MSN Home  |  My MSN  |  Hotmail
Sign in to Windows Live ID Web Search:   
go to MSNGroups 
Free Forum Hosting
 
Important Announcement Important Announcement
The MSN Groups service will close in February 2009. You can move your group to Multiply, MSN’s partner for online groups. Learn More
THE HUMBLE KITCHEN[email protected] 
  
What's New
  
  Messages  
  Pictures  
    
    
  Links  
  KITCHEN RULES  
  Cook's Thesaurus  
  COOKING TIPS  
  APPETIZERS  
  BAKING MIX'S  
  BBQ RECIPES  
  BEAN RECIPE  
  BEEF RECIPES  
  BERRY& FRUIT  
  BEVERAGES A/NA  
  BISCUiT RECIPES  
  BREAD MACHINE  
  BREAD RECIPES  
  BREAKFAST DISH'S  
  Burger page  
  CAJUN RECIPES  
  CAKE RECIPES  
  CANDY RECIPES  
  CANNING TIPS  
  CASSEROLS  
  CHESTNUT RECIPES  
  CHILI RECIPES  
  CHOWDERS  
  CONDAMENTS  
  COOKING STORIES  
  COOKING WITH KID  
  COOKIES & SUCH  
  COPYCAT RECIPES  
  CROCKPOT RECIPES  
  DIABETIC INFO  
  DIABETIC RECIPES  
  DIPS & SALSAS  
  DONUTS  
  DRY RUBS  
  DUMPLINGS  
  FISH RECIPES  
  GOAT RECIPES  
  Gravys  
  GRAIN RECIPES  
  HERB & SPICES  
  HOME MADE BREWS  
  HOLIDAY RECIPES  
  Holiday Recipes  
  HOTPEPPER RECIPE  
  ICE CREAMS  
  JAMS & JELLYS  
  JELLO'S  
  LAMB RECIPES  
  LOW BUDGET MEALS  
  MEAT PIES RECIPE  
  MUFFINS/COFFEE C  
  NATIVE AMERICAN  
  OILS & VINEGERS  
  PASTA RECIPES  
  PASTRYS  
  PIE RECIPES  
  PIZZA RECIPES  
  PORK&HAM RECIPES  
  POT ROAST  
  POTATOE RECIPES  
  POULTRY RECIPES  
  PUDDING/ CUSTARD  
  RICE RECIPES  
  SANDWICH IDEAS  
  SAUCE & MARINADE  
  SHELL FISH  
  SALAD DRESSINGS  
  SALADS &SLAWS  
  SAUCES & GRAVES  
  SECRET Recipes  
  SOUP RECIPES  
  SOUTHERN COOKING  
  STEWS  
  STRANGE RECIPES  
  STUFFINGS/DRESSI  
  TEXAS BBQ  
  TEXMEX RECIPES  
  TV SNACKS  
  VEGETABLES  
  VEGETERIAN MEALS  
  WILD FOWL  
  WILD GAME RECIPE  
  AFGHANISTAN  
  AFRICAN RECIPES  
  ALBANIA RECIPES  
  ANDORRA  
  ALGERIAN RECIPES  
  ANGOLA  
  ANGULLA  
  ANTIGUA  
  ARMENIA  
  ARUBA  
  ASIAN RECIPES  
  AUSTRIA  
  AUSTRALIAN  
  AZERBAIJAN  
  AZORES  
  BANGLADESH  
  BASQUE RECIPES  
  BELGIAN RECIPES  
  BERMUDA RECIPES  
  BHUTAN  
  BALKANS  
  BRITISH RECIPES  
  BRUNEI  
  BULGARIAN  
  BURMA  
  CAMBODIA  
  CANADIAN RECIPES  
  CARIBBEAN RECIPE  
  CENTRAL AMERICAN  
  CHINESE RECIPE  
  CROATIAN RECIPES  
  CUBAN RECIPES  
  CZECH RECIPES  
  DANISH RECIPES  
  DUTCH RECIPES  
  EGYPT  
  Ethiopian  
  FINNISH RECIPES  
  FRENCH RECIPES  
  GERMAN RECIPES  
  GREEK RECIPES  
  HUNGARIAN RECIPE  
  ICELANDIC RECIPE  
  INDIA RECIPES  
  INDONESIA  
  IRISH RECIPES  
  ISRAELI RECIPES  
  ITALIAN RECIPES  
  JAPANESE  
  JEWISH  
  KOREAN  
  LAOS  
  LATVIAN  
  MALAYSIA  
  MEDITERRANEAN  
  MEXICAN RECIPES  
  MIDDLE EASTERN  
  MONGOLIA  
  Moroccan dish's  
  NEPAL  
  NORWEGIAN  
  NEW ZEALAND  
  PAKISTAN  
  PHILIPPINES  
  POLISH RECIPES  
  POLYNESIAN  
  PORTUGUESE RECIP  
  RUMANIAN RECIPES  
  RUSSIAN CONFEDAR  
  SCANDANAVIAN  
  SCOTTISH RECIPE  
  SERBIAN RECIPES  
  SLOVAKIA  
  SOUTH AMERICAN  
  SPAIN  
  SRI LANKA  
  SWEDISH RECIPES  
  SWISS RECIPES  
  TIBET  
  THAILAND  
  UZBEKISTAN  
  VIETNAM  
  WELSH RECIPES  
  AMISH RECIPES  
  MENNONITE RECIPE  
  Native medicines  
  SOUTHERN RECIPE  
  STUFFING'S  
  PICNIC RECIPES  
  Kitchen poems  
  RECIPES OF ALASK  
  Recipe by state  
    
