Pink Himalayan rock salt...

[Du1point8]

I know this is the 'latest' new fad again even though its been around for years.

Now I see it costing up to £30 per kilo.... for salt!!

Got me thinking however... what is the difference between that and the pink himalayan salt lick that you get from Equestrian supplements?

Surely that is 100% rock salt too (it says it is) and as such its the same thing but not packaged in the way that the poncy stuff is packed?

http://www.equestriansupplements.co.uk/himalayan-s...

What am I missing other than a big scam to make people who use this in food to pay 10 times the normal price.

[Mobile Chicane]

There are lots of 'horse products' which are easily as good as their equivalents intended for humans.

'Mane n Tail' is just about the best anti-dandruff shampoo there is, and it's half the price of Head and Shoulders.

I don't get the pink salt thing, but kala namak (black salt) adds a sulphury tang to a chat masala, or any dish where you'd use hing (asafoetida). It doesn't cost £30 a kilo though.

[Colonial]

I prefer Murray River pink salt. Cheaper, local and with a subtler flavour.

[sc0tt]

I got some from lidl for £2.50 in a big grinder

[eskidavies]

1.99 at B&Ms.

Really salty don't need much.

[SpeckledJim]

Call me sceptical, but isn't it all the same?

NaCl - not much room for variety in that formula?

[Du1point8]

SpeckledJim said:

Call me sceptical, but isn't it all the same?

NaCl - not much room for variety in that formula?

This is what Im on about... do they do anything to the lick salt that means its not pure salt and would harm humans, or is it a cash of its 29p per 100g that beats everything on the market to do with lidl, etc?

[Flibble]

SpeckledJim said:

Call me sceptical, but isn't it all the same?

NaCl - not much room for variety in that formula?

It has a few impurities (chiefly iron, hence the pink colour) totalling around 4% of the product; the rest is NaCl. Any claimed health effects are pretty unlikely given the small amount of salt you typically consume, but it looks nice on the table.

The horse salt lick looks to be a large lump of salt straight as it comes from the ground, I can't see that they would bother to add anything to it and then recrystallise it into a large lump like that.

Incidentally, it's £4/Kg on Amazon, if bought in a 1 kg bag. Would save chipping it off a salt lick.

Edited by Flibble on Monday 27th October 02:06

[Wadeski]

all salt might be mostly NaCl, but then again all whisky is giong to be chemically similar - but that doesnt mean there's not a lot of variety going on.

[SpeckledJim]

Wadeski said:

all salt might be mostly NaCl, but then again all whisky is giong to be chemically similar - but that doesnt mean there's not a lot of variety going on.

I think there are huge varieties of compounds in whisky, as with beer and wine, aren't there?

Does anyone have any of this stuff in the house along with normal table salt that they can do the pepsi challenge with?

[Wadeski]

The differences in whiskies will be in a fraction the last 1%, after the alcohol and water have been accounted for. Small % make big differences...

If I remember my Dawkins, aren't we 99% genetically similar to a frog?

[Flibble]

We're 50% genetically similar to bananas, so yeah. All life evolved from a common ancestor so there are a lot of similarities.

I'm dubious on salt because the amount used is tiny, so there's much less there to make any difference. Also most of the impurities are iron oxides, i.e. rust, which I'm not sure is a flavour I particularly want to add to my food. Still it's pretty cheap so if you like it, why not?

[SpeckledJim]

I read somewhere that the only real difference in salts is the granule shape and size. The 'flavour' is all basically indistinguishable, but large flakes or lumps have a different effect on the tongue to fine-ground table salt.