Comments on: Fleur de sel to Kosher & Beyond

Question: Fleur de sel to Kosher & Beyond

special-k — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:00:10 -0800

What are some interesting salts you've come across?

A very close friend of mine absolutely adores salt. He adds salt to almost everything he consumes [even if it has already been salted]. I've always joked that I would sign him up for a salt of the month club if there were one. His birthday is coming up in a month so I want to give him a collection of interesting salts that I can find. I've collected about 10 different types so far (mostly sea salts from a bunch of places). I'm looking for other salts (one that come from specific regions and flavored ones. e.g. garlic salt [but something more obscure]) that I can buy and add to the collection.

PS: I know The Onion store has a salt of the month club gag gift box. I plan to give him all of this salt in that box.

By: thebrokedown

thebrokedown — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:08:20 -0800

I get panicky whenever I run out of Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt. maybe not fancy enough for your purposes, but really good stuff.

By: ambilevous

ambilevous — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:13:25 -0800

I have some kind of Himalayan pink salt which looks pretty, at the very least (although it occurs to me I haven't actually used it yet).

By: Cog

Cog — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:13:30 -0800

You could also buy him a book called Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky.

If you have a Whole Foods nearby, you should try looking in salt section. I've only tried one or two since a few of the more exotic salts were mixed with something that made my eyes sting when I got near them.

By: special-k

special-k — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:15:17 -0800

ambilevous: Good suggestion. I got some of that at my local asian store. It's labeled Black salt and tastes quite sulphery. It's supposed to taste really good on grilled corn (with lime).

By: iconomy

iconomy — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:15:34 -0800

Buy him a salt lick. They're actually quite pretty. And salty.

By: petethered

petethered — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:17:16 -0800

I personally like Smoked Celtic Sea Salt or you can get Pink Hawaiian Salt or Kiawe smoked salt. Saltworks.us seems like a good place to get a large variety.

By: special-k

special-k — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:22:25 -0800

petethered: thanks! Saltworks.us seems to carry a huge selection.

By: emyd

emyd — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:32:54 -0800

I use my Truffle salt on everything. Everything.

By: kcm

kcm — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:38:00 -0800

Seriously, Whole Foods isn't a bad place to start. They tend to have a decent bulk selection at reasonable prices compared to pre-packed containers at specialty stores.

By: nelleish

nelleish — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:46:01 -0800

This isn't a direct answer to your salt seeking (although I do second Jane's Krazy Mixed Up! It's all I ever use aside from Kosher Salt), but you can indeed buy him a Salt of the Month Club box, maybe use it to wrap another salty gift?

By: HotPatatta

HotPatatta — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:54:14 -0800

Whole Foods has a fun podcast and there was a recent episode on salts. It's 10 minutes long and you can listen to it online.

By: subatomiczoo

subatomiczoo — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:00:39 -0800

Maldon Salt. A sea salt that is in flakes--looks like snow flakes!

It's from England and I've seen it at Williams Sonoma.

By: blaneyphoto

blaneyphoto — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:01:25 -0800

I know it doesn't answer your question at all, but your friend might also enjoy Mark Kurlansky's Salt: A World History - I really thought it was interesting anyway...

By: catatethebird

catatethebird — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:22:30 -0800

Someone already mentioned pink hiwaiian sea salt, I get a kind that has some sort of natural clay in it (maybe it always does) from here that's really good. Another cool thing to give would be a salt mill/grinder.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:30:03 -0800

Seconding that truffle salt, it really is appreciably good on everything.

By: librarianamy

librarianamy — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:41:52 -0800

A few years ago we brought Lavender Salt back from a trip to Maui, and have since ordered more from the same place. Very good on fish and chicken, especially grilled.

By: zamboni

zamboni — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:44:57 -0800

Murray River Salt. Take some, please!

By: kjs4

kjs4 — Wed, 23 May 2007 19:02:40 -0800

A quote I read yesterday for the chemistry nerds among us:

Beryllium salts are easily soluble and mostly have a sweetish taste.

Do NOT eat the chemicals!

By: thinkingwoman

thinkingwoman — Wed, 23 May 2007 19:10:09 -0800

tricing the truffle salt. it adds a fantastic flavor to everything, but i think it's best on simple things: mashed potatoes, buttered pasta, roasted veggies. otherwise you're wasting all that truffly goodness!

