Recently, I made black Hawaiian sea salt-crusted sea bass with spicy chili garlic sauce over black glutinous rice laced with coconut milk and herbs for my dinner guests. We all cleaned our plates and still made room for dessert!
Although the dinner contained quite a few unusual ingredients, my friends were fascinated most by the salt. After a life of thinking that salt was just plain and white, they were surprised at the black Hawaiian salt.
I quickly brought them the various salts that I own and started explaining.
There are two major categories of salt: rock and sea. The rock salt is a mineral from underground lakes or spring-water pools that have dried out, leaving great chucks of salt that are boiled down and crystallized to various degrees of fineness. (Not to be confused with rock salt used in ice removal as it contains other toxic chemicals.)
Crystal rock salt, Kosher, course, and table salt all come from a type of saline rock with the addition of chemical magnesium carbonate as an anti-caking agent.
The sea salt is collected directly from the evaporation of seawater, providing the purest salty taste. This salt contains traces of other minerals and tastes different depending on where it was made.
Fleur de sel is originally a French sea salt that is harvested by hand and has a wet feel with a gray hue.
Black Hawaiian lava salt is infused with activated charcoal. This goes well with any seafood.
Red Hawaiian salt is processed with Alaea red clay found only Hawaii.
Kiawe smoked sea salt is smoked with Kiawe wood chips, giving it a similar aroma as mesquite tree chips. I use this salt for my barbecue dishes.
Himalayan pink salt has large crystals ranging in off-white to lustrous pink.
There are also find herbed and spiced infused style salts, such as celery salt and garlic salt.
You can cook with any of these salts, but since they are much more expensive than regular table salt, it is usually used to sprinkle over top of a dish.
