Gourmet Salt Guide

“Ocean salt” refers to salt harvested from the pure, cold waters of our oceans. It is harvested by channeling ocean water into large, clay lined salt marshes, then allowing the sun and wind to evaporate the water naturally. Ocean salt manufacturers typically do not refine ocean salt as much as other kinds of processed salt, so it retains natural traces of other minerals, including iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc, and iodine. Proponents of ocean salt rave about its bright, pure, clean flavor as well as the subtleties left by trace minerals. Ocean salt is thought to be healthier and more flavorful than traditional table salt.

Ocean salt is often sourced from the Arctic and the Atlantic Ocean. Available in coarse, fine, and extra fine grain size, and many sizes in between.

Of the many varieties of salt grain sizes, the most common types found in grocery stores are fine and coarse grain. Unlike coarse grain, which requires a grinder or mill, fine grain is the standard size for table salt, ready for daily kitchen use in shakers, seasoning, sautéing or baking.

The term “kosher salt” can refer to two types of salt. One is a specific shaped flake salt that is so named for its use in the preparation of meat according to the requirements of Jewish dietary guidelines. It contains fewer additives and has a cleaner, more even taste than ordinary table salt. The flakes dissolve easily and have a less pungent flavor than processed table salt. Kosher salt may also refer to a very light, flaky salt with a pyramid-shaped grain. Due to the shape of the granules, there is simply less salt in a pinch of kosher salt than in a pinch of table salt. This is the kind of salt most often used on top of pretzels and on the rims of margarita glasses. It is important to note that all kosher salt is not necessarily sea salt.

For additional information, read our Kosher Salt Guide.

Rare, delicate Fleur de Sel is the highest standard of finishing salts. Fleur de Sel translates to "Flower of Salt" and is often called the "caviar of salts" by chefs worldwide. True Fleur de Sel comes from the Guérande region of the French Atlantic Coast and is made up of young crystals that form naturally on the surface of salt evaporation ponds. The salt harvesters of the Guérande region, known as paludiers, carefully rake the salt crystals using tranditional wooden tools. The weather conditions must be just right to produce a true Fleur de Sel harvest, and the process can only be completed once a year, during the summer.

Similar to fine wine regions, different areas within Guérande produce salts with their own unique flavors and aroma profiles.

Fleur de Sel is ideal for salads, cooked fresh vegetables, and grilled meats.

Salt has been harvested from the Mediterranean Sea throughout history. Nearly every country that borders the Mediterranean harvests its salt and it is sold all throughout the world, common in shakers, on snack foods, in frozen meals and prepared foods.

There have been recent food safety concerns about Mediterranean salt.

American salt manufacturers began iodizing salt by artificially spray coating mineral salt with iodine in the 1920s during The Great Depression, in cooperation with the government. At the time, a significant amount of people in some parts of the country were found to be suffering from goiter, an enlargement of the thyroid gland caused by an easily-preventable iodine deficiency.

Today. we know that most people require less than 225 micrograms of iodine daily. Seafood and many dark greens, as well as sea salt, contain natural traces of iodine, and supplementation is unnecessary if there are sufficient quantities in one's diet.