[Sca-cooks] sea salt vs. white-salt

[Edouard de Bruyerecourt]

Stefan li Rous wrote:

>
> "Bay salt" is/was salt processed from seawater using solar heat in large,
> shallow ponds. It was known in the Middle Ages for often being off-white
> or brown and often had contaminants like sand and other stuff in it. Not
> only was this salt cheaper than those from other sources such as brine
> springs or sea water that had been boiled using fuels, but it was better
> for food preservation because the salt crystals were larger due to the
> slower evaporation time. Bay salt was made on the Atlantic shores of
> France. Perhaps the Mediterranean, but I can't remember for sure.

IIRC, (the book is on the other side of town at the moment), it's either
Normandie or Bretagne that produces a greyish 'bay salt' still, which is
considered a ubitquitious part of the local cuisine and a valued
culinary ingredient around France. The greyishness comes not only from a
few other trace minerals from the straight seawater, but from a residual
moisture content as well ('moist' salt).  There is actually a lot of
'plain' salt that is sea salt, mined from huge prehistoric oceanic salt
deposits (there are some in Utah even, and eastern Europe, I think).
Basically, it's cheaper to carve it out of the ground with large mining
equipment that to distill it out of water, although some of it might
need purification, depending on the deposit.

The most significant difference is the higher moisture content. Mined
salt would be cheaper, depending on how far overland it had to be
carted. The mined salt is more from central and east Europe that I know of.

--
Edouard, Sire de Bruyerecourt
bruyere at mind.net
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