Most people think of salt as simply salt but the table salt you buy at the store is heavily refined. Refined table salt is of chemical, inorganic origin and has gunk in it - the base is chemical sodium chloride and added to it are anti-caking chemicals, inorganic potassium iodide, and sugar (dextrose).
“Modern salt reminds one of the state of such other highly processed substances as refined white sugar and the white breads, pastas and pastries. Unfortunately relatively few people are informed about the denaturing of real salt.”
Paul Pitchford – Healings with Whole Foods
So what’s real salt? Whole natural sea salt, also called solar salt, is just evaporated sea water….brine of the sea that has been dried by the sun. Nothing’s been added and nothing’s been taken out.
Often it is lightly colored due to the geology of the area where the salt is farmed. Hence, Celtic Salt is slightly grey from the clay in the area where it is collected on the coast of France. Himalayan Pink Salt is harvested from ancient beds with sea salt deposits in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. The slight pink color is due to the presence of iron.
Paul Pitchford, a respected teacher of Chinese medicine, believes people often crave salt and take in excessive amounts of it because they want the trace minerals found in real salt. Refined, processed table salt doesn’t contain those minerals so the craving goes unsatisfied leading the person to take more and more salt.
I switched to Celtic Salt several years ago and I find myself using far less salt and enjoying food more than I did with regular table salt. Every geographical area creates a salt that tastes a bit different than the others so it’s good to buy small amounts in bulk if you can and find out which sea salt you like. Even Celtic Grey Salts vary from one brand to another.
There are intriguing salts I have yet to try: Portuguese “Salt Cream” Sea Salt and Hawaiian Black Lava Red Alea Clay Sea Salts…I’m sure there are many others.
I just bought some Pink Himalayan Salt at Trader Joes for just $1.99 and it is very nice! I also recently bought some black salt or Kala Namak at the local international grocers. If you’re like me, once you start tasting these salts and adding them to your diet, this once boring condiment will become very interesting. Even simple foods come alive by adding a dash of real sea salt containing naturally occurring minerals. Salt craving also diminishes significantly with use of real salt. Most Westerners are said to take in far too much salt – six times more than the current guidelines for daily salt consumption, which can lead to a series of health ailments.
Naturally mineralized salts are a great way to add zest to all kinds of food and to cut down on salt intake.
