Salt

Salt is a flavoring, not a spice; it is one of the oldest flavorings known to man. Salt owes its taste to sodium chloride, ClNa, an essential mineral for life. Nowadays, we tend to suffer more from an exccess of salt than a lack of it, even if it is true that vegetarians need it to a greater extent.

Salt brings out the flavor of many foods, destroy the bitterness in some and acts as a preservative of others. Wtihout salt, food lacks and appetizing and varied tase. It is used all over the world in savoury dishes. You will find it in brines for preserved meat and fish, in dy-salt mixes for home curing, and in commercial or home made seasoned salts.

Salt has a distinctive white color. It is extracted from rock deposits or sea water, by natural evaporation or by mechanical means. Salt can apear in a block, crystallized or free running.

Salt is produced worldwide, though the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast of Europe are traditional regions for production of special sea salt from ancient times.

The fact that we use salt too often and too much has made some people insensitive to the flavor of salt from different sources, and to the changes made by refinement or additives to make it free running

TABLE SALT. Finely ground, usually rock salt, with added substances, like magnesium carbonate, to prevent caking and keep it free running. This is the most common used type of salt.

COMMON KITCHEN SALT. Usually rock salt refined to various degrees. Free from additives and avilable in blocks for kitchen use.

SEA SALT. Obtained from sea water by natural evaporation, with the help of sun and wind. It is supposed to contain trace of other oligoelements. It is used traditionally for curing fish.  Good as well for kitchen use. The salt from the Bay of Biscay is famous worldwide.

PICKLING SALT.

SALTPETRE.

FREEZING SALT.