What Is Salt and How Can I Use It?

Kosher salt is the cook's everyday salt: coarse, flaky crystals of plain sodium chloride with nothing else added. The name comes from its original job, koshering meat, where the large grains are good at drawing blood from the surface.

Most kosher salt is not certified kosher itself; the name stuck to the grain.

What makes it the salt most cooks reach for is control. The coarse flakes are easy to pinch and to see, so you can scatter them evenly by hand and feel how much you are adding, which fine table salt makes almost impossible.

Sea salt is exactly what it sounds like: the salt left behind when seawater evaporates. That origin sets it apart from table salt, which is mined from underground rock and refined down to nearly pure sodium chloride.

Because seawater carries more than salt, sea salt keeps traces of other minerals. They give some sea salts a faint grey or pink tint and a rounder, less sharp taste, though once it dissolves into a dish the difference is hard to pick out.

Seasoned salt is not really a type of salt. It is plain salt premixed with dried savory spices, usually paprika, garlic, onion and a touch of sugar, so a single shake seasons and flavors at the same time. The original, Lawry's, has been on diner tables since 1938.

That makes it a flavor base, not a finishing salt. Reach for it when you want an easy savory hit with no measuring: on popcorn and burgers, tossed with Green Beans with Red Potatoes, or rubbed into meat before the grill, the way it seasons a Barbecued Beef Brisket.

Because it is mostly salt, treat it as the salt for that dish rather than an extra. Shake it over food you have already salted and you double the sodium without meaning to.

It is also not a one-to-one stand-in for plain salt. It brings color and a garlicky, mildly peppery flavor you may not want in delicate baking or a dish that already has its own spicing.

Blends vary by brand, so taste before you trust the amount. You can mix your own too: fine salt cut with paprika, onion and garlic powder, black pepper and a pinch of sugar.

For when and how to salt food, storing it and cutting back on sodium, see salt.

Pickling salt is plain fine salt, and the point of it is what it leaves out. It carries none of the anti-caking agents in table salt, which would cloud a brine, and no iodine, which can darken pickles and dull their color.

Because the grains are fine and additive-free, it dissolves fast and completely, so a brine stays clear and the salt measures consistently. That precision matters in pickling and fermenting, where the salt ratio sets the crunch and, in a ferment, keeps the batch safe.

Reach for it whenever you are putting up jars, like a batch of Favorite Mustard Pickles, or building a brine for fermenting. In a pinch, additive-free fine sea salt or plain kosher salt will stand in; just match by weight, since the grain sizes differ.

For everyday seasoning and measuring salt between types, see salt.

"Salt and white pepper" is the same everyday seasoning pair as salt and black pepper, with white pepper standing in so there are no dark specks in pale dishes like cream sauces or mashed potatoes. It is recipe shorthand, not a single ingredient.

For each on its own, see salt and white pepper.

Rock salt is mined salt left in big, chunky crystals instead of being ground fine. Most of it is the same sodium chloride as table salt, just unrefined, so it often has a greyish, mineral look.

In the kitchen, food-grade rock salt has a few specific jobs. It feeds a salt grinder, forms the hard shell in salt-baked fish or potatoes, and makes a sturdy, level bed for serving oysters or roasting clams on the half shell.

You rarely season directly with it, since the crystals are too big to dissolve evenly.

It also has uses you do not eat. Packed around the canister of an old-style ice cream churn, rock salt drops the ice bath below freezing so the custard can set.

The coarse stuff sold for de-icing paths is not food grade at all, so check the label before any rock salt goes near food.

For everyday salting, storing it, and finishing salts, see salt.

An herbal salt substitute is a salt-free blend of dried herbs and spices, sometimes with potassium chloride, made to season food for people cutting back on sodium. Because it contains little or no salt, it adds flavor but does not season or behave like salt in cooking.

For lower-sodium cooking, see salt.

"Salt and cayenne pepper" pairs everyday salt with a pinch of cayenne for heat, a shorthand you will meet in Cajun and Creole seasoning rather than a single ingredient. The salt seasons while the cayenne brings the burn, so add the cayenne cautiously and taste as you go.

For each on its own, see salt and cayenne pepper.

Curing salt is not a seasoning salt. It is table salt blended with sodium nitrite, and in one type sodium nitrate, used in tiny measured amounts to cure meats like bacon, sausage and corned beef.

The nitrite fixes the pink color and the tangy cured flavor, and most importantly it guards against botulism.

It is dyed bright pink for one reason: so no one mistakes it for ordinary salt. That is also why it is often called pink curing salt or Prague powder, sold under brands like Insta Cure.

Do not confuse it with pink Himalayan salt, which is just colored rock salt and cures nothing.

The type matters. Prague Powder #1 is for meats you will cook or cure briefly; Prague Powder #2 adds nitrate for long, air-dried cures like salami.

Treat it as a recipe ingredient with no wiggle room. Sodium nitrite is toxic in quantity, so measure exactly what your recipe specifies and never swap it for regular salt.

For everyday salting and storage, see salt.

Herbal salt is salt blended with dried herbs such as rosemary, thyme, basil or oregano, used as an all-purpose savory seasoning. Like other seasoned blends it is mostly salt, so treat it as the salt for a dish rather than an extra sprinkle on top.

See seasoned salt for the closely related blend, and salt for the basics.

Hawaiian salt is a sea salt from the islands of Hawaii, traditionally tinted brick-red by a fine volcanic clay called alaea that is rich in iron oxide. The color and a faint earthy note come from the clay, not from any added flavor, and the salt is used mostly for finishing and in island dishes like poke and kalua pork.

For how to use and store salt in general, see salt.

A salt substitute replaces some or all of the sodium in table salt with potassium chloride, for people on low-sodium diets. It can taste metallic or bitter to some, especially when a lot is heated, and it is not a one-to-one match for the flavor of salt.

Because it is high in potassium, anyone with kidney problems or on certain medications should check with a doctor before using it. For lower-sodium cooking tips, see salt.

Vegetable salt is salt blended with dried, ground vegetables such as celery, carrot, tomato and onion, used as a savory all-purpose seasoning; the best-known brand is Herbamare. Like other seasoned blends, it is mostly salt.

For how to use and store salt, see salt.

Hickory salt is salt blended with hickory smoke flavoring, a quick way to add a smoky, barbecue note without a smoker. Like other seasoned salts it is mostly salt, so use it as the dish's salt rather than an addition on top.

For the basics of salting and storage, see salt.