Helpful tips
Despite the fact that many consider salt to be a white poison, it is a very popular product in our kitchen, and you can't do without it.
But what kind of salt to choose so as not to harm the body?
Whereas before it all came down to opting for either iodized or table salt, now the variety of types of salt on supermarket shelves is simply an eye-catcher.
Which salt is healthier
So, let's see which salt is better, and whether expensive salt is different from the one that costs a penny.
Does it make sense to overpay a lot of money just because the label has a beautiful unusual name, or does all types of salt boil down to one thing — it's the most common salt?
Here's a list of nine different culinary types of salt. We see some of them every day, while others are rare visitors to our stores. Each of these types of salt is accompanied by a brief description that allows you to understand which salt is best to buy without fear for your own health and family budget.
Table salt
1. Table salt (table salt)
Table salt is created by heating natural salt to 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Heating destroys the most valuable and useful compounds that make up this product.
Enriched with natural iodine, table salt is also artificially bleached, as a result of which it loses most of the valuable microelements, which makes it certainly not the most useful with salt you can choose.
Also read: 8 simple but effective ways to improve digestion
This type of salt can often contain various additives to absorb moisture slowly, which is why it is so easy to pour it into a salt shaker.
Experts also say that such highly purified salt is very harmful to the body, causing many health problems, but unrefined salts, on the contrary, can heal and cure a number of diseases.
Therefore, pay attention to the following so-called natural unrefined salt varieties:
The benefits of sea salt
2. Sea salt
Most people are familiar with common sea salt. It can often be seen on our store shelves.
From the name of the product it follows that such salt is obtained by extracting it from sea waters. Then, during the evaporation process, the water disappears, leaving only sea salt, which is processed and used for various purposes, including cooking.
Sea salt contains a small amount of natural iodine (less than iodized salt). In addition, this type of salt is generally much less refined than table salt.
Depending on your preferences, you can purchase both fine and coarse sea salt.
Unfortunately, the main problem associated with sea salt production is ocean pollution. Once upon a time, the seas and oceans were so clean that it was possible to extract salt and eat it without fear. However, with the development of civilization, ocean waters began to be regularly polluted with harmful elements, the main of which was poisonous plastic.
This does not mean that we should stop using sea salt, but each of us should be aware of this problem and dilute the consumption of sea salt with other types of salts.
Himalayan pink salt
3. Himalayan pink table salt
This salt comes to our shelves straight from the ancient seabed of the Himalayan Mountains. The pink color is due to its high iron content.
The product is really rich in minerals and contains all 84 essential micronutrients that our body needs.
Pink salt is a real treasure trove of health and benefits. This product can help with many processes in the human body. For example, drinking pink salt helps reduce muscle cramps, increase blood sugar, and improve a healthy pH balance in your cells.
Experts agree that Himalayan pink salt is the healthiest and recommend it for frequent consumption as often as possible. In addition, its popularity has made this salt more affordable than before.
Today, this type of salt has ceased to be exotic, and anyone can easily find it on the shelves of a supermarket in their hometown.
Celtic salt
4. Gray salt
Gray salt got its color due to the fact that it is extracted from clay. This type of salt is also called Celtic sea salt.
This salt is collected by hand in Brittany, a historical region of France, where natural clay and sand create moist, mineral-rich crystals. Gray salt generally retains its moisture content.
It helps restore the electrolyte balance in our body and also prevents muscle spasms. The properties of gray salt are very similar to Himalayan pink salt.
However, this salt is slightly more expensive due to the laborious manual process of collecting it. Therefore, if you decide that healthy salt must be on your table, but at the same time, your funds are limited, opt for Himalayan pink salt. It is in no way inferior in its healing properties.
Read also: 6 healing properties of ginger that you need to know
Salt flower
5. Fleur de sel salt
The white salt flower from the Camargue is the most elite type of salt. The price tag on this salt can scare many people.
However, this type of salt is considered the most valuable.
It's all about the special geographical location of the Camargue region, the place where this rare type of salt is extracted. The conditions for growing salt should be close to ideal: sea, sun and a number of other favorable factors.
This is the only way this salt will crystallize on the seawater surface. Delicate, brittle salt crystals are collected by hand using a special wooden spatula. In addition, the salt harvest period is very important: it is from June to September.
It is precisely because of the laboriousness of manual labor during harvesting that the cost of this salt is very high. It is also worth noting that it is harvested by hand along the French coastline in the same pools as gray salt.
