Mamta's Kitchen - A Family Cookbook
Himalayan rock salt
I have been using Himalayan rock salt in my cooking now for over a year. What got me interested in the first place was that it's claimed by some experts to be the healthiest salt on the planet.
Himalayan salt contains all the minerals and trace elements of which our bodies are made
The only other salt I have used apart from the Himalayan salt is black salt.
Apparently, Himalayan salt is unrefined and contains minerals that our bodies require. What do you guys think?
Scary movie! Looks like a clip out of Diagnosis Murder!
I've always thought that sea salt was "good" whereas table salt was "bad" conjured up in factories with added up additional ingredients to keep it free flowing
Think we need a reply from Lapis on this one!
Before anyone asks me if 'I' have noticed any health benefits let me just add that I drink 6 pints a night and wake up most mornings with a throat like thunder and in nowadays it takes me a whole day to recover LOL.
Sorry an' all.
(If it's eccentricity you're after then they don't come more eccentric than my family.)
Try drinking Cobra Zero% Not only is it a great drink but no hangover guaranteed the next morning!
Didn't know cobra did an alcohol-free beer... I will have to keep an eye open for that. Either way, unless I drink over 6 pints a night I don't get a hangover. I guess I have gotten used to the poison LOL.
Drink all grain home brew beer. No preservatives = no hangover! Trust me.
Cheers
Steve
As requested I have deleted one of the comments above. I am sure it was written with affection and respect but, with the religious reference, probably crossed the line.
Warm regards
Kavey
of course it is all just advertising hype, a little truth and a lot left to one's imagination. We do not need the 84 elements (they call them minerals, which they are not!)they say this salt contains.
For me, salt is salt. It is the major source of sodium and chlorine we need to live, that is all, aopart from the improvement in tasting it provides. All other elements we need (sometime, but erroneously called minerals) are derived from food, and although I prefer sea salt, it is because I don't find 'table salt' very nice.
And stay clear of any salt that suggests its low in sodium, apart from products like 'Losalt', but I would also not recommend that either, it contains potassium, which is vital for good health, but if the sodium/potassium balance is upset, problems with heart rhythm can result.
So, use Himalyan salt for enhancing the flavour of food, but don't rely on it for anything else. Same goes for Himalayan water, sold all over India, no doubt.
Most of the Himalayan water comes straight out of the tap, I have no doubt ;-)!
Yeah most probably you are right Mamta and so does Bisleri i guess.
Anyway i wonder what is the difference between rock salt and black salt, as rock salt is not exactly black in colour.
IN a lighter vein, at home, we call rock salt as "farting salt" cos of its pungent smell.Ha ha.
It is the black salt that has the pungent smell Rajneesh :-) and is called fa...ng salt, not the rock salt. Yes, it has the punget smell almost like hydrogen sulfide. I remember it well from our Chemistry class days ;-).
Mamta
Are there any health benefits to eating black salt? The smell reminds me of eggs.
I understand rock salt to be the stuff which looks pink when whole, and black salt looks blackish (more a deep purple). I have analysed black salt, it contains nearly pure sodium chloride, with traces of other elements, such as iron, copper, nickel and titanium. The colour is from the dissolved minerals, which form a green solution in water, from reduced iron, copper and nickel salts. There is a little black residue of mineral sulphides, which don't dissolve in water. The smell is from hyrogen sulphide, oftened refered to as 'bad egg smell', the same gas! The salt is derived from volcanoes (as all salt was originally, even that in the sea!)and the gas gets trapped in the salt crystals as they solidify. When crushed, the released gas can be detected!
Please note, certain ancient beliefs suggest that black salt contains less sodium; from the analysis I carried out, I found it was almost pure sodium chloride, and therefore would not benefit anyone on a low sodium diet.
Tha is very interesting Lapis, thank you for writing it here.
I had not heard of the low sodium content of 'Kala namak' anyway. The reason Indians use it is for it's smell, believe it or not! It is a bit like asafoetida, terrible when smelt on its own but adds flavour when used in appropritae amount in approprite dishes.
Mamta
PS. I did not know that all the salt in the sea originates from volcanoes, must have missed this informations when we learnt about sea in school!
Mamta
I didn't know that either!
LL, thanks, that was really interesting...
How did you analyse the salt, do you work in a lab?
yes, I used to. Sodium, potassium, by flame photometry, other metallic elements by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry and inoranic ions by ion chromatography. I didn't analyse the hydrogen sulphide content, but if I did it would have been by Drager tube technology.
......great big hammer to break a tiny nut, maybe, but it started because I saw that some people were under the illusion that it was low in sodium. I thought that that could be dangerous, if it was not!
Yes, absolutely!
Hope you don't mind my asking - what did/do you do? (For work I mean)
Kavey
(this may show as posted by Ma as I'm on her PC and it's signed in as her though I have put my name in the username box but I think her login may override it)
at the moment I'm helping a family member with her pottery business and I am a consultant to the audio industry (a development of a hobby really). My huge chemistry/biochemistry experience is used in understanding priciples in cooking, if you hadn't noticed ;?)