Summer is ...

[cris]

... watching sunsets with friends on the back porch, sharing the first tomatoes of the season, sliced and dressed with nothing more than sea salt and olive oil. Summer is juice running down our fingers then licking our hands clean, tasting sunshine in liquid form.

Comments

[silas7]

How does sea salt differ from regular salt? Can you put sea salt on anything you'd put normal salt on?

[cris]

Regular table salt is mined from underground deposits (ie. salt mines) and tends to be heavily processed to purify the final product. Sea salt is harvested from evaporated pools of seawater and is hardly processed at all.

So, you'll get a more uniform taste and 'level of saltiness' with regular table salt, whereas sea salt will preserve the concept of terroir (ie. tastes of its origin). Sea salt taken from the Atlantic coast of France will taste different from, say, Nova Scotia on the other side of the ocean. It's also a little more expensive since it's harder to manufacture at volume.

With all that said, I've found the flavor profiles to be pretty subtle, so I would only use sea salt for sprinkling onto something as a final seasoning. I wouldn't cook with it ... that'd be like making a stew with a $75 bottle of wine when a $12 bottle will do just as good a job.

[rojagato]

That store on Pickering Wharf that I brought you to (so I could say hi to the proprietor) has a dazzling array of salts -- let me know if there's anything you'd like to try next, like this: http://www.salemspice.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=472

[cris]

thanks, Paisley, but ... I live a block away from Christina's Spice Store ;) when I get to repay the hospitality, we can walk over and get ice cream.

silentq picked up some of that smoked salt last time she went to BC. Definitely tasty stuff.

[pointedview]

That's a beautiful picture - almost enough to make me like tomatoes. ;) Thanks for sharing.