The Difference between Table Salt and Sea Salt

Salt is a mineral made up of sodium and chloride. It's harvested from the sea or evaporated salt lake beds, or mined from mineral deposits in the earth. The salt deposits, such as those found beneath the city of Detroit, Michigan, were formed millions of years ago as ancient bodies of water dried up, leaving behind huge tracts of solid sodium chloride.

Salt harvested from the sea, found in supermarkets and gourmet shops, is labeled, appropriately enough, as sea salt. It differs from the salt mined from the earth, but the two salts share the same origins.

All salt comes from the sea, but not all salts are the same.

Table Salt
The fine-grained white salt found in shakers around the globe comes from mined salt. Refined to eliminate all other minerals, table salt is pure sodium chloride, but may be fortified with iodine. Iodine was introduced into commercially available salt during the 1920s at the behest of the United States government in response to high incidence of goiter, a thyroid condition associated with iodine deficiency.

Sea Salt
Sea salt encompasses a variety of salts and is harvested from the sea. One method of harvesting sea salt involves directing portions of water into large, clay trays and allowing the water to evaporate. The process creates residual salts which are then harvested and packaged. Sea salt is larger and courser in feel and appearance than table salt. It also contains trace elements such as iron, magnesium and calcium because it doesn't undergo the refinement process after harvest.

Depending on the type, sea salt may take on colors other than white. For example, French sea salt, harvested along the French coast, has a gray, purplish tint due to the type of clay in the surrounding soils. Hawaiian sea salt has a red hue to it; volcanic red clay, a natural mineral, is added to the salt to give the seasoning an earthy flavor.

Is Sea Salt Better Than Table Salt?
Sea salts offer lighter, more delicate flavors that table salt, primarily due to their being used in a more natural state; they do not undergo a refinement process. This means sea salt grains are larger as well. Measuring by volume, a teaspoon of sea salt weighs less than a teaspoon of table salt.

In cooking, the difference between a quarter teaspoon of table salt and a quarter teaspoon of sea salt is negligible. In baking, however, a higher degree of precision is required. When salt is listed as an ingredient it usually refers to table salt. If sea salt is used, adding an extra pinch is advisable.

As a finishing salt, a salt added as a seasoning to just-cooked foods, sea salt is the better choice. A pinch of sea salt as a seasoning has more impact than a pinch of table salt. The food tastes better, not saltier.