By: bkeene12

bkeene12 — Wed, 23 May 2007 19:11:13 -0800

Take the suggestions on Truffle Salt for sure and add that to the present box. The stuff is pricey but worth the cost for a true salt fanantic. He will really appreciate the stuff on everything from popcorn to any beef. As far as salts go, I have tasted a lot of it, and it is above and beyond any I have put in my mouth thus far.

By: conch soup

conch soup — Wed, 23 May 2007 21:13:24 -0800

Anguilla Saltworks Company is the posh modern incarnation of a salt company that was originally started around 150 yrs. ago. While they now only sell 4 sets of bath salts (named after 4 bays of the island, but not the Road Bay salt pond from which the salt comes) the salt company has a storied history.

I couldn't find any links online, so this could be infused with some BS I picked up from the lucky citizens of the island, but the salt from Road bay was supposedly sold to Nova Scotian schooners and used for salting cod caught up near Canada. Hence the taste for saltfish (salted cod) became commonplace in some of the Lesser Antilles in the 1800's and still is today. Another item left by the schooners were the great blocks of nova scotian rock used for ballast that the boats no longer needed when loaded down with salt. There is a very alien granite reef in the middle of the bay made out of rocks from 1000s of miles away.

Anyway, there's a one in a million chance you could get your hands on some of that original salt, but you could get the bath salts, which are still made from a 2000 harvest of the pond. The last harvest for culinary use was in the 1980's I think. The seawater bubbles up into the pond, and the evaporation causes salt crystals to form at the bottom. The building that once housed the pumping equipment (to pump out diluting rainwater) is now a restaurant called the Pumphouse. Oh! and they have a history page with alot of info!

(Just so you know, the new saltworks company-- to my knowledge-- has no affiliation with the original salt company or The Pumphouse owners. The Pumphouse restaurant and bar is, however, still in the family that owned it when it was involved in the salt mining business, I think.)

Maybe you could find a written history of salt companies in the West Indies for your friend! There's certainly enough material to write a book!

By: misozaki

misozaki — Wed, 23 May 2007 21:26:45 -0800

A lamp, perhaps?

By: robcorr

robcorr — Wed, 23 May 2007 21:32:55 -0800

We regularly use chili salt, mustard salt and rosemary salt. They're all nice.

What about some dried saltbush flakes, for something completely different?

By: intoxicate

intoxicate — Wed, 23 May 2007 22:14:42 -0800

Here's a neat salt storage option.

And some fun salt to put in it.

By: adamvasco

adamvasco — Thu, 24 May 2007 00:35:49 -0800

Flor de Sal from Es trenc, Mallorca. A recipe here mentions "portabellas" thus a must for Mefites.

By: ZackTM

ZackTM — Thu, 24 May 2007 06:01:54 -0800

I think Nelleish and The Onion deserve the prize for most unexpectedly useful product ever created on a whim.

By: escabeche

escabeche — Thu, 24 May 2007 06:04:00 -0800

I like

By: escabeche

escabeche — Thu, 24 May 2007 06:04:39 -0800

Oops. I like Zalta green garlic salt.

By: amtho

amtho — Thu, 24 May 2007 06:25:14 -0800

You could get him a salt mill (I know I've seen one that's clear and gives a view of the oh-so-interesting large salt crystals inside, although not on that page).

Um, you're sure this guy doesn't have high blood pressure or liver problems? It sounds like he eats a _lot_ of salt... salting things that are already salted? I know this wasn't your question, and I apologize in advance for my presumption, but I can't help but worry just a tiny bit. You probably wouldn't be asking this if he had any relevant health issues, but I thought I'd mention this just in case.

By: the luke parker fiasco

the luke parker fiasco — Thu, 24 May 2007 08:56:37 -0800

The Spice House also has a good selection of interesting salts, as well as a gift box of four salt selections. Their Portuguese "Salt Cream" and personal "Vulcan's Fire" blends are quite good ... they've also got the becoming-standard smoked, black, red, himalayan pink, fleur de sel, grey salt, etc. I highly recommend them.

By: rush

rush — Thu, 24 May 2007 08:59:54 -0800

I second (third?) the smoked salt - it's a great tool. There are a few different types of smoked salt, and they provide an interesting array of salty smoky goodness.