Why does everyone use Kosher Salt? 🧂🇮🇱

baneeks

Thanks, @Marilyn Sultar! People like you are what make Whisk an amazing community to be part of! 😀

Dana :)

While I don't have any cultural background, what I know about kosher salt is that the shape is important! It's a bit flakier and lighter (easier to sprinkle) than traditional table salt. The shape of salt actually changes your "taste" of it because of how it hits your tongue - there's a big difference between something like Maldon sea salt flakes (big, wide, crunky flakes) vs Table salt. One other tricky thing about kosher salt is that different brands have different "shape"/density - for example, Diamond kosher salt is lighter and flakier, whereas Morton's kosher salt is smaller & heavier. So you often use less Morton's kosher salt than Diamond because 1 tsp of Morton's has more salt in it (by weight) than Diamond. If you're looking for a conversion of kosher salt to table salt, 1/2 is usually a good rule of thumb! (If something says 2 tsp kosher salt, you'll be fine with 1 tsp table salt).

howschase

Hi, I'm Jewish and can happily answer this question for you! Kosher salt is called that because it is used to kasher (make kosher) slaughtered meat. It could technically be called "kashering salt". The flakes are larger and more absorbent than regular table salt. One of the requirements for meat to be considered kosher after slaughter is that the blood needs to be drawn out of it and discarded. After the meat is cut up and washed, it is coated with this salt. The salt draws out the last of the blood from inside the flesh and is then washed away. It just so happens that this property of being able to draw out moisture is also very useful for other cooking applications, so it became widespread in kitchens far from any Jewish application. By the way, you can actually have kosher salt that isn't kosher! This occurs when it's been made in a facility that also processes non-kosher foods.

baneeks

Thanks 😊

James Charles

No iodide is a big difference. In some recipes iodide can change things a bit. In pickles it makes the liquid really cloudy for instance - at least for me.

MrsJ 03

I'm in the UK and it literally just means flaked salt rather than table salt which is fine grain. Using large salt grains it's less salty. Not sure why all the American recipes use the word kosher instead of just saying sea salt/flaked salt

baneeks

Thanks!

Lilli-Belle Mason

Not at all