad]

Glamorizing salt? Oh well, more for me.

[feedmec00kies]

I'm going to agree with LindaK; first thing I thought when I read that passage was that the ones they're cutting from their catalog aren't selling and they don't want to have to keep them in their inventory.

[Fat Guy]

I'm not going to speculate as to motive -- that way lies madness -- but I found the argument weak.

[nakji]

I feel things have gotten to a point where the specialty salts are glamorizing the use of salt and, with that, encouraging people to use more of it.

And this is bad how for their business model? "People are using too much of our product, so we're going stop selling it?"

I'm unconvinced.

[Fat Guy]

I'm trying to see it from the perspective of someone who thinks salt is pure evil. But even if I step into those shoes, I can't make the argument work. They're still selling salt, just not fancy salt? I also think sometimes when you have a more premium grade of product people will use less of it.

[weinoo]

But I think what they're trying to point out (not that I'm in agreement) is that they're protecting shoppers who think (incorrectly) that by using these fancy salts they are actually reducing their sodium intake.

[Mjx]

. . . . I also think sometimes when you have a more premium grade of product people will use less of it.

If not less, then certainly not more, unless they're simply insane/compulsive conspicuous consumers... but those are the sorts of people who'll light up a cigarette with a $5 note to impress others, and I cannot imagine anyone focusing their sales/marketing efforts on trying to keep such from using dangerous quantities of a fundamental ingredient and component of the human body.

But then again, I also think the current fuss about salt is misdirected.

[Chris Amirault]

This a bit weird:

I have also found that along with the marketing of specialty salt has come a great deal of misinformation, including claims that some salts don’t affect your health like others do. This is just not true and not something we want to be a part of. Salt is salt, it really is, and it tastes no different no matter where it comes from.

Yeah, there's a lot of misinformation out there, and logic like this is part of it. The shift from health to taste is specious, and the claim that all salt tastes the same is just flat-out wrong.

[Paul Bacino]

I walked into the store, sat. Only to find a big display case with at least 40 of their salt free seasoning ( pre-made spice blends ), driving the public.. I say.

[Will]

Their owner has been anti-salt for quite a while, IIRC. However, I did notice that they're selling salt (Diamond Crystal kosher salt, if memory serves) in their retail stores.

[Angela Knipple]

I was just in our local Penzey's for a post-Christmas restock. There was plenty of salt on display, including the only "fancy" ones they've ever had there. Maybe our Penzey's was always lacking, but I didn't notice that anything was missing. That being said, there was definitely a much larger display of their salt-free seasoning blends.

And no, all salts DO NOT taste the same.

[DanM]

I'd be impressed if they went on to say they were reducing the salt content in some or most of their spice blends.

[janeer]

I'm not going to speculate as to motive -- that way lies madness -- but I found the argument weak.

As someone who teaches ethics, I applaud you for not speculating on motive--therein also lies bias and "belief."

But it is OK to ask: if salt, why not _____ (fill in any spice or herb associated with any undesirable condition); that would allow you to question motive if one, and not all, such herbs and spices were removed from sale.

We can, of course, question the logic of some but not all salts.

Anyway, I love salt.

[IndyRob]

I'd rather them keep salt out of spice blends altogether. That way I can control it myself. Okay, maybe I can understand its inclusion in, say, a spice rub that's meant to be used right out of the jar.

But their position seems confused. They say that all salt is the same. Okay, great, I'll buy a store brand for less than a dollar and not have to pay for shipping. Then I can put handfulls into my pasta water without fretting.

But if they really want me to use less salt, wouldn't they want to sell me specialty salts and price them like saffron? Then I'd be very sparing in my application.

[ScoopKW]

This confuses me -- from a biochemistry standpoint, no water, no salt, no life.

Cut and dry. We can't live without salt.

While I'm the first to agree that Americans consume FAR too much NaCl, I doubt the people who shop at Penzey's fall into that subset.

[ChrisTaylor]

If all salts are the same and they're so concerned about the well-being of consumers, why do they sell multiple kinds of salt still? I mean, if it's 'all the same', and you know this and openly admit it, aren't you ripping people off--and therefore not being kind and caring?

[JeanneCake]

Seems like they have to say "something" to justify their position, and they're spinning it so it comes across as being solicitous of your health and well-being; but I agree it all comes down to: is it selling? If it's not selling it's taking up space that something else could be using and that moves faster! Their intentions to bring good spices at reasonable pricing was what prompted them to begin their business in the first place - they were the first place I'd ever heard of to get better spices than anything I could get locally from a store (grocery or gourmet) and they made it possible for other spice vendors as well as force the supermarket brands to upgrade their offerings.

There's a Penzey's store somewhat near me so I've stopped buying mail order; do they still have that magazine (called One, I think)?

[Lindacakes]

A few years ago Penzey's did a spin off magazine that was "Christian" in tone.

Based on knowing that, I'd take what is being said at face value. There is some belief that this is The Right Thing to Do.

I wish this food fad thing would stop. New York City now has a salt store that resembles very much a bath salt store with stoppered bottles, flowers, low light, music.

I like my fleur de sel as much as the next person, but really, what's next? The waiter coming over with one of those huge hunks of salt sold as a deodorant with a grater?

[Florida]

Seriously, it's a frigin spice catalog, not the New England Journal of Medicine. So what's next up? Complaining that the financial planning advice you're gleaming from the latest LL Bean catalog just isn't up to snuff? ("It says save, but it wants me to spend!")

At the end of the day Bill doesn't want to sell you "fancy salt" so buy it somewhere else.

edited for grammar

Edited January 19, 2011 by Florida (log)

[tomdarch]

At the end of the day Bill doesn't want to sell you "fancy salt" so buy it somewhere else.

Yep. I'm pretty sure that Tom and Patty will be happy to sell you some nice salt without any yammering. (I mean, they're very nice, and they'll talk to you, but they won't unnecessarily yammer about mixed feelings about selling you a responsible amount of salt...)

[andiesenji]

I also read this and it seemed a bit specious to me as it inferred that other vendors marketing specialty salts are dishonest.

I did not like that attitude. Whenever a commercial vendor takes up an altruistic flag, I become suspicious that there is an underlying motive. (I feel the same way about vendors who purport to contribute to a charity a certain amount of profit from special sales. I feel they should just contribute whatever they are spending on advertising the "charity thing".)

As some will have noted from my posts in other threads, I have a fairly extensive collection of culinary salts from around the world and I don't think I am the only person who has noted a difference in flavor between various salts. It may be that I am a "supertaster" but I don't think that is the only reason.

I have a couple of favorite vendors that carry a large selection of specialty salts and I don't recall them making any claims that some salts are "healthier" other than the fact that coarse salts, because one notices the crunch and the "condensed" surface flavor, are used in less amounts than fine-grained salts.

In any event, notices such as this tend to make me LESS likely to buy from a vendor.

[Lindacakes]

Would you share your preferred salt vendor list?

[andiesenji]

Would you share your preferred salt vendor list?

Sure.

I get periodic emails from Salt Traders with new items and with special offers, reduced or free shipping, etc.

and Saltworks from whom I order the wonderful Velvet De Guerande - by Le Tresor which is unlike any other salt that I have come across.

It is the only salt I use when I make butter, especially cultured butter as I have been told it is the salt used in some of the French cultured butters, such as Beurre d'Isigny.