Sea salt

About sea salt
Wikipedia Article About Sea salt on Wikipedia

Sea salt, a salt obtained by evaporating sea water, is used in cooking and in such products as cosmetics. Its mineral content gives it a different taste from table salt, which is mostly sodium chloride and made from either sea or rock salt (halite), a mineral that is mined. Table salt must contain anticaking agents and additives such as the dietary supplement iodides. Areas that produce specialized sea salt include France, Ireland, Sicily and Puglia in Italy, and Maine and Cape Cod in the USA. Generally more expensive than the table salt, it is commonly used in premium potato chips.

A type of salt extracted from seawater through the use of a vacuum evaporation process and distilled into an edible, solid form. Unrefined sea salt, known as gray sea salt or "sel gris" in French, is a variety that has not been fully processed like common sea salt, so small amounts of various minerals naturally in the waters from which the salt was derived are retained in the gray salt. The gray color of the salt is due to the clay composition of the salt flats where the salt was harvested. The taste and color of the various sea salts will vary depending on the area from which the water was collected for producing the salt. As an example, minerals such as red clay provide a pink tint and an iron flavor to sea salts from Hawaii, as can be seen with alaea or alae sea salt known as Red Alaea Hawaiian sea salt. Another sea salt from Hawaii, known as the black sea salt, is colored by the lava deposits common in the area, providing a slight sulfuric aroma to this seasoning.