Salt, Iodized and Not

[Delmonico]

I've been posing some ketchup recipes here and although I am not going to get into a thread on canning, because that is really to involverd for just a thread here, I have mentioned not to use iodized tablesalt if you want to can these recipes.  Perhaps a bit as to why is in order.  First of all Iodized salt came on the market in the early part of the 20th century, because it was found that folks some distance from the ocean lacked it in their diet, causing goiters, a swelling of the thyroid gland.

Well now days most table salt contains it even if you don't need it in you diet.  Modern "seafood" that we ship in has plenty, If you think you lack it, eat a can of tuna once in a while.   What the iodine does is to react with metal in the jar lids, causing a mettalic taste in the canned food. 

Also many table salts have sodium siicate added to keep it from caking, this is the "Do not eat" stuff that they package in those little paper sacks that is now in eveything.  This makes brines made with this cloudy, not clear.

The best salt to use is canning salt, it is pure refined salt.  Kosher salt is also, but the larger grains don't dissove as easy for brines. 

[Bristow Kid]

Very Interesting Del,  never knew that about salt.  Glad to see your feeling better.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I've been getting plain salt (non-iodized). I like it much better for all applications. Thanks for the information, Del. Great stuff.

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[Delmonico]

You still have to watch for the anti-caking agent if it's table salt in the round box even if it don't have iodine in it.  I switched to kosher salt after I watched Alton Brown on TV.  His reasons made sense.  I use the canning if I plan on canning stuff that is not leftovers.  Like beef or venison.

also one should use uniodized salt in curing meats if one does that.

I wonder now after thinking as I posted this.  I started using uniodized salt about the time I tossed all the other pots and pans.  That could be the reason I don't get much discoloration and metallic taste like some folks do.  I always thought it was that I got seasoning the ironware down perfect.  Now I'm not so sure. 

Perhaps a experiment is in order, a box of iodized salt is cheap enpough, I can always pit it on the sidewalk if it rains and freezes again.

[deucedaddyj]

Hey, I gotta agree, it's good to see ya back Del. Could you use canning salt as a plain table salt if you wanted?

[Delmonico]

Yep and if yer really cheap it costs less than Iodized table salt in a round box.   All it that it is is pure salt with no addatives and not packaged in as fancy a package.  If you have trouble with caking in the salt shaker because of humidity just add a few grains of uncooked rice to the shaker.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Great info, Del.
Question fer ya on canning and kosher salt: is it sea and/or mine salt?

Slim

[Delmonico]

Mined, sea salts contain more salts and chemicals than sodium cloride including some of the iodine compounds.

That is why sea salt is the rage among the health food crowds right now.  <Slim do you know what the fish and whales do in the sea? >

[Silver Creek Slim]

Mined, sea salts contain more salts and chemicals than sodium cloride including some of the iodine compounds.

That is why sea salt is the rage among the health food crowsd right now.  <Slim do you know what the fish and whales do in the sea. >

Swim. 

Slim

[Hemlock Mike]

I now use very little salt in my cooking and have available Kosher salt as a "finishing" salt at the table.  I've read that many chefs do that.

Mike

[Bristow Kid]

I cook the same way Mike.  I havent used salt for cooking for like 16 years.  I keep regular salt on the table for company to use.  Most of my friends and family actually like my cooking with out adding salt.

[Delmonico]

Most of the modern world eats too much salt and often don't know they are eating it.  Almost all processed food has too much salt in it.  One should have their sodium checked once n a while.  Because of my lack of that kind of diet I run a sodium level that is above not enough, but not a lot.  I use salt lightly and must because if I didn't it would go to low.  But I am an exception today.  My colesteral also runs very low and my normal BP is about 120 over 65 when I walk in to the office and runs about 115 over 55 when laying in bed in the hospital.  Coffe puts it at about 135 over 70.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

My corrected BP matches yours, Del. I have cut way back on salt when I cook, but suppose I still get too much in snacks( my down fall). Our prepared foods do contain too much salt. Since I cut back, I can taste the salt in some of the prepared/canned stuff.......Buck

[Russ T Chambers]

Mined, sea salts contain more salts and chemicals than sodium cloride including some of the iodine compounds.

That is why sea salt is the rage among the health food crowds right now.  <Slim do you know what the fish and whales do in the sea? >

According to W. C. Fields, they fornicate in it! 

[deucedaddyj]

Yeah, that was his excuse for not drinking water.

[Singing Bear]

Interesting!  We haven't been using much of the regular table salt lately.  Been seasoning my cooking with either Hawaiian or Korean/Japanese sea salt.  Korean being much less expensive.  We're talking 20$ to 30$ for about a half pound bag of the Japanese deep sea salt vs. $5 or $6 for a pound of Korean sea salt.     The sea salts seem to add a different flavor to foods that's kinda hard to describe (no not fish and whale s--t  ).  The food just seems to taste better.  Sea salt really shines when used on pulehu meats.  Just plain seasoned meat that's charbroiled.  Usually seasoned with garlic, white or black pepper (plenty of it) and sea salt (usually Hawaiian salt).  I keep kosher salt for brining duties.  Just keep stirring.  It'll eventually dissolve.

Don't know about any health bennies, but it sure do make food tasty without being salty.   

Canned/processed meats have way too much sodium for me/us.  Probably going to donate our stash of Spam to the food bank. 

[Delmonico]

Keep one can, ain't it a law in Hawaii that all residents have at least one can in the cupboard at all times.  

[El Peludo]

Interresting, as usual, Del.  We use all three types of salt - well, actually, four, now; we got a small bag of "grey salt" in a Christmas package.  It will be interesting to find out what it tastes like in cooking.  We've found that sea salt seems "saltier" than either kosher, or iodized table salt.  Our box of Mortons Iodized is over a year old, and still is about half full.

Anecdote:  on our fireplace hearth is a grey, semi-opaque stone that folks seem to ask about from time to time; it is about the size of a football, and weighs about five or six pounds.  Whenever someone asks what that is, I pick it up and tell them to lick it - it is always amusing to see the reaction.  After they get past the idea of "licking a dirty old rock", they are amazed to find it is "salty!".  It is a solid crystal from the old National Chloride evaporation mines at Amboy, California; my brother worked there in the summers during his college days, as a blaster, blowing up the salt beds for removal by dragline.  The material was shipped by rail to the San Francisco bay area for refining.  I think he said that it contributed to regular Mortons (and other brands) table salt, and rock salt.  The mines are still there and in operation, but I don't know if they are still mining "salt" there -  maybe just some other sort of minerals.  They used to mine potash, and bromine, and several other things, as well as salt.

[Delmonico]

If I remember right sea salt is about 75% sodium chloride (the term salt refers to a compound that is made by the reaction of an acid on another substance, most often a metal)  If I rememberright magnesium sulfate is the next most common mineral in this mix along with quite a lot of others in small amounts.  Also I think this varies with where it is extracted.