Sea salt authenticity

[Martin Fisher]

This issue seems to make the headlines frequently.

I often wonder how much "sea salt" is real; the profit potential in fake sea salt is enormous.


Host Note: This post was split off from a topic about olive oil fraud into its own topic here

Edited September 27, 2013 by heidih
Add Host Note (log)

[rotuts]

I often wonder how much "sea salt" is real; the profit potential in fake sea salt is enormous.

ALL salt comes from The Sea.

may be not the current Sea, but Sea's from the Past.

visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallein_Salt_Mine

https://www.google.com/search?q=salzburg+salt+caves&client=firefox-a&hs=Faa&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=F5ZFUvbjOdjh4AOCw4GwCw&ved=0CFEQsAQ&biw=1205&bih=1011&dpr=1

[liuzhou]

Well, everything comes from the sea. Seas.

[annabelle]

Very true. Us included.

[Norm Matthews]

I have some salt. The label proudly proclaims: Redmond RealSalt Ancient All Natural Sea Salt

Unrefined sea salt mined from an ancient sea bed.

At least they were somewhat honest about it. The sea bed dried up in ancient times.

On the back it says Unlike most table salts, RealSalt is not bleached, kiln dried, heated or altered with chemicals or pollultants.

Of course if it isn't kiln dried, it can't have been heated either.

[Martin Fisher]

I assumed that most folks would know what I meant.

Sea salt generally meaning salt that's recently produced from evaporated sea water as opposed to salt that's mined or whatever.

Knowing how people behave when money is involved makes me wonder how much "sea salt" is the real thing.

Edited September 27, 2013 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[rotuts]

in the S. of the SF bay area, Leslie or what ever conglomerate owns it now, produces " fresh " ie recent salt from the Sea also known as the Bay. by evaporation. same as the French $$$ places or so.

it comes in cardboard cylindrical boxes. w or w/o added iodine. dirt cheap.

it is therefore , as you suggest Sea Salt. doesn't even intimate that on the cylindrical box.

so .... what is it?

there is a lot of quality work on "Sea Salt" blind tastings. etc etc.

the only thing to come out of this is " texture " of the salt itself. not taste other than that texture in the mouth before it dislolves.

Simon Hopkinson has several Delicious Books: the initial 2 "about" chicken ( but not ) they area about

all sorts of things carefully thought out:

http://www.amazon.com/Roast-Chicken-Other-Stories-Hopkinson/dp/1401308627/ref=sr_1_3/184-2343938-0208848?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380326861&sr=1-3&keywords=simon+hopkinson

and

http://www.amazon.com/Second-Helpings-Roast-Chicken-Hopkinson/dp/1401323324/ref=sr_1_6/184-2343938-0208848?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380326861&sr=1-6&keywords=simon+hopkinson

I own these and treasure them. Im hopeful your library system has them.

in Second Helping there is a chapter on Salt. pp 227.

Its all there. if one were to look at these books, one would enjoy them throughly.

Edited September 28, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[Martin Fisher]

That's all well and good, but if a salt is labeled Mediterranean (or whatever) sea salt how does one know that it's authentic?

I don't think that there is a practical way of knowing.

[rotuts]

sorry my ref. was bad. Books still good.

re Med salt, well thats near Italy isnt it? no way to know.

think texture and give up on Provenance. or get some lottery tickets and share!

[djyee100]

It's a good question. You would think that sodium chloride is sodium chloride, so what's the diff? You can taste the difference between natural salt and salt treated with anti-coagulants ("easy pour" salt). The difference should show up in testing, also.

As for knowing your expensive salt really comes from those elite salt beds in Brittany--appearance would be one clue. The company itself must have a paper trail. That's not to stop them from mixing in some cheap salt from somewhere else, of course--the olive oil problem all over again.

Some kind of certification method, which is getting started for olive oil, could be applied to the "pure evaporated sea salt" biz, if conscientious salt purveyors want to try to protect themselves.

I wonder if there are any distinguishing "terroir" type characteristics of one sea salt from another that might show up on tests. For example, I gave a shudder when I read about the salt evaporated from SF Bay. (Thanks for the heads-up, Rotuts. I plan to avoid it.) SF Bay is polluted on occasion with ship oil, sewage, toxic algae, a decomposing human body or two...I wonder if those pollutants show up microscopically in the salt. Just wondering about my own local genuine sea salt (which I'll pass up for sea salt from someplace else).

[dcarch]

Would sea salt near Japan be radioactive?

dcarch

[haresfur]

All salt will be slightly radioactive but not as radioactive as "light salt". I wouldn't think Japan has a great climate for evaporating sea water and certainly not as far north as Fukashima. It's all a bit complicated because you have to consider the half life and how various isotopes could fit into the crystal structure in trace amount or fit into other trace minerals crystallised during the evaporation.

