I am sitting at my desk looking at the label on a food package.  “Containing over 80 naturally balanced minerals, 100% unrefined, 100% good for you, summer harvest, sun dried, hand harvested, certified organic.” What is this wonder food, you ask?  Why, it is a bag of salt!  Not just any old salt, but light-grey celtic sea salt.

 I had never really thought of salt in any other way but to enhance the flavours already present in foods.  I myself am not a “salt-shaker”. I have grown to enjoy the flavours of most foods without adding  salt after the initial preparation. I am, however, seriously addicted to ketchup, which is really just another vehicle for salt.  I do use salt when called for in a recipe.  I know that salt controls the action of yeast in bread and also strengthens the gluten, leading to a more uniform texture, reduces the loss of essential vitamins and minerals when cooking vegetables, is important in preserving and pickling to control the growth of bacteria, enhances the natural flavours of foods, and provides necessary sodium and chlorine which are nutrients necessary to the body’s fluid balance and muscle & nerve activity.  I think that salt started getting a bad rap, about the same time that our diets started going down the drain, and we began to eat prepared and fast foods more often than eating foods prepared at home, where we could control our addition of salt.    A high  salt consumption has been linked to high blood pressure and increasing the risk of stroke and heart disease.  This is particular true for those with a family history of heart disease.  It is not rocket science to recognize that the difference in salt content between a large plate of fast-food fries covered in ketchup or gravy and a serving of  baby Yukon golds, roasted with garlic, fresh herbs & olive oil, is substantial.  For the average, healthy individual, 2400 mg/day is the recommended consumption, but the occasional salt binge is not likely to kill you. In fact, there is evidence that taking sodium out of your diet completely can also lead to hypertension, and both sodium and chloride are necessary  for the proper  functioning of the body.

 The particular salt that I have here on my desk is one of 3 varieties of gourmet sea salts favoured by chefs.  They must be certified as coming from a particular geographical location  to be able to carry their particular name, much like vintage wines and coffees.  Of course, this means that they get to cost more too!  Grey sea salt, or sel gris come from  marshes on the French Atlantic coast and has a light, sandy color.  The flavour is described as, “like a sea breeze, mild but full-flavoured with an earthy, briny quality”.  This salt is good for baking, roasting or finishing a dish.  The brand that I have has 84 minerals and nutrients in it.  Fleur de sel, also known as the caviar of salt, is the salty skin from the marshes used to produce grey salt.  It is favoured by french chefs for its “delicate, clear, slightly briny  taste and smell” (Read...Very expensive!) A third salt is Hawaiian alae salt, which has a pale orange colour from the red clay (alae) along the shores of Kauai and Molokai where it is found.  It has a delicate and mild flavour and is used for finishing cooked dishes ( and in native ceremonies  for blessing their canoes.)