Sea Salt

Sea salt, obtained by the evaporation of seawater, is used in cooking and cosmetics. its mineral content gives it a different taste from table salt, which is pure sodium chloride, usually refined from mined rock salt (halite) or from sea salt. Areas that produce specialised sea salt include the Cayman Islands, Greece, France, Ireland, Colombia, Sicily, Apulia in Italy, Maldon in Essex UK, and Hawaii, Maine, Utah, the San Francisco Bay, and Cape Cod in the United States. Generally more expensive than table salt, it is commonly used in gourmet cooking and speciality crisps, particularly the kettle cooked variety. Because sea salt generally lacks high concentrations of iodine, an element essential for human health, it is not necessarily a healthful substitute for regular iodised table salt, which is usually supplemented with the element, unless another source of dietary iodine is available (such as dairy products or regular processed foods). However, unrefined sea salt contains many minerals that regular iodised table salt does not contain, such as magnesium, sulphate, calcium, and potassium. Iodised forms of sea salt are now marketed to address this concern.