Salt

In today’s kitchen tip of the day, I will talk about “salt”.  You might say what’s there to talk about salt?  Well, there is so much to say about salt…

The saga about salt first started in an ancient palace kitchen where a salt stone accidentally fell into the special curry the cook was preparing for the king.  The story goes like the shell-shocked cook tried to dish out the salt “rock”, but could not find the rock in the curry.  Poor guy did not know that the rock was indeed salt and it had already disappeared into the curry, and it was too late to cook that dish again.  The cook then had to serve the “spoiled” dish anyways to the king (as he did not want to say bye-bye to his head…), and to his utter disbelief the king praised the cook so much for the “special taste” he was able to produce that day!  They say rest was history how salt found its way into every cuisine in the world… very interesting story right?

Salt has also been used a great food preservative since ancient times.  Can you imagine our famous Indian pickles without any salt?

Salt made our greatest Mahatma Gandhi to march hundreds of miles in protest against the British who were imposing hectic taxation on salt.  Salt is the first dish typically served on the banana leaves during a feast.  There is also a Tamil proverb that says “Uppitavarai ullalavum ninai”.  The English translation will be “Don’t ever forget those who offered you salt (actually meaning the food served after…).  But, go easy on the salt though, as high salt intake can lead to hypertension.  In Senthil’s Kitchen, I have reduced the salt level in my dishes so much that many times our guests would comment “Senthil, you forgot to put salt in the dish!!!”

Now coming back to the tip of day. How many of you have “sea” salt and/ or “popcorn” salt in your pantry?

Few years ago, I read that the typical salt we get in the stores are “manufactured”, or is a byproduct of some chemical process. There are also stories going around that “manufactured” salt is dangerous to health (even though I was thinking “salt is just salt”); my wife advised to switch over to “sea” salt which is typically produced by evaporating seawater, and we switched over.  We alternate between “iodized” and “non-iodized” sea salt versions as there are also so much news about the perils of over dosing on iodine as well.  Sometimes we also buy Himalayan rock salt!  Sea salt is available alongside regular salt in the department store, just look for the bold letters that say “SEA SALT”. I personally feel the dishes taste better with the sea salt…

Now what is “popcorn” salt? It is still salt, but very finely powdered salt, in “maida” consistency. It is the best salt to flavor home style French fries, Desi popcorn, fried peanuts or chat. When you flavor with “popcorn” salt, you will not feel the “crunch munch” feeling of biting into tiny salt crystals.  Popcorn salt is sold in the department stores on the same isle where salt is; alternatively, you can also make your own “popcorn” salt by grinding the salt to a very fine powder in a food processor.

So how many of you are going to switch over to “sea salt” from now onwards? And how many of you are going to start using “popcorn” salt?

Hope you enjoyed my kitchen tip of the day!