For comparison, it should be added that for every 40 kilograms of gray salt, there are only one or two kilograms of salt flower.
This unusual salt is highly valued and is commonly used for finishing products. As for its effect on human health, it's just an expensive mineral salt with a delicate taste and texture.
6. Black salt
The place of salt production is the Hawaiian Islands. The color of the salt is due to its origin: we are talking about black volcanic unrefined lava.
In addition, the black color of salt is due to its activated carbon content, which is known to improve digestion and remove harmful toxins and impurities from the body.
So, black Hawaiian salt is a product rich in microelements and minerals, which contains not only activated charcoal, but also turmeric, as well as taro powder.
This type of sea salt is produced exclusively on one of the Hawaiian islands of Molokai using modern technologies. The process of obtaining is quite laborious. Black Hawaiian salt is also called the ultimate black pearl.
The advantages of activated carbon are known to each of us: it has sorbing and disinfecting properties, making black salt a wonderful and useful product.
Experts say that the main advantage of this salt is that it improves digestion and also removes poisons and toxins from the body.
In addition, it is worth noting its unusual delicate taste with the addition of savory notes and a pleasant aroma.
Black salt contains about a hundred useful minerals and microelements that are indispensable for human health. Black Hawaiian salt is considered a very valuable product; this salt is often found in the most expensive restaurants in the world.
The black color of salt also makes dishes more interesting and visually appealing.
There is another type of black salt — kala namak. This salt is already native to India and Pakistan. But in fact, when crushed, the color of the salt is pink.
This salt has an unusual slightly sulfurous taste. Its composition is also unusual. It is dominated by sulfur and iron, which changes its taste. For this reason, it is believed that this salt is more of a beneficial digestive supplement.
Both of these types of black salt are highly valued and are extremely beneficial for our body.
Read also: 10+ benefits of black tea that you haven't heard of before
Red salt
7. Red Hawaiian salt
Another type of Hawaiian salt is red. It gets its color from volcanic Hawaiian clay (alaea). When the water evaporates, this salt enters the tidal pools, where it mixes with this very clay, whose color is bright red, almost red.
According to experts, red Hawaiian salt contains the highest concentration of essential microelements and is especially rich in iron. This makes salt an extremely beneficial product for human health.
Therefore, if your body lacks iron, this salt can be an excellent addition to your well-balanced diet.
Persian salt
8. Persian blue salt
This unique salt, collected from an ancient salt lake in Iran, is considered one of the rarest types of salt on the planet.
The bluish tint of the salt is the result of a special crystal lattice. This unusual color is not due to its mineral content, but from the natural compression of the salt structure over many centuries.
About the same beautiful effect can be observed on blue ice, where the molecular structure shrinks to such an extent that the ice begins to refract light and shine differently.
While the unusual color of the product pleases the eye, Persian salt is also considered one of the rarest in the world. This all-natural salt is also rich in beneficial microelements and has a pleasant slightly sweet aftertaste.
Due to its rarity, this salt also has a very impressive price tag.
Smoked salts
9. Smoke-flavored salt
Smoked or so-called smoke-flavored salts have no significant nutritional benefits compared to regular sea salt and all types of salts described above.
In fact, this is sea salt, which was smoked on special wood chips. This salt is especially popular in Denmark. In this country, it is evaporated on fire with the addition of juniper, cherry, beech and oak firewood.
There is also a second option for producing smoked salt: you must first dissolve the aqueous extract of wood smoke in vegetable oil, and then mix sea salt with the resulting vegetable mixture.
In more rare cases, salt is mixed with special flavored molasses.
Smoking gives salt crystals a pleasant smoky aroma and a gray or brown color. This salt perfectly complements some dishes, giving them a spicy note. However, apart from its pleasant smell, it has no other health benefits.
So, everyone decides for themselves which salt to choose based on their preferences and budget.
But the advice is as follows: it is best to eat unrefined sea salt. It has significantly more advantages compared to regular table salt. Sea salt contains less sodium and significantly more useful minerals.
Plus, you don't have to spend a fortune to consume healthy salt. The price of such a product is quite adequate and will not hit your wallet.
It makes sense to try exotic salts as an interesting culinary experiment. However, from a health point of view, it cannot be said that any of these expensive salts has more benefits than simple sea salt.
Any unrefined sea salt is a wonderful and healthy product. So choose salt that suits your needs and enjoy it in combination with a smart, healthy lifestyle.