A Quick Aside - and Recipe - About Salt

August 28, 1:20 PMFood ExaminerEric Burkett

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Salt: our only edible mineral.

All this discussion of preserved lemons has gotten me to thinking about salt. Salt’s role in food preservation has been recognized for thousands of years. Many cultures believed salt has magic qualities:

Because salt prevents decay, it protects from harm. In the early Middle Ages, farmers in northern Europe learned to save their grain harvests from a devastating fungal infection called ergot, poisonous to humans and livestock, by soaking the grain in salt brine. So it is not surprising that Anglo-Saxon farmers included salt in magic ingredients placed in a hole in the plow as they invoked the name of the earth goddess and chanted for “bright crops, broad barley, white wheat, shining millet…

Mark Kurlansky, “Salt: A World History”

Salt was probably recognized first for its taste rather than its preservative qualities, and has undergone countless transformations as it made its way to dinner tables around the world. One of my favorites is from Korea and is wonderfully simple: sesame salt.

1 cup kosher salt
1 heaping tablespoon white sesame seeds

-         In a small well-seasoned iron or non-stick skillet, toast the sesame seeds until they begin to release their aroma. You’re looking for a deep tan color, but sesame seeds burn the second you let yourself be distracted, so keep a close eye on them.

-         When the seeds have cooled, mix them with the salt and then in either a mortar and pestle or an electric grinder, blend the two ingredients together until the seeds have become a powder. If you use the electric grinder, you should be able to do this in a few pulses.

-         Store the salt in an airtight container and sprinkle liberally over just about anything on which you like the taste of salt: boiled eggs, steamed or sautéed vegetables, salads, meat, or fish.