Sea salt is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It contains an abundance of trace minerals (iodine in particular) that make it superior to the pure chemical sodium chloride of land-mined salt. The sea salt richest in minerals is gray in color; next in health value comes the carefully washed white sea salt for table use; third is the white sea salt that has been treated with additives to make it noncaking and free flowing.
Rock salt is found in land deposits where millions of years ago there were probably living seawaters. The passage of time has removed all trace minerals and left the pure chemical, sodium chloride, which many nutritional authorities consider detrimental to health. Commercially processed salt also contains a number of additives that are undesirable in themselves to make it more “manageable” – read labels with care. Detrimental or not, most people in this country use this chemical in abundance. Therefore, some nutritionists recommend purchasing iodized salt, particularly in goiter-prone area. (Goiter is an iodine-deficiency disease). A more natural way to supply oneself with iodine, however, is to eat fish, kelp, Swiss chard, turnip and mustard greens, summer squash, watermelon, cucumber, spinach, asparagus, and kale – all rich in iodine – and if you are a vegetable gardener, fertilize your plot with fish emulsion or seaweed.
Although we hear much talk nowadays of the harmful effects of salt, remember that salt is essential to human life and has been valued highly in times gone by – and still is today, in inland Africa and South America. To Homer, salt was “divine” and Plato labeled it a “substance dear to the gods”. In many countries it has been valued as money. And we still speak of people being the “salt of the earth”, and of those who are “not worth their salt”.
Today, however, salt is often misused. It is widely employed commercially to disguise the taste of chemical preservatives and of inferior products. And in the kitchen it too often provides a cover for the blandness of improperly cooked food. Try eating a lightly steamed string bean and see how little salt – if any – it really needs. Salt is absolutely necessary to the life of man. But in these days when baby food, frozen vegetables, canned goods, baking soda and powder, prepared meats, soda pop, nuts, many snacks, and even drugs are loaded with chemical salt, one’s concern should certainly be with getting too much, not too little. Use it sparingly, and when you do, use sea salt. Purchase a salt grinder and you will savor a healthful salt at its best.
Rock salt is found in land deposits where millions of years ago there were probably living seawaters. The passage of time has removed all trace minerals and left the pure chemical, sodium chloride, which many nutritional authorities consider detrimental to health. Commercially processed salt also contains a number of additives that are undesirable in themselves to make it more “manageable” – read labels with care. Detrimental or not, most people in this country use this chemical in abundance. Therefore, some nutritionists recommend purchasing iodized salt, particularly in goiter-prone area. (Goiter is an iodine-deficiency disease). A more natural way to supply oneself with iodine, however, is to eat fish, kelp, Swiss chard, turnip and mustard greens, summer squash, watermelon, cucumber, spinach, asparagus, and kale – all rich in iodine – and if you are a vegetable gardener, fertilize your plot with fish emulsion or seaweed.
Although we hear much talk nowadays of the harmful effects of salt, remember that salt is essential to human life and has been valued highly in times gone by – and still is today, in inland Africa and South America. To Homer, salt was “divine” and Plato labeled it a “substance dear to the gods”. In many countries it has been valued as money. And we still speak of people being the “salt of the earth”, and of those who are “not worth their salt”.
Today, however, salt is often misused. It is widely employed commercially to disguise the taste of chemical preservatives and of inferior products. And in the kitchen it too often provides a cover for the blandness of improperly cooked food. Try eating a lightly steamed string bean and see how little salt – if any – it really needs. Salt is absolutely necessary to the life of man. But in these days when baby food, frozen vegetables, canned goods, baking soda and powder, prepared meats, soda pop, nuts, many snacks, and even drugs are loaded with chemical salt, one’s concern should certainly be with getting too much, not too little. Use it sparingly, and when you do, use sea salt. Purchase a salt grinder and you will savor a healthful salt at its best.
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