Salt Expert Guesses Which Salt is More Expensive

I'm Ben Jacobsen and I'm a salt expert.

[playful music]

This looks like fleur de sel to me.

Super classic.

The literal translation of fleur de sel

is salt flower and so salt flower really means

it's a solar produced salt.

Fleur de sel is typically the first salt crystal

that forms on the surface of the brine

that is collected in salt pans.

Through this open air pans, you get biomaterial,

you get biomass that could end up with like

small chunks of wood, dirt, dust, even bird poop.

The good thing about salt

is that it's a natural antibacterial.

Generally though, obviously the majority of that,

of any sort of large biomaterial is sifted out before

it reaches you and me.

To me, this looks like a really nice fleur de sel.

There's still quite a bit of moisture in here

and that moisture is, the salt is produced

in wildly varying areas from Italy to Spain to France

to Guatemala and so salt being the condensation of sea water

will taste like its environment.

Irregularities in the salts are natural.

它's in our regular products.

它's naturally produced in open air salt pans

with sun and wind and birds and everything else

that we love in nature.

Salt A in particular looks very clean and well-processed.

To me this looks like a classic French fleur de sel

because of how it's sifted.

There's not a lot of biomaterial in here.

There's a little bit of course,

but that is the case with any fleur de sel.

There is the amount of irregularity in the salt crystals

is pretty small and so you have these salt crystals

that are nice and compact and then salt B to me

looks, you know, it looks very similar, of course.

To me, this looks like a Guatemalan fleur de sel.

它looks a little bit less refined than salt A.

There's not quite as much moisture in the salt.

This one has a little bit more biomaterial

because the salt is made in open-air salt pans

around the world and it's something that you can't control

and that's a good thing.

You want a little bit of funk to it

and that's what a classic fleur de sel is.

I'm gonna try salt A first.

Definitely got a nice little crunch to it.

它's super round.

它dissipates quickly in your mouth.

它tastes very natural.

它's a really nice salt.

To me I think this is a French fleur de sel.

我将使用这个牛排,丰盛的蔬菜

like roasted carrots, cauliflower, roasted cauliflower.

I like cauliflower when it gets really dark and charred

and this is a salt that would stand up to that undoubtedly.

Okay let's taste salt B.

To me this looks quite different,

a little bit less moisture than salt A.

Let's try it.

它's quite different.

This is a lot crunchier.

These are salt crystals that have been formed

a little bit faster than salt A

and the reason I know that is because

it's a crunchier more compact crystal.

That happens when you speed up the salt-making process.

This was likely harvested during a very hot time

versus this was likely harvested

during a slightly cooler time

when the salt crystal was forming more slowly.

I think A is gonna be a little bit more expensive than B

but I'm anxious to find out.

Haha!

[laughing]

That's cool.

These are both great fleur de sels.

If you're looking for a fleur de sel that's gonna be

a little bit more refined that's gonna,

used to finish on your food.

I look for this French or other types

kind of similarly produced fleur de sels

and then this Guatemalan fleur de sel

is really really nice as well.

Fleur de sel in general,

it's a really beautifully produced salt.

它's very very natural.

它reflects the environment.

它's a really nice salt to have in your cupboard.

Wow, two smoked salts.

Undeniably smoky.

Salt A definitely really really smoky.

Honestly it kind of smells

it's like it's liquid smoke in here.

Liquid smoke is simply made by smoking water

and collecting it as vapor and then

turning it back into water.

So it's not necessarily a bad thing,

but it is, it kind of smells and tastes,

when you add it to food,

it smells and tastes like an artificial smoke.

The salt itself is definitely

kind of a coarse rock salt almost

and a little bit afraid to bite into it really.

它's pretty aggressive.

Let's try salt B here.

This salt is nice and light and flaky.

它's definitely a really light smoke to it

and most definitely a natural smoke.

So I think we should try some smoke salt.

Smoke salt is a great way to add a nice little bit

of smokiness to your food

without actually smoking something.

We'll try salt A.

Yeah it's a rock salt and it's really really smoky.

This salt, oof.

它's intense.

它's really really crunchy.

它's too much.

Get some water.

Wow.

I think this is a pretty industrially produced smoke salt,

very likely using a liquid smoke

as kind of a supplement to the flavor.

Let's try salt B here.

Again, really nice soft smoke to it.

它smells natural.

Nice.

它's got a nice smoky flavor that's nice and light

and kind of pleasing but it's not like

you're sucking a tail pipe or something.

它's really subtle and it's well-done.

In my opinion, salt B is more expensive than salt A.

Salt A is much more kind of condensed in rock salt form

and the salt also smells like artificial smoke, really.

Wow, crazy.

So 2.02 an ounce versus $1.36 an ounce.

That's totally surprising, but that's good.

它means that you can get a really good quality smoked salt

for cheaper than you can a bad quality smoked salt.

In terms of kind of what the factors are at play,

we're dealing with here with salt B is probably produced

at significant enough scale the cost can be lower

and you also look at the packaging.

You might see a really fancy jar on the shelf

versus a very simple cardboard box on the shelf

and in many cases you might be paying more for the packaging

of the product than you are for the product itself.

Looks like we have two table salts in front of us.

The reason I can tell is that

this salt is pretty granulated.

Salt A is definitely a very fine table salt.

它's free-flowing for sure.

If I shake it around in this ramekin,

you can see the salt moving around.

它非常均匀。

Uniformity tells me that the salt is industrially produced,

probably through vacuumed evaporation.

The free-flowing leads me to believe that it probably has

a calcium silicate or some other

free-flowing agent added to it.

Salt B looks like a very fine salt as well,

like a very fine grain salt.

Definitely looks a little bit more natural than salt A does.

The crystals are a little bit less uniform,

which again leads me to believe that

它可能不是一个工业生产的盐

and although the salt spills when I shake it here,

I don't think this salt has a free-flowing agent

or an anti-caking agent.

I think this is probably a natural sea salt

or a natural table salt.

So let's taste salt A here.

它's pretty bitter.

I'm getting kind of some seizing up on my tongue.

它dries out the spot on your tongue

where you place the salt and to me

that kind of comes across as bitter,

almost like you'd have with a glass of really tannic wine.

它kind of dries out your mouth on that spot

and it's not particularly pleasant.

Yeah it's a decent commercially produced salt.

That being said, I think there are probably better salts

out there that can do the same job

and probably taste a lot better.

So salt B, I'm anxious to try as well.

Salt B is very light and pillowy texture-wise.

它's a really beautiful salt.

There's definitely no free-flow anti-caking agents.

So that's good, it's salty.

No surprise, but you know what,

I'm not getting that kind of bitter tannic pull-on-my-tongue

that I did with salt A.

它tastes like the ocean.

它tastes like when you accidentally swallow

a gulp of seawater as a kid and then spit it out

and then you're kind of left with that briny-tasting

taste in your mouth that kind of tastes good.

Yeah it's most definitely a naturally produced salt.

This is a decent quality table salt

and I would definitely use this to season

a large volume of food.

My guess is that salt B is definitely

more expensive than salt A.

Okay, three cents an ounce versus 19 cents an ounce.

So salt B most definitely more expensive.

19 cents an ounce versus three cents an ounce.

Really if you think about it,

how much salt do you actually use and buy on a yearly basis?

So if you gotta spend $7 a year,

$8 a year on a better quality table salt,

I would encourage you to do that.

Wow, here we go.

Looks like two flake salts.

Flake salt is commonly also known as pyramid salt

and the reason for that is that's the natural formation

of a flake of salt that's formed very very slowly.

So the reason I know it's flake salt is well obviously

they're both very light and flaky.

This particular flake salt though is quite coarse.

The structural integrity of these flakes are pretty intense.

它's a very kind of think flake salt.

What I wanna look for when I'm choosing a flake salt

is something that's very thin and almost translucent

where you can almost see through the flakes

because you wan the structural integrity of the flake,

but you don't want to bite down on rock salt

because it's just not very pleasing

and the nice thing about flake salt

is that it does provide the nice structural contrast.

So salt B is clearly very, very flaky.

它's beautiful.

My only complaint as a salt nerd

is that this salt is pretty ladened with calcium

and so what that means is that you can actually see

the calcium on these flakes itself.

What this added calcium is gonna do to the salt,

it's gonna give the salt a bit more minerality

and also make it a little bit bitterness

than you would if you had a very translucent flake of salt.

Having said that, this salt is very light and flaky

and very very beautiful.

它does have a lot of structural integrity.

Maybe almost too much with the added calcium to it,

but it's a very nice finishing salt.

它's definitely gonna get you what you need

in terms of adding a nice burst of solidity

and in terms of adding a nice

textural contrast to your dish.

So salt A, it's certainly a flake salt,

but it's definitely a pretty coarse flake salt.

它kind of sticks to your teeth a little bit.

That being said, it definitely has a nice brininess

and kind of dissipates quickly which is nice,

but I'm anxious to try salt B for sure.

These flakes are nