Pink Salt

Vs Table Salt Vs Curing Salt: Uses, Differences, And More

Quick Summary

Pink salt, table salt and curing salt may all be sold as ‘salt’, but they have different applications when it comes to food. The pink crystals are unrefined rock salt, best for finishing dishes and for fasting meals, while the fine white grains are refined and iodised for everyday cooking, and the third, a nitrite-based mix, preserves meat in measured amounts and has been used for centuries. Choosing the right salt depends on what you wish to achieve, whether that’s seasoning, nutrition or preservation.

Deep Dive

Salt’s composition for all three is sodium chloride, which is why each tastes the way it does. What sets them apart is where the salt comes from, what is added or left in, and what it is meant to do. Seasoning salts go in by the pinch, while a curing mix is weighed in grams against the weight of meat. Using one instead of another is harmless in some cases and dangerous in others, which is why knowing their differences is crucial.

Table Salt And Its Everyday Use

Table salt is the fine white salt sold in packets, used in kitchens in airtight containers and used to season food. It is mostly sodium chloride, and it typically carries additives like potassium iodide in the iodised variety and an anti-caking agent such as calcium silicate. The iodine is the reason it is a staple in every kitchen. 

India adopted a policy of universal salt iodisation in the 1980s to tackle iodine deficiency disorders such as goitre. Retail salt is expected to carry at least 15 ppm of iodine. The India Iodine Survey 2018-19, run by Nutrition International with AIIMS, found that 76.3% of households used adequately iodised salt, and the WHO says salt at that level can deliver the 150 micrograms of iodine an adult needs daily.

In the kitchen, the fine grains dissolve readily and thus are perfect for dishes like dal, sabzi, dough, batters, baking and the water for boiling potatoes or pasta. Iodine is volatile, so keep the jar closed and away from moisture and heat. For pickling, however, recipes favour pure pickling or canning salt, because the anti-caking agent in iodised salt can cloud the brine.

How Pink Salt Is Different

Pink salt, usually sold as Himalayan pink salt, is rock salt mined from the Salt Range in Pakistan's Punjab, with the Khewra mine the best-known source. Despite the name, the deposit sits more than 300 km from the nearest Himalayan range, and its pink tint comes from trace minerals such as iron oxide. For everyday cooking and finishing touches, Aashirvaad Pink Salt is an option for those looking to bring pink salt into their kitchen, whether they're seasoning salads, sprinkling it over chaat or adding a finishing touch to their favourite dishes.

Nutritionally, it is much closer to everyday salt than the marketing around it might suggest. It is up to about 98% sodium chloride, and the remaining 2% holds traces of minerals such as potassium, magnesium and calcium, in amounts too small to make a nutritional difference. Unlike the iodised packet, it usually contains no iodine.

The crystals are usually coarser, so a teaspoon holds less sodium than a teaspoon of fine salt, even though by weight the sodium content is nearly the same. Cooks who swap by the spoon may under-salt a dish, so taste before adding more.

Why Pink Salt Is The Go-To During The Fasting Season

Through Navratri and other vrat days, many Indian kitchens put the iodised packet away and cook with sendha namak, the rock salt of fasting menus. Pink salt is also a rock salt mined from the earth, so it can be used the same way in fasting dishes.

Fasting food follows satvik principles of purity, and rock salt, taken from the mine without refining or additives, is seen as the pure choice, while processed and iodised salt is set aside. Curly Tales lists vrat chips, sabudana tikki, sabudana khichdi and kuttu puri among the dishes made with it. Fasting-friendly dishes where it goes in:

• Sabudana khichdi: mix it into the soaked sabudana before steaming

• Kuttu puri: add it to the dough

• Rajgira kadhi: season the yoghurt-based curry with it

• Vrat-friendly chips and sabudana tikki: salt the mix or the slices before frying

A word of caution: claims about detox or weight loss that float around fasting salt are not backed by evidence, since it is still mostly sodium chloride. And because rock salt is generally not iodised, replacing iodised salt with it on non-fasting days is not advised.

Curing Salt And How It Works

Unlike the other two salts, curing salt is not a seasoning or even a finishing salt. The most common version is plain salt blended with 6.25% sodium nitrite, and it is dyed pink so nobody mistakes it for food salt. Despite the shared colour and name, it has nothing to do with Himalayan rock salt.

Nitrite does what plain salt cannot, and it inhibits the growth of Clostridium bacteria, the group that includes the cause of botulism, and it gives cured meat its desirable colour and flavour. One particular curing salt adds sodium nitrate, which breaks down slowly into nitrite, so it is meant for long dry cures such as salami, while another suits meats that are cooked or smoked soon after curing. The meat must be fully thawed first, as cure mixtures do not penetrate frozen meat.

These salts can have adverse effects on health, so it’s vital to check the label on these curing salts. About 1 gram of sodium nitrite, or 14 mg per kg of body weight, is a lethal dose for an adult, and using it instead of ordinary salt in a curing recipe can leave a lethal dose in the finished product. Weigh it to the gram, follow a tested recipe, label the jar clearly and store it away from your kitchen salts.

Pink Salt Vs Table Salt Vs Curing Salt

How To Use Each Salt In Cooking

Table salt

• Season dal, sabzi and tadka while cooking, so the salt dissolves and spreads evenly

• Salt roti dough, batters and baking mixes

• Season the water for boiling pasta, potatoes and eggs

Pink salt

• Finish cucumber raita, chaat, sliced fruit and salads; some find its taste milder, which suits buttermilk and raita

• Grind it over roasted vegetables or grilled paneer just before serving, since coarse crystals suit a salt mill

• Use it for fasting dishes such as sabudana khichdi and kuttu puri

Curing salt

• Home-cured bacon, ham, pastrami and sausages, each with a tested recipe and a weighed dose

• Never sprinkled on cooked food, never used in pickles and never used in everyday cooking

Can You Swap One Salt For Another?

Pink and white salts can stand in for each other when seasoning, with two adjustments: measure by weight or taste as you go, because coarse and fine grains pack differently, and remember that the swap removes the iodine. Curing salt is different. It cannot replace any seasoning salt, and no seasoning salt can replace it, because only nitrite does the preserving work in cured meats. The simplest kitchen rule: keep one jar of iodised salt for daily cooking, a coarse rock salt for finishing and fasting days, and treat the cure as a specialist ingredient.