Grey Salt
Grey salt is an unrefined sea salt that sometimes comes moist, in a slurry. It’s harvested from the coastal areas of France; the color is from the clay in the salt flats. Like fleur de sel, it’s hand-collected, which is usually reflected in the price. Many consider grey salt to be the best salt on the market; a friend of mine that works for a high-end catering company describes it as one of the most delicious salts she’s ever had.
Uses: If you’re paying for it (a 16-ounce package runs $9), you’ll want to taste it. Use grey salt as a finishing salt on fresh vegetables and salads, or sprinkled on a baguette with olive oil.
Black Salt or Kala Namak
Black salt, made in India, is an unrefined mineral salt, and despite its name, is more pink than black. Its most notable flavor is sulfur.
Uses: Because of its eggy, sulfur-like flavor, Kala Namak is sometimes used by vegans to add egg flavor. Traditionally it’s used in Indian cuisine as a finishing salt, as well as added to chaats, chutneys, and snacks.
Hawaiian Sea Salt, a.k.a, Alaea This salt derives its reddish-brown color from the mineral Alaea, a volcanic, baked-red clay that is added to the salt. In addition to color, the mineral also adds a mild flavor.
Uses: Traditionally used in Hawaiian foods, meats.
Smoked Sea Salt
Smoked salts have a variety of flavors and colors, depending on the type of wood used to smoke them. Make sure to look for naturally-smoked; others just have artificial-smoked flavor added.
Uses: As a finishing salt on meats, fish, poultry, and vegetables.
Pickling Salt
This fine-grained salt is basically table salt without iodine or the anti-caking preservatives, which can cause the pickles to darken and the brine to turn cloudy.
Uses: Pickling. Can also substitute with kosher salt.
This is just a short list of the popular salts on the market; there are definitely more out there and there will surely be more in the near future. While perhaps we don’t need a rack devoted solely to salt, variety, as they say, is the spice of life—and so is salt.
