Here at ChefShop.com, we have salts that are pink from Hawaii, gray with herbs, flaky from Wales, and fine from Italy or New Zealand. Come in and browse one of the finest salt collections in the world.
How is sea salt different from ordinary table salt?
Sea salt is harvested directly from the sea water in coastal areas. Artisan sea salts are often harvested by hand using traditional methods and dried in the sun, rather than through mechanical harvesting and drying methods.
Table salt, on the other hand, is mined from underground deposits of salt-bearing rock, and processed mechanically on a huge industrial scale. It is supplemented with iodine, and starch or phosphates may be added to keep it from clumping. The final product has a far less nuanced flavor and texture.
Most of us grew up with this fine, white, free-flowing salt on the table. We came to know its acrid flavor on the tongue and the admonition, "Don't use too much!"
Sea salt, on the other hand, contains other salts, besides sodium chloride, as well as trace minerals and organic micro components that give it color and distinctive qualities that gently woos flavors from foods, enhancing them, and adding greater complexity.
Sea salt is particularly excellent for use in finishing already cooked foods, in bread making, or on cuts of meat or fowl that are to be roasted.
Fleur de Sel, which literally means "flower of the salt," is the term used to describe the highest grade of natural sea salt.
It is a fine finishing condiment to be savored. It is slow to dissolve and so will glisten like jewels as it melts into an Insalata Caprese drizzled with green-gold olive oil or a platter of grilled asparagus. The delicate flavor isn't sharp like table salt, but opens full and round in the mouth, with a slight crunch. Just a hint of it can also be the perfect touch added to good-quality dark chocolate.
