Friday, January 1, 2010
The Great Salt Debate
Initially I had stated that someone should try to cultivate salt from a natural source - either finding an abandoned mine or driving out to the ocean to distill it from water. A biologist/chemist we all know chimed in on the subject and stated that salt distilled from the Atlantic would contain impurities, some of which would be potentially dangerous. So I pose the following question - if salt were freely allowed in the competition, would you use it as a spice/food accent, or use it as a preservative? Please respond to this post in the comments section - each participant gets one vote, and I will determine whether it will be allowed at the end of next week. please answer HONESTLY.
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I would use it for preservation only. I would suggest allowing sea salt only; that at least is a little more natural, and can be purchased from food cooperatives/ natural food stores... better than feeding the Big Bald Bird any more money.
ReplyDeleteI would likely use it for seasoning and preserving. There are small co-operatives throughout the US that filter and create salt based solely on request. I would go for a Fleur de sel, a very artisan salt that -- in order to be called it's name -- needs to be hand harvested via time honored techniques and done in small batches.
ReplyDeleteIf we are allowing ourselves one exception to the rules, like Jessica's Pepsi, then i was consider bacon. If I could get a pack of bacon, it would provide me with both cooking fat and salt that I would be so desperately in need of. However, I don't know if I can suppress that guilt I would feel t taking such an easy way out.
ReplyDeleteI would use it primarily for preserving. I don't use salt normally anyhow unless it's in a recipe. In olden days, they could mine salt and use it. Or for those that lived near salt water, they could evaporate off the water and they're left with salt... with impurities in it. They may not have known of the impurities or of the risks that we are now aware. Just because we can get salt or anything else, does that mean we should? Not to be a pessimist but even in foraged food we take a risk that we can properly identify what the plant is and that it isn't growing up in a poluted environment. Even if we can purify the salt does anyone have the proper equipment to perform qualitative analysis of the salt to ensure it is of good quality? Even way back when, they didn't come by everything themselves. They had to sometimes travel great distances for items and trade goods to acquire what was needed.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, sea salt is taken from seas, not the ocean. The salt there is spilled out into flat areas and then dammed off so the water can evaporate. Anyone planning a trip to Utah? or France?
ReplyDeleteI would use it as a seasoning.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see how much salt we actually need to prepare for and live out the week.
ReplyDelete