"sea salt" news and stories

Ignorance is bliss, but it's not very good for your health. U.S. News Health reports that 76% of 1,000 American polled agreed with the statement "wine can be good for your heart." Hey, the good news is: That's true, but only if you consume two glasses per day if you're a man and one glass if you're a woman. Otherwise -- and here comes the really bad news -- excess drinking can lead to all kinds of problems like irregular heartbeat, obesity, cancer, high blood pressure and even heart failure.

Not only that, but Americans are also ill-informed about sodium, believing (56% of those surveyed) that ordinary table salt is the primary source in our diets. (61% believed, incorrectly, that sea salt had less sodium than regular salt.) All you have to do to understand that most of our sodium comes from processed foods-soups, snacks, condiments and canned foods like tomato sauce (why do you think they taste so good?) -- is to pick up a container of seemingly harmless cottage cheese and read the label. It will show that an eight-ounce serving contains about 720 milligrams of sodium, or half your daily recommended intake.

Americans are also famously bad at geography, but there's no word yet on whether young people are having trouble locating Napa and Salt Lake City on maps.

• Lamb shoulder has it all -- affordability, flavor and tons of tasty variations.
• We always hear about diners' complaints, but here's a report about the crazies (um, that'd be us civilians) the restaurant staff has to deal with.
• Gluten-free noodles from Italy's Rustichella d'Abruzzo are here. The verdict: The rice is not so nice, but the corn is totally sweet.
• The Cupcake Kit: An "all-encompassing" kit to make cupcakes a bit more festive.
• Berkeley's Sea Salt offers a revamped bar menu with nibbles including devilled duck eggs and ahi tuna mini-burgers.
• French Laundry gets a new chef de cuisine; Corey Lee heads out on his own and Timothy Hollingsworth takes over.
• Tom Colicchio (head judge of "Top Chef") and sous chef Sisha Ortuzar have cooked up a new book of "'Wichcraft."
• Did you know that there are a myriad of olive oils to suit different needs in the kitchen? A new book might help enlighten you.

I have a weakness for great gourmet oils, vinegars, and spices. This makes every trip to my favorite foodie store that specializes in these three things divine torture, and an exercise in failing restraint. I try a million different flavors, and I have even been known to finish off a small cup of vinegar like a shot. I go into a foodie haze and I can't be stopped.

Last week, I met up with a friend to go to that sinisterly tasty place and made a new discovery: Halen Mon Sea Salt with Taha Vanilla, which merges sea salt from Wales with Tahitian vanilla. (Details) It's delicious -- and I say this as someone who steers clear of flavored salts. The mixture offers the sharpness of the salt with the sweetness of super-tasty vanilla. I couldn't help but buy some.

The trend of mixing sweet and savory in candies is still going strong - and this is a good think for candy lovers. A pinch of salt really enhances the sweetness of sugar, chocolate, caramel or other sweet things by creating an obvious contrast. It also creates an instant mouthwatering effect - and who doesn't want food that's mouthwateringly good?

Getting back to candies, sea salt caramels - which are caramels spiked with a bit of salt - are the ultimately combination of salty and sweet. If you're a caramel purist, you'll want to skip the chocolate coated caramels and go straight for The Little Flower Candy Co's sea salt caramels, which are surprisingly salty and crazily addictive. Trader Joe's is also selling sea salt caramels in little wooden gift boxes this month and they are probably priced a little bit lower than LFC's candies. If you want to get some chocolate with your caramels, try Fran's Gray Salt Caramels. The award-winning chocolates have a sprinkle of salt on top and are one of the confections that kicked off the trend to begin with. For a lower priced, but equally chocolaty version, Crate and Barrel is selling a gift tin packed with them. It would also be a great thing to bring as a hostess gift for a holiday party, as it will probably be shared with everyone during dessert.

I have quite a collection of different salts in my spice cabinet due, in no small part, to the general popularity of flaked salts, sea salts and other, more exotic salts from all over the world. At first, I was just following the trend, but as I tried more salts I found that I bought them for their different textures, many of which still come through in a finished dish. I regularly use only a small portion of the salts: Maldon or a pink Australian salt for finishing dishes, kosher or sea salt for cooking and any more finely ground salt, including ordinary table salt, for baking.

The reason I don't use the rest of the salts is that they rarely differ significantly where flavor is concerned. If you're looking for flavor, I'd suggest opting for a salt that is has been purposely flavored. This set from NapaStyle has three different varieties: Sundried Tomato Garlic Gray Salt, Roasted Garlic Gray Salt and Citrus Rosemary Gray Salt. All will add a very impressive flavor-boost to a dish before serving, along with the look and texture of a coarser salt. The grey salt used as a base for the flavors is a sea salt from France that has a light purple-grey color and a slightly moistness to it, which many feel contributes to an increase of flavor during cooking.

Perhaps the best use for these salts, especially if you don't feel like cooking, is as a popcorn seasoning, turning a bag of plain microwave corn into a gourmet snack.

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