The types of salts in cooking – sea salt, kosher salt and table salt

Question

I’ve heard of the various types of salt and I assumed that sea salt was mostly marketing.

But I keep hearing and seeing references to each type to salt when on a wiki-walk or google search.

– what do the various types of salt “bring to the table” (pun intended).

In: 5

Answer 1

Well, it IS marketing and it’s not marketing.

Kosher Salt generally has larger grains, and chefs often use it for multiple purposes, but in a dish it’s functionally no different from any other salt other than how you measure it. Granulated salt and Kosher salt are not a 1:1 in dishes due to the size difference, so if you see a recipe that calls for 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, you can’t just add one teaspoon of granulated salt and think it’s the same.

Table salt is granulated, and often comes with iodine, which was a well-needed supplement for people in the early 20th century. This is generally what you find in a shaker on the table, and is fine for seasoning dishes after they are done.

Sea salt is just that, salt from dried seawater. This has a slightly different taste compared to other salts, but is not enough of a difference to change the flavor of dishes.