Pickling Salt?


 
GrantT

GrantT

TVWBB Pro
So, "Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt" seems to be the gold standard and you see it mentioned and in ingredient lists all over the place. I bought a box some time ago and it is running out. That said, it is actually a little more rare around these parts, and actually pretty expensive too. About $10 price for roughly 1KG. Other coarse kosher salts here around the same price too.

So I happened to be in a wholesale foods place here and they had Sifto brand "Coarse Pickling Salt". Curiosity got the best of me and thought I would pick one up as when looking at the ingredient list, it is nothing but salt. How could that be bad? When looking at DCKS, also just salt. No anticaking, no other additives etc. in either. I like courser salt as I find it works better for drawing moisture from meat etc without making it too salty. I don't care about kosher. I have finishing salt for final table salt.

So, the thing is, the pickling salt is only $1.39 for the same amount as the DCKS which is over $10. This (to me) is one of those things in life where people just buy it "because"...to me, salt is pretty well salt. I hate being suckered by brand names...pet peeve in life. I'll take a better quality no-name over brand name any time. i.e. swapped out "Kirkland" products for many things we used to buy. We tried it blind as a taste test - we could not tell any difference in taste. The pickling salt I think is probably "manufactured" vs naturally ground so is very evenly sized, which to me is a good thing...more consistent? So...I am just thinking W.T.F.

Thoughts?
 
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are you seeking thoughts on pickling salt versus kosher salt?

personally, i use Morton salt products. because that's what's easily available and i've been using them for many, many years.

pickling salt dissolves easily in water. kosher salt is jaggedy so it doesn't bounce off meat when you sprinkle it on.

for seasoning proteins i use kosher salt.

for making lox, i can interchange between pickling and kosher, however, when using pickling in this recipe i use less salt in volume than kosher salt because pickling salt is smaller and takes up less space.

use whichever one you like. just always taste your salt so you know how much to use

as for brands, i seek Morton's brand and can use Diamond. i don't place salt at the dinner table as i view that as insulting to the chef (me) as I properly season food for serving and eating.

i do place a pepper mill at the table for each person's personal preference (mostly with Caesar salad tho, nothing else).

EDIT: and kosher salt is called such because it is used in kashering (making kosher) different meats. example, if you ever buy kosher chicken, you won't need to salt it in your recipe as the chicken is/was saltwater brined to make it kosher (how it's slaughtered) and how the blood is removed from the bird. i'll stop here as kashering and kosher slaughtering is its own thread and series of laws, rituals and events. salt is naturally kosher. kosher salt is used to make, think beef, kosher (removing the meat's blood) thus the term Kosher Salt.
 
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The two salts you mention are intended for different purposes. Diamond crystal is, as you say, a high quality cooking salt. Pickling salt is free of impurities (anti-cake) that can cloud up liquid in canning processes. As Doug says, it is critical to adjust the volume of salt in picking if you are not using actual pickling salt because you need to preserve the food.

Experience will tell you what salts you actually need and where you can spend less.
 
We can only get iodine enriched salts, so that's what I use for pickling.
I've never seen/tasted any adverse effect.
I weigh everything, so going from one salt to another is not a problem
 
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