GREEN SALT–A new healthy salt alternative from a plant

In the food world there are lots of different salts. Salt is a necessary element for life. But too much salt is a problem. Perhaps GREEN SALT, may change the equation. GREEN SALT is not a salt infused with things. It is the real thing dehydrated

GREEN SALT is not colored with another product or the addition of something to basic salt. It is made from the naturally dehydrated halophyte plant called SALICORNIA or SAMPHIRE, which grows in salty water. It is a maritime plant of which there are several types and families, some belonging to the amaranth family, which includes beets, sugarbeets, spinach and chard. Salicornia grows well at twice the salinity of sea water.

Organically grown Salicornia is grown in Ensenada, Baja California, and sun dehydrated by the Noriega family who have produced Salicornia for some 20 years. The plant looks very similar to a succulent and is historically eaten in Europe and Asia. There is a great tradition of samphire in Britain, where the plant was eaten both as a vegetable and as a pickle. GREEN SALT is salty enough to use in place of table salt, though substantially lower in sodium. It has 50% less sodium than salt. It does contain iodine, found is sea salt. This is not your pasta water cooking salt, but a salt to be added to what you have cooked to give it a salt flavor. Salt makes food tasty.

The history of Salicornia is interesting. Also called Glasswort, due to its use in early soda glass production, it is used in bread and biscuit making, traditional in parts of English speaking lands, and around the Mediterranean. As a halophyte plant, it is also important in reclaiming marshy, salt water tidal lands producing a plant that is good for eating raw in salads, cooked as a vegetable, and now dehydrated as “SALT.”

If you use a salt cellar at table as I do, an interesting use is to have two: one for regular white salt of the type you like and another for GREEN SALT. You need a salt spoon to sprinkle it on dishes, and the combination of the green color and the salt taste is very unusual. It is to be used as a “finishing” salt on dishes rather than using it for salting a cooking dish. The green color of the salt lends a greenish tinge to whatever is salted with GREEN SALT. If used as a condiment and for reasons where you want to lower your salt intake, yet have the flavor force, you should try GREEN SALT. It is not a salt substitute like others which contain potassium, but is just regular salt, with lower salinity. It is green in color and powdery, not granular. Once one becomes accustomed to this fact, your dishes will taste the same, but might look slightly different. Store cool, dry, and at room temperature.

GREEN SALT, The healthy salt alternative from Salicornia $21.99 8.8oz bag

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