It's a Miracle! Himalayan Crystal Salt

Read all about the 13 amazing health benefits of Himalayan Crystal Salt!

This salt from the Himalayas is known as "white gold" because it contains eons of stored sunlight.

The salt's unique structure also stores vibrational primal energy.

http://www.mercola.com/forms/salt.htm

Place your order today to live a better tomorrow!

-ramon

That's enough to give hucksterism a bad name.

It's interesting that this thread has been moved from Shopping and Cooking to Non-Food Chat. I thought at first it had been deleted all together. I did not long mourn the loss but I am curious.

While the overall intention of the post and link was humor (or horror), I fully intend to purchase this salt (shopping) and use it on my food (cooking). The novelty enhances the lore that whets the appetite.

-ramon

I thought you put it up as humor...

I kept waiting for the part where only the male yak is allowed to bring it down the mountain.

I suspect like many here, I have at times three different salts in my pantry -- none are table salt. If I had in for dinner an economist and a chemist and we're to talk about the seasonings, I would be called an idiot. Well, perhaps they'd be more polite, but you can't blame them for thinking it.

I do not believe we've had a serious discussion on salt. Oh plenty of health issue arguments, but little discussion about the proper selection and use of salt. It can be argued that this is the key to good cooking.

Mike, what about the Yak? Sometimes I splurge on the European butter rather than the domestic swag. Ever try yak butter?

-ramon

Ramon wrote:I do not believe we've had a serious discussion on salt.

When I have friends over for a serious dinner, I usually have three different salts on the table - a Hawaiin Red, a Smoked Gray, and a basic sea salt. But that's more for aesthetics than for any real difference in taste - crystal size and shape can make a difference (have you seen any of Morton's variety of salts for the food industry?), but any time the salt gets dissolved, the differences in flavor become indistinguishable. As a broad generalizing summary, I vaguely recall Cook's Illustrated coming to a similar conclusion, and there's an article by Jeffery Steingarten in It Must've Been Something I Ate which, while noting a few differences, especially when it comes to curing fish, essentially comes to the same conclusion.

That said, there's soooo much in your link that's clearly pure BS.

As nr706 notes, once salt is in solution, all Na+ and Cl- ions are the same. But Cook's *did* go on to note a preference when salting, e.g., grilled steak: Maldon. But, as they remarked, that preference was at least in part due to the quite evident texture differences among Maldon and all the other candidates.

My own preferences agree--as the Maldon box itself claims, "the chef's natural choice".

Geo

Mine, too. We've got 3 boxes of maldon in the pantry, and one open on the table. We never use it for cooking, just for finishing. It's especially good on certain pasta dishes, along with meats.

We keep kosher (diamond crystal, I really dislike morton's kosher salt) around for most cooking, and normal iodized table salt for baking, pasta water, etc. $1.15 for three 28oz canisters at costco.

I've got a bottle (somewhere) of Jurassic Salt from Utah, lots of color from minerals in it. Haven't tasted it yet, but I'll let you know.

Geo wrote:As nr706 notes, once salt is in solution, all Na+ and Cl- ions are the same. But Cook's *did* go on to note a preference when salting, e.g., grilled steak: Maldon. But, as they remarked, that preference was at least in part due to the quite evident texture differences among Maldon and all the other candidates.

This is only partly correct. In principle, of course, salt is sodium chloride predominantly. However, depending on the source and how the salt is produced, the traces of other minerals provide unique and very discernible flavour profiles. In any strongly flavoured food the salt's character besides its saltiness will be lost. However, for seasoning or finishing simply prepared foods, the taste of the salt (and also texture as noted) come through. That is why in my salt mill I sometimes add dried tangerine peel, or some cumin seeds. I avoid 'salt' that contains anti-caking agents and so I simply use kosher salt as an all purpose salt. For some purposes sea salt is nice. I have balked at the prices of fancily packaged seemingly exotic salts.

In India, where rock salt is readily available at not ridiculous prices, it is used to season chaats, relishes, sprinkled over cut tomatoes and cucumber, used in sweet-salty limeade. Not for texture – more for the specific taste. In Bengal, 'beet noon' or beet salt (presumably due to the colour) – is a seasoning that cannot be subsituted, in many dishes (see this webpage)

Rock salt or Beet salt click for larger img

This has a tangy bite with a hint of a sulphurous aroma. Salt, but not mere NaCl.

see also: http://www.mii.org/Minerals/photosalt.html

This sounds too good to be true. I've got a funny feeling about this salt. Can anyone say "Mortons"?

This is weird.

I picked up some "Himalayania" brand pink salt (not crystal like Maldon though, chunks or ground).

It's been our main salt since then, it's lovely. Way tastier than Maldon (unless the crystals are really working for your recipe), better than fleur de sel....

I get it specifically at Whole Foods Market. They are not pouncing on weird health claims, just selling some darn nice salt.

Too bad someone had to resort to those kinds of tactics to sell some yummy salt from the Himalayas.

Anybody else into the Himalyania?

Nancy