Gourmet Sea Salts: The Different Kinds

It is our hope at Olimila’s Salt Bar that these guides help you’ve a better understanding of the various types of gourmet sea salt as well as the way they are used to make wonderful food dishes. When you incorporate sea salts into your everyday cooking, you’ll become more knowledgeable with the distinguishing features of each sea salt and how they are incorporated in seasoning your foods and prepare remarkable meals for your friends and families. We support experimenting with all the vast array of gourmet salts cause that is half the fun.

Blended Sea Salts

Salt artisans combine sea salt crystals with spices, herbs, dried fruits or vegetables to make their very own signature gourmet blends. Used as a spice rub on fish, beef or poultry, your meat is permeated by these aromatic sea salts with their luscious flavors and smells. Sea salts that are blended can be used to season soups and sauces or scatter them on sandwiches and salads, a blended sea salt is to accentuate any dish you wish to serve.

Cooking Sea Salts

Many gourmet cooks and chefs choose natural sea salt when preparing their favorite dishes. Broiling meat is a healthful method to lessen its fat content since the sea salt draws out as well as absorbs the fat, while sealing in flavor and moisture.

Course Sea Salts

Coarse grain natural sea salt is the work horse of the gourmet sea salt trade. These larger, fully developed sea salt crystals are favored for cooking and roasting, but they are also milled or ground into smaller size crystals for table salts and exceptional finish. Rough sea salts are utilized in the best gourmet mixed and smoked sea salt products also.

Finished Sea Salts

These remarkable salts are appreciated best when added to food just before eating. They certainly will melt readily on the tongue and taste amazing. A high mineral content imbues them with subtle flavors plus a salty flavor that is a bit lighter. When used as a condiment food flavors brighten and eases a balance between acidity and sweetness by reducing the sourness of acid and increasing the sweetness of sugar. Vegetables, fresh fruit and the best cut of meat, even chocolate ice cream is enriched by these exquisite sea salts. You just have to attempt them once and you will never eat these foods without them again.

Fleur De Sel

The premier finish sea salt, this is a particular type of light fluffy finish salt crystal that forms on the surface of the water when the salinity of the heat of the sun, the brine and also the velocity of the wind are. These new born crystals must be expertly harvested in as they form by raking them or they’ll grow heavy and sink to the base of the polder. Portugal, Italy, France and Indonesia have climates that favor the formation of Fleur de Sel crystals and these hand crafted sea salts are broadly considered the best on the planet.

Flake Sea Salt

Flake sea salt is just another great finish salt. It requires formidable effort and perfect environmental conditions to create the Fleur de Sel crystal that is real. Procedures using thermal evaporation to emulate the light fluffy crystals of Fleur de Sel were invented by some enterprising salt makers in cooler climates.

Hawaiian Sea Salt

This finishing salt is well suited for specific occasions because of its beautiful presentation and color. Hawaiians have traditionally blended their natural sea salt with ground black lava or red alaea clay and activated charcoal to create two distinctive specialty salts. These amazing sea salts are used to flavor and preserve food as well as being a vital portion of conventional religious ceremonies.

Infused Sea Salt

These finish salts are usually created by conventional techniques passed down from generation to generation. Flavors and minerals will permeate the sea salt crystals from the container used to contain the brine during the evaporation procedure. Polders, the shallow clay pools commonly used in solar evaporation in Brittany, will give their salt crystals flavor and a distinctive grey color because of the kind of clay used in the polder. Japanese salt artisans are known to infuse seaweed or bamboo into their brine to provide their sea salt its exceptional flavor.

Mined Salt

Millions of years ago many salt water lakes and seas evaporated into thick layers of halite or rock salt. Buried over time, a few of these salt deposits are mined since the start of human civilization. Himalayan Pink Salt is one oh the healthiest salts you can use.

Grey Sea Salt

This infused course sea salt from Brittany gets much of its flavor and color from the grey clay polder it is evaporated in. When Fleur de Sel crystals sink to the base of the polder, this really is the crystal that is harvested. For centuries French chefs have believed that this salt is far better than all other salts when creating their dishes.

Smoked Sea Salt

Everyone loves these hand crafted sea salts because French chefs join familiar smoky flavors along with elaborate nuances to excite the taste buds. Be the star at your next barbeque by using smoked sea salts on your steaks, chicken or salmon. An ordinary bowl of nuts becomes gourmet finger food with merely few sprinkles of smoked sea salt.

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Author Alex Ferrari is the co-owner of Olimila Salt Bar and has his Gourmet Sea Salt Tasting Room in the heart of Studio City in Los Angeles, CA (near West Hollywood / WeHo). For more information go to: Olimila Salt Bar

Alex also hosts a weekly show on YouTube called “The EVOO Show” where he discusses all things olive oil, balsamic and foodie! Watch the show by clicking here: THE EVOO Show