crystal do not matter theleast bit. Stick to regular salt and spend the money you save on good-quality

spices and herbs.

The table that follows lists the specialty salts.

Specialty Salts

Type

Shape

Comments

Pickling salt

Kosher salt

Rock salt

Sea salt

Super fine

Has no additives

Coarse crystals

Unrefined and chunky

A little coarser than table salt

A big bunch of crystals grown together

Comes both plain and with additives

Flaked salt

Simple salt but crystals

mechanically flattened

Expensive—the larger surface area allows it to

dissolve faster

English sea salt (Maldon)

A little coarser than table salt

Just plain NaCl in spite of its high price

Tasting

How we taste food?

We have a collection of tiny sensing organs on our tongues, called taste buds. A large

number of nerves lead from the taste buds to the brain, sending instant messages as soon as we put

something in our mouth. Our olfactory (smelling) organs and taste buds work together to allow us to

taste food. When you catch a cold and your nasal passages are filled, the odor of the food cannot

reach your mouth. Even though your tasting organs are fully operational, food seems to have no

flavor.

Here is an example of how the nose and mouth work together to provide enjoyment of our

food. You are eating popcorn. As soon as the popcorn gets close to your mouth, your smelling

organs detect the odor through your nose. They send the brain a brief but rapid memo that popcorn

is on the way. As the popcorn enters your mouth and you start to chew it, a different set of odors,

activated by saliva, travel up into your nose. Now the brain receives a full report of what the

popcorn tastes like, whether it is like what the initial memo from its aroma promised, or perhaps

someone grossly oversalted it, and it falls far short of the promised, expected and acceptable flavor.

Taste is innate, we are born with it—we know as babies what tastes we like, what we

dislike, what we detest. But smell is a learned sense, something that we acquire only with

experience. We develop our likes and dislikes early, and any novel smell in life is a suspect to us.

That is why most people are somewhat reluctant to try new foods that smell new and unknown to

them.

Wetted food always emits a different and fuller set of aromas than dry food. As a matter of

fact, if food is completely dry, it has no odor. Dried fruit has very little scent. But soak in hot water

for a few minutes to rehydrate is, and its aroma increases many times.

Texture also contributes a great deal to the overall feeling of taste but only indirectly. Food

textures range from velvety and creamy to crunchy, grainy, coarse and chewy. If the texture is

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