Salt, Sodium Chloride, the most widely used seasoning and preservative on the planet.

It has no smell, a unique flavour, and you can use it to enhance the flavour of every other ingredient in a dish.

Oh, and then there is the little fact that we need it to live.

But salt is salt, right?

Umm… actually not quite.

The type of salt that you use when cooking can actually have a much bigger influence on the finished taste of the dish than you might imagine.

The types of salt

There are two basic types of salt, sea or rock. In addition to these, there are a few other variations worth mentioning, but they all come from one of the two base types.

Sea Salt
It’s really pretty logical, the oceans and seas that cover about 65% of the planet that we live on are salty water. When that water evaporates, either naturally or artificially, the salt is left behind.

Sea salt has a lovely flaky consistency, and is generally regarded as having the best flavour of all types of salt.

In my kitchen I always use Maldon sea salt, from the east coast of England, and I think that the taste is incomparable.

Rock Salt
Rock salt was formed by the gradual drying up of inland lakes and seas. Over a period of thousands of years this salt has been compacted and formed into into underground deposits.

Today we mine the rock salt, and we end up with a product that has a less pronounced flavour than sea salt, and a heavier crystalline structure.

Put rock salt in a salt mill and grind it freshly as you need it.

Table Salt
Table salt is mined like rock salt, but it is then ground up to produce a fine grained powder. Chemical and clogging agents are normally added, because without them the slightest damp will cause the salt to cake together.

Table salt is the cheapest kind of salt you can buy, but it is really a false economy, the taste is nowhere near as strong as sea or rock salt, so you end up using more of it, and I think it has a slightly chemical aftertaste.

Black Salt
Black salt is actually a dark pinkish grey, rather than black.
It is mined in India, and is the same sodium chloride as white salt, but with the addition of a high level of iron and some sulfurous compounds.

Black salt has an unusual sulfuric flavour and is mainly used in Indian cuisine.

Celery Salt
Celery salt is just fine table salt mixed together with finely ground celery seeds. I’ve never used it in cooking, but it is handy to have some around for adding to a Bloody Mary.

Flavoured Salts
There are also a huge and ever increasing range of flavoured or spiced salts on the market.

There is really no reason why you can’t whip these up yourself at home as and when you need them though, by grinding salt together with the required flavouring in a pestle and mortar. That way you avoid ending up with lots of half jars of things that you will never use again sitting in the back of your cupboard and slowly losing their flavour.