Kosher Sea Salt is one of the most popular ingredients used in cooking. Most table salt and sea salt both contain about 40% sodium chloride by weight. Kosher sea salt and table salt can have slightly smaller crystal sizes than table salt (e.g. by teaspoon or teaspoonful), so they will have lower sodium chloride by weight (e.g. by half teaspoon or tablespoon).
Kosher sea salt is typically white and has a fine texture. It has a natural luster and sometimes an iodine odor as well. Table salt on the other hand, is a dark brown and coarse. Although it contains no iodine, some people believe that ingesting large amounts of salt can cause problems with the thyroid gland. Salt is often a main ingredient in shavings. If you have not tried this yet, try sprinkling salt on the shavings and letting it sit for a few days before you use them.
Because kosher salt is a natural product, it is considered to be healthier than synthetic salts. When you consume it in the form of table salt, you are ingesting only a small amount of sodium, while the salt crystal can accumulate in your arteries over time. As you can imagine, this leads to an increased risk of hypertension. Kosher sea salt has a higher concentration of potassium in comparison to table salt. Potassium helps regulate blood pressure and can prevent the occurrence of high blood pressure. Since this is one of the primary reasons to add this type of salt to your diet, it's a good idea to include sea salt in your menu.
Most recipes call for the addition of kosher salt. However, you may not realize that the majority of packaged dry foods are already kosher-certified. The packaging must state the percentage of kosher salt in order to indicate to you if it contains this specific salt. So don't just assume that every package of pasta, cookies or cake you eat is kosher-certified, but do pay attention to the labels of canned goods and baked items.
Kosher salt should also be avoided in excessive amounts. In fact, it can be considered downright dangerous! Kosher sea salt is particularly high in sodium, and many health experts believe it may cause hypertension. Many people have discovered that they develop kidney problems after consuming too much salt. It's best to avoid it if you're pregnant, trying to conceive or have high blood pressure.
Although there are some sources out there that claim to offer the highest purity kosher salt, you should really just be wary of these claims. The reason is that the only thing guaranteed by Kosher sea salt is that the salt can have a lower molecular structure compared to regular table salt. If you're using the product for anything else but cooking, you should make sure you know how it's being prepared.