Sea salt is seawater salt obtained from seawater by evaporation. It's used for preserving food, cooking, cosmetics, and as a seasoning in many foods. It's also known as solar sea salts, Black Sea salt or brown salt. Evaporated seawater is high in sodium and magnesium. Salt is required by all living creatures to survive.
It has no chemical properties, and its texture is made up of crystals. It's a very porous substance, being both ionized (has a positive charge) and non-ionized (has a negative charge). The crystal structure gives sea salt its characteristic texture. It was considered by some ancient cultures to have mystical properties. Modern research has shown that its effects on health are due to sodium's ability to draw moisture from the skin.
Oceanic evaporation is the process by which salt is evaporated from seawater. It can be as simple as liquid being drawn into a basin and draining off into another, or as complex as large structures containing millions of tiny pores that allow in different concentrations of sodium and various other elements. Each of these pores has a lower concentration of sodium and its salts than the next, up to a point. These concentration gradients help regulate the mineral content and texture of the seawater, producing sea salt and other products.
There are three types of coarse salt available to consumers. Sodium chloride is the most common and is the one used for table salt and other forms of consumption. Calcium carbonate and magnesium chloride are the two other types, with their effects on health varying slightly. Each type has its own unique texture and/or taste. They all have a coarse texture, but each also produces a different, lighter flavour.
Caffeine and other artificial preservatives are often added to sea salt in the form of sodium benzoate (a derivative of benzoic acid). This is largely to prevent the growth of bacteria during storage. During processing, however, this substance is changed into a substance known as iodine, which is necessary for human body iodine requirements. If sea salt is not harvested from a natural environment and then processed, then the iodine content will be substantially lower than what would be found in nature.
Some sea salts are harvested by using a mineral vacuum. A fine gravel or sand bed is pumped over the surface of the ocean, containing the minerals that must be harvested. The fine salt is then sucked out and stored in an area where it evaporates slowly to create sea salt. At about 50 centigrade, this process is slower than the ocean's surface, but the result is still near-natural sea salt qualities. In this type of harvesting, a bronzer grain structure is formed on the surface of the salt.
Natural sea salt deposits do not evaporate. This is because the heat in the Earth's crust causes these minerals to trap air and water, preventing the soil from being eroded. However, when you buy table salt from a supermarket or other food service outlet, it probably came from a sea salt deposit. You may notice that the bulk of table salt is manufactured from such deposits. Some manufacturers buy the salt from sea salt deposits and process it so that it has a lower evaporation rate. This is how they come up with such a varied quality in their products.
Many people believe that natural sea salt does not contain any beneficial trace minerals. This is because these minerals are removed by heat. However, this heat can actually remove the minerals from any naturally occurring salt, including granular sea salt. It is important to purchase your table salt from a company that inspects its products for purity before purchasing. In this way, you can be sure that your family is eating a pure, natural source of sodium.