[dcarch]

All salt will be slightly radioactive but not as radioactive as "light salt". I wouldn't think Japan has a great climate for evaporating sea water and certainly not as far north as Fukashima. It's all a bit complicated because you have to consider the half life and how various isotopes could fit into the crystal structure in trace amount or fit into other trace minerals crystallised during the evaporation.

I may be wrong on this, I thought that the process of crystallization actually purifies the substance. It is kind of like "Zone Refining" in computer chip making to get ultra pure silicone.

dcarch

[haresfur]

I may be wrong on this, I thought that the process of crystallization actually purifies the substance. It is kind of like "Zone Refining" in computer chip making to get ultra pure silicone.

dcarch

In general, yes, but there is often room for some atoms of different types to squeeze into the crystal structure. Sea salt is really quite pure but if salt was absolutely pure it would all taste the same.

[OliverB]

to me that's the point, it's not just salt, there's other stuff in there. And personally I can taste it. I have lots of different salts, some taste very similar, some very different. Not counting the smoked or lemon flavored ones of course. It's fun to play with.

[annabelle]

I'm with you OliverB. I have a collection of them and they are fun to play with.

My eldest likes them too. I buy them for him as gifts so he can show off when he is cooking for women in his bachelor pad.

[KennethT]

I don't want to take this off topic, but I definitely think there is a difference between sea salts from different regions. Sea water contains lots of different salts, not just sodium chloride... there's also calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, and many more. These other salts exist in varying concentrations in different areas, and can change the flavor of the evaporated salt, as well as the process of evaporation and collection affecting the texture. When I look at my carton of Baleine - it doesn't list Sodium chloride as an ingredient, it just lists "sea salt" which could contain any number of different salts. This is not a finishing salt as it is finely milled - I use it as my normal salt. I have other salts that have different flavors and textures that I use for finishing.

There have been studies that have linked iodized "table salt" to higher rates of heart disease and blood pressure issues, with some studies actually going so far as to recommend people with salt tolerance related blood pressure problems to switch to sea salt before resorting to medication. Unfortunately, some of these studies are a few years old, and I can't seem to find them right now to link them.

I do believe that some unscrupulous companies could be cutting their sea salt with other salts to make more profit. With expensive finishing salts, I think a good rule of thumb is similar to the olive oil conclusion - taste it... you can definitely taste the difference between high quality sea salt and "kosher" salt and even more difference to any iodized salt.

Edited for clarity

Edited September 29, 2013 by KennethT (log)

[annabelle]

Yes, they do taste different from one another. It's one of the things that makes tasting different salts or cooking with Himalayan salt blocks fun.

Iodized salt was introduced to correct dietary deficiencies in some populations. Naturally, if you have an iodine allergy, you should avoid it.

[dcarch]

"-----but I definitely think there is a difference between sea salts from different regions. -------"

Not to disagree with your point, I am just curious.

Isn't it true that all oceans are connected and water moves from one sea to the other (sea current) non-stop? We even find stuff from Japan (tsunami) drift to our (USA) shores.

dcarch

[rotuts]

yes thats true. but the oceans are Big, the Currents are Small and you never get complete mixing.

that "Hint" of I dont know what in the Mediterranean Sea Salt might be the particular Bilge dumped into that relatively small sea.

it would take a lot of time for it to show up in the SF Bay. They have their own Unique Bilge.

[annabelle]

While the oceans may be connected, more than two thirds of the planet is covered with seas. Just as you're not going to find Italian marble in Florida, you most likely aren't going to find salts with the same trace minerals or elusive flavors in Galveston as you would in Brittany.

There are gigantic salt mines in the US that are large enough to have their own roads and vehicles underground. (I would market that salt as "hand-mined".) Mike Rowe's show "Dirty Jobs" did an episode about them. It was fascinating.

[KennethT]

"-----but I definitely think there is a difference between sea salts from different regions. -------"

Not to disagree with your point, I am just curious.

Isn't it true that all oceans are connected and water moves from one sea to the other (sea current) non-stop? We even find stuff from Japan (tsunami) drift to our (USA) shores.

dcarch

This is true - but interestingly, you will even find that different seas/oceans have different salt concentrations - it seems like this is due to many factors, among which are total depth, amount of sunshine/temperature which leads to localized evaporation, rainfall... etc..

Here's an interesting image which shows global salt concentrations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WOA09_sea-surf_SAL_AYool.png

[KennethT]

oh, and here's more interesting info... this source says that salt in the earth doesn't come from the sea - but it's actually the other way around - salt in the sea comes from the earth!

http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/water/salinity1.htm

[annabelle]

I didn't know that, Kenneth. That's a great piece of trivia.

[rotuts]

varies from salt to salt.