Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

What’s the difference between kosher salt, iodized salt and sea salt? When should I use them?

Kosher salt is a coarse grain, additive free salt.  When you look at the grains they resemble little rectangles. This allows the salt to adhere to whatever it is added. Kosher salt has a cleaner, pure salt taste and chefs like it because the coarser texture allows you to control the salting process better, you’ll also have less of a propensity to over salt. You use kosher salt in the same manner as iodized salt, if a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon, you use 1 teaspoon. Kosher salt is the only salt I use for cooking and baking (although some bakers would argue this point). Iodized or Table salt is a fine grained salt to which iodine, dextrose and calcium silicate are added to stabilize the iodine and keep the salt free flowing.  When you look at the grains they are round allowing the salt to roll off the food which can cause over salting. Iodized salt is not pure salt and many times you are really tasting iodine. Iodine was added to table salt in the 1920’s because of an epidemic of goiter due to a lack of iodine in our diets. Even though this is no longer the case, salt companies continue to add iodine to salt because the consumer has grown accustomed to the flavor. Sea salt is made from evaporated sea water. Sea salts contain various minerals and the types and amounts of them vary depending on where the salt originated.  These mineral combinations impart each sea salt with distinctive taste properties. For example, sea salt from Brittany, France will taste completely difference than sea salt from Hawaii. Sea salts are not meant to be used in the cooking process. They are strictly for garnishing purposes only. Cooking or baking with sea salt only breaks down the nuances of the salt and you lose the flavor in the end. So, save your sea salt and use it as a garnish to your finished food.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much

Kosher salt is a coarse grain, additive free salt.  When you look at the grains they resemble little rectangles. This allows the salt to adhere to whatever it is added. Kosher salt has a cleaner, pure salt taste and chefs like it because the coarser texture allows you to control the salting process better, you’ll also have less of a propensity to over salt. You use kosher salt in the same manner as iodized salt, if a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon, you use 1 teaspoon. Kosher salt is the only salt I use for cooking and baking (although some bakers would argue this point). Iodized or Table salt is a fine grained salt to which iodine, dextrose and calcium silicate are added to stabilize the iodine and keep the salt free flowing.  When you look at the grains they are round allowing the salt to roll off the food which can cause over salting. Iodized salt is not pure salt and many times you are really tasting iodine. Iodine was added to table salt in the 1920’s because of an epidemic of goiter due to a lack of iodine in our diets. Even though this is no longer the case, salt companies continue to add iodine to salt because the consumer has grown accustomed to the flavor. Sea salt is made from evaporated sea water. Sea salts contain various minerals and the types and amounts of them vary depending on where the salt originated.  These mineral combinations impart each sea salt with distinctive taste properties. For example, sea salt from Brittany, France will taste completely difference than sea salt from Hawaii. Sea salts are not meant to be used in the cooking process. They are strictly for garnishing purposes only. Cooking or baking with sea salt only breaks down the nuances of the salt and you lose the flavor in the end. So, save your sea salt and use it as a garnish to your finished food.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.