When food prices rise, people turn to traditional food preservation methods like pickling and canning. To choose the best salt for these methods, look for large crystals and don’t worry too much about the name. Sea salt may be better for delicate produce, while kosher salt is good for strong flavors.
When food prices rise, the budget-conscious person often rediscovers traditional food preservation methods, such as pickling and canning. These methods allow home cooks to purchase seasonal produce and store it for later use. Since preserving food at home generally requires canning and pickling, it’s important to know how to choose between products. You can choose the best canning and pickling salt by looking for large crystals, not paying too much attention to salt names, and knowing if your recipe would benefit from sea salt.
Quality canning in pickling salt has a large crystal size. Traditionally, canning and pickling salt was used to extract the juices from the meat, thus preserving it for later use. The large crystal size was an advantage because the large crystals would cling to me more easily than the small crystals. Even if you’re not preserving the meat, keep the salt large crystals. The canning and pickling recipes are formulated to use large crystal salt and will come out too salty if using small crystal salt.
When shopping for preserves and pickles, don’t worry too much about the name of the salt. There are little or no legal regulations governing the labeling of salt. Canned or pickled salt may be labeled as kosher salt, pickled salt, canned salt or kosher salt. As long as the salt has large crystals, it will work for pickling and general canning.
However, not all types of large crystal salt are exactly the same. Which salt is best for you depends on the recipe you’re using. Sea salt, as the name suggests, is harvested from shores around the world. Because it comes from evaporated seawater, sea salt contains more minerals than other types of large crystal salt. If you’re working with delicate produce, like cucumbers or fruit, you may find that sea salt has more character. For strong-flavored recipes, you may be better served to use a less expensive kosher salt, as the more subtle nuances will be lost in this type of recipe.
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