Stone Salt
Why buy stone salt? The mined treasure from the depths of the earth
Stone salt is a powerful crystal from the earth's crust. By nature, stone salt is colourless and glassy, but when the salt is scratched or cracked, a white colour develops. The finer the grain, the whiter the stone salt is. Stone salt comes from deep in the earth and is mined in special salt mines. In the Netherlands, stone salt is used as bath salt and table salt, among other things.
Stone salt: a clean sea salt
Is stone salt the same as sea salt? The answer is yes and no: stone salt is salt originating from salt deposits in the sea, but it has not been in contact with the sea for thousands, sometimes even millions, of years. In terms of structure and composition, stone salt is more or less the same as sea salt. Because of its pure nature, stone salt is often used as bath salt and to control weeds.
stone salt from the Netherlands
Stone salt is also extracted in the Netherlands. 250 million years ago, the area that is now known as the Netherlands was a shallow coastal sea. Nothing land, just sea. Because it was a rim sea with little current, the seawater could evaporate according to the tides, leaving a layer of salt behind. Over the centuries and millennia, the salt sediment grew larger and larger. In some places in the earth, the deposit of salt is as much as 200 metres thick!
How is Dutch stone salt extracted?
Unfortunately, millions of years later, the salt layers in the Netherlands are no longer at the surface, but at a depth of around 300-1000 metres. It takes quite some effort to harvest the salt. Due to the pressure of the sediment layers above, the salt has become as hard as stone. This compression is an important difference with 'ordinary' sea salt.
Himalayan mountain salt: stone salt from the mountains
Himalayan salt is a mountain salt. This salt comes from the highest mountain range on earth and is mined in various Asian countries. You can recognize Himalayan salt by its unique pink tint.
Himalayan salt is very tasty, which is partly due to the unique combination of minerals which are present in this salt, including magnesium, potassium, calcium, strontium and borate. For the most part, Himalayan salt is mined by hand.
Himalayan salt vs. table salt
Salt is known for its high sodium content, but sodium is not a synonym for salt. Salt always consists of two parts: sodium plus chloride. In practice, salt is 2.5 times heavier than pure sodium.
Packaging indicates how much sodium is in the salt. Table salt has a concentration of sodium chloride of no less than 99.9%. In Himalayan salt or Celtic sea salt, this percentage is around 90%. A disadvantage of table salt is that often anti-caking agents are added. By refining most of the good substances in the salt disappeared.
Unique Persian Blue Salt
You have white salt (refined salt), black salt (Kala Namak), gray salt (Celtic sea salt) and pink salt (Himalayan salt). Blue salt, does that exist too? Yes it does. Persian blue salt is a salt with a unique blue glow. The salt has a mild flavour and also has a sweet undertone. A big advantage of Persian blue salt is that it is 100% natural, without additives.
A special salt from Persia
Persian blue salt comes from Persian salt mines (Iran). The salt originated in salt lakes that are centuries old. The salt got its unique blue gold by shifts in the crystal structure in the earth. Persian blue sweet is used on truffles, meat and seafood, among other things. In addition, it combines perfectly with fish, poultry and desserts.