Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

Salt has always been a treasured ingredient. It brings preservation and taste! But now we have so many salt choices! When would you pick one over the other? Well, I can’t answer that question definitively but I can give you some basic guidelines to make the most of your ingredient and your money!

We are only going to talk about 3 basic salts. There are many, many types of salt but I am going to look at table salt, fine sea salt, and kosher salt.

First let us look at table salt. There are 2 basic types, iodized and non-iodized. We always have non-iodized salt but we don’t eat it. My husband uses it in his Neti Pot;). The reason salt is iodized is in order to help us get enough iodine in our diet. So we keep iodized table salt in the salt shaker on our table! It is the salt we grab when we need just a little more salt on that dish. That is basically all I use it for but never forget to have it!

Next we look at kosher salt. Kosher salt is not named such because it is kosher, just about all salts are, but because it is used in the process to kosherize meat. Kosher salt is larger than table salt so I don’t find it as good for just sprinkling on food but I always cook with it! It is perfect to add to dishes as you are cooking them. I find that is just gives you a better flavor than using table salt. Kosher salt is also great to make pastes, specifically garlic paste.

So last but not least in this journey is fine sea salt. I specify fine because there is rough sea salt that needs to be ground or is just really chunky on the tongue. Sea salt is a potent and delicate salt. What I mean by that is a little bit will go a long way but the flavor is delicate and more nuanced than table or kosher salt. One of my favorite uses is in popcorn! It sounds crazy to use such a “fancy” ingredient on something so pedestrian but it is great! I also use it as a finishing salt.  I like to sprinkle the top of mashed potatoes and on the top of grilled asparagus. I also like to use sea salt as the salt component in home made vinaigrettes and other dressings. Another crazy sounding delicious use is on chocolate! It is great!! Over all, I kind of look at it as I do extra virgin olive oil. Don’t use it where you won’t taste its very special flavor. So raw uses are the best.

So that is my little salt primer. What types of salt do you like to use and how?

(This post’s existence, but not the content, was originally sponsored when it was first printed in August of 2010. The reprint and update is just because;)