If you’ve seen any of my recipes, you’ve probably noticed an ingredient called “kosher salt”. It’s gained a lot of traction in recent years, but there are many who still don’t know what it is, or why they should use it. Today, I want to explain how it differs from table salt, why I use it, and why I think you should use it, too.
What exactly is kosher salt?
Kosher salt is a coarse-grain salt that gets its name from being traditionally used in koshering (the process of removing blood from meat). However, most people simply use it to season food, like they would with table salt. Kosher salt’s grain size makes it great for “pinching” without it falling onto your floors / countertops. The size also makes it easy to both see and feel how much salt you’re really handling. Both of these are a stark contrast compared to table salt. Speaking of…
Kosher salt vs. table salt
I’m sure many of you are already familiar with table salt; it’s the small-grain, iodine-packed stuff most people have in their salt shakers at home. Unlike table salt, kosher salt doesn’t usually contain iodine, which has an off, metallic flavor. Table salt also has a much smaller grain size, so trying to “pinch” the salt often leads to the messy floor / countertops I mentioned earlier.
A bit of table salt. Fun fact: this went everywhere when I was putting it into the bowl. Guess that’s actually not very fun…
I consider the grain size of kosher salt to be wholly superior to table salt, but since kosher salt doesn’t usually contain iodine, there is a risk of iodine deficiency if it’s the only salt you use (from what I understand, iodine deficiency was the reason iodine started being added in the first place). Also keep in mind that table salt is significantly more salty by volume than kosher salt, so if you’re ever making a recipe that calls for a tsp of kosher salt but you add a tsp of table salt, it will almost certainly be over salted.
Gratuitous close-up. Left is table salt, right is kosher salt.
Brand differences and which brand I use
The two big kosher salt brands are Morton’s and Diamond Crystal. Despite both being sold under the name kosher salt, they’re surprisingly different – so different that they aren’t necessarily interchangeable.
The first difference is that, from what I’ve seen, Morton’s usually contains anti-caking agents. Diamond Crystal, on the other hand, usually has just one ingredient: salt. The second (and more significant) difference is that Morton’s is more salty than Diamond Crystal, by volume. From what I understand, this is due to Morton’s being more compact than Diamond Crystal, resulting in less negative space between each granule.
If a recipe calls for 1 tsp of Morton’s, 1 tsp of Diamond Crystal may not be enough, meaning you’d need to do more adjusting at the end. Likewise, if a recipe calls for Diamond Crystal, an equal amount of Morton’s may be too much salt. The more salt that’s called for, the more noticeable these differences are, so it’s something to keep in mind.
I personally use Morton’s brand since it’s always been cheaper than Diamond Crystal for me. If you’re ever reading one of my recipes and come across kosher salt in the ingredients, it’s almost certain that I’m using Morton’s (unless I ever mention switching to Diamond Crystal). I will say, however, that most people seem to prefer Diamond Crystal.
Takeaways and final thoughts
I covered a lot here, but the main things to take away from this post are:
1.) I recommend kosher salt for the majority of food applications due to its neutral, salty flavor and its convenient and effective grain size.
2.) Kosher salt has a larger grain size than table salt and is less salty by volume.
3.) Not all kosher salts are equal, and it’s worth keeping in mind what salt you’re using vs. what the recipe author may be using.
Hopefully this post has cleared the fog surrounding the ingredient known as kosher salt. Maybe it even convinced you to try it for yourself!
Whether you plan on trying it for the first time, were already using it, or you plan on sticking to your preferred choice of salt, I hope you learned something from this post, or enjoyed it in some way.
Thanks for reading.
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