  
  
  Tools  
 
Cook's Thesaurus : Salt
Choose another message board
 
     
Reply
Recommend  Message 1 of 1 in Discussion 
From: MSN NicknameBlackRiverWolf  (Original Message)Sent: 7/31/2006 12:55 PM

Salt

(Sodium Chloride)


Sodium chloride--a mineral which crystallizes in small transparent cubes, melts at 803 degrees centigrade, is soluble in both hot and cold water, and conducts a current of electricity-- was the first salt to be discovered by man.

It is found most everywhere in nature. The sea. The land. Even in the urine and perspiration of animals...man included. Sea water is evaporated, and rock salt is mined--so important is salt for the flavor of food, the needs of the diet, and even digestion (by increasing the hydrochloric acid content of digestive fluids). Animals have worn ineradicable trails in their quest for salt licks. Men of primitive tribes have reportedly sold their wives and children into slavery for it.

Salt is the only rock directly consumed by man. It corrodes but preserves, dessicates but is wrested from the water. It has fascinated man for thousands of years not only as a substance he prized and was willing to labour to obtain, but also as a generator of poetic and mythic meaning. The contradictions it embodies only intensify its power and its links with experience of the sacred. --Margaret Visser
Arab traders carved great salt trading routes around the known world from earliest times. Its trans-Saharan trade, for example, began on the Mediterranean coast, where salt was dried in salt pans, and went by caravan, oasis to oasis, along the Sahara desert to southern forests--returning with gold dust, ivory, goat skins, and slaves.

The two kinds of salt are sea salt and rock salt. Sea salt is the only mineral condiment that man adds to food--and vegetarians need more of it than carnivores. This is true of animals as well as man: herbivorous animals crave salt while carnivorous ones ignore it. Complete abstinence from salt has, apparently, not been found possible, even in the most austere monastic orders.

For the purposes of cooking, salts are graded as follows:

  • Rock salt, which is unrefined, is grey in color and rife with impurities. Some of them quite important. Its arsenic, for example, is a valuable mineral in such small quantities--encouraging one to use it for cooking, though not for the table.
  • Table salt, which is ground and refined rock salt--and can fortified with iodine and treated with magnesium carbonate (lime) to prevent clumping.
  • Sea salt, which is evaporated or distilled from sea water. Unrefined, it is called sel gris, or gray salt. In Finisterre Brittany, one can buy small expensive packets of "Les Algues D'Ouessant" that combine sea salt with a variety of sea algaes--and that immediately transport the diner in spirit to the seaside.
  • Kosher salt, which is course refined rock salt with the lime.
  • Curing salt, which is 94% salt and 6% sodium nitrate--usually dyed pink to differentiate it from regular salt. It's used for charcuterie items, especially those being cold smoked. Sometimes potassium nitrate is used--that's the infamous saltpeter, folks!


First  Previous  No Replies  Next  Last