What are the best uses of sea salt?

I'm so embarrassed -- I accidentally posted this in the Classic Movies Group first! :D

So when should it be used? I've used it on popcorn but wonder where else or is it interchangeable with table salt?

Thanks!

and a carton of sea salt lasts me at least a decade. I use Kosher salt in bread, for salting veg for partial pickling and for cleaning cast iron cookware. I use the sea salt at the table and very, very sparingly. It's much finer than Kosher salt and even commercial table salt. Health food store salt lacks some of the anti caking ingredients commercial table salt has, so treat it accordingly (kidney beans in the salt shaker if you live with humidity).

We have two salts available on our countertop ..... sea salt and Kosher salt. These happen to be the brands we have right now, but I'm not that fussy. These are what our Safeway carries.

It can be argued that salt is salt ..... and it is. NaCl. Sodium Chloride. Pure salt. Mined or evaporated, its the same thing. Or is it? I will agree that this **could** be a sort of "placebo effect" kinda thing, but I *think* I can taste a difference. Not in the pure salt, but in the finished product. When I used plain old table salt, I noticed that people would often salt the food I made ..... or say it was a bit too salty for their taste. But when I made the switch to sea salt, no one seems to add salt or say there's too much of it anymore. So, for me, it seems to work with my cooking sensibilities. Your mileage may vary.

Those are the EXACT same three salts we have!

I love the coarse salt on edamame.

although I use little salt because of a sodium restricted diet, when I use salt is is almost always sea salt. From time to time I use Kosher salt, but sea salt has a better flavor to me--and on those occasions I use salt, I want to use the most satisfying salt I can afford.

I buy it from Dean and Deluca online. I love the Ile de Re Fleur de Sel, Sel Marin (grey sea salt), and Hawaiian sea salts.

and, like Husb2Sparkly, I think it tastes better... but the funny thing is, it's about the ONLY thing I'll eat from the ocean... I won't TOUCH seafood, shellfish, lakefood, riverfood, or even a cow that waded across a stream. :shrug:

:shrug:

DemEx

since any additives are forbidden as "adulterants." Table salt is mined salt with anticaking ingredients, which is why the gal on the Morton carton is laying a trail of it in a rainstorm. Sea salt is evaporated sea water. It may or may not have things added like anticaking ingredients or potassium iodide. You have to read the label to find out.

Kosher salt has a larger crystal; sea salt generally is the smallest crystal.

I prefer not to have anticaking ingredients in my food, so I read labels and avoid them. I also live in the desert where they are not necessary.

The type of salt you use is entirely up to you. The one thing I do kind of sneer at is the salt GRINDER. There is no difference in flavor between large salt crystals and small ones, although the smaller ones may stick to your French fries better. Save your money and just use sea salt.

I've already noticed how the salt cakes in the container. I live in Central Texas where it is very humid so maybe I can add some grains of rice to help keep it from caking? We sometimes have to do that with table salt, too. I do like the smaller crystals of the sea salt on my popcorn. :D

and the summertime humidity even defeated that.

I use pure sea salt, but wonder if I should keep my sodium low by using those "mineral" salts instead for some things.

Going salt free is not really an option for me taste-wise! :D

Any thoughts on this?

DemEx

since nearly all foods contain sodium and you'll die without it.

I cook pretty much without salt. I don't add it to pasta water or to food while it's cooking. I find I use much less salt if I use it very sparingly at the table, simply because I'm very coscious of using it that way.

One wonderful substitute for salt is lemon juice It doesn't work on popcorn, but it does work on cooked food. Nutritional yeast can work on popcorn.

Some people become acclimated to the non sodium salt substitutes. I've never been able to use those. Most of them use potassium salts instead of sodium and the flavor is really different, even with herbs to partially disguise it.

I was served foie gras with coarse granules of sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper, just in small piles either side of the foie gras on the plate. It was STUNNING! I highly recommend it - you have the superb, sweet pate (can't do accents, sorry) but with tiny crunchy explosions of salt, and hot chunks of pepper.....MMmmmm....It's really a whole heap of sensations.

I've tried it since my return with duck liver pate from the supermarket, and it's almost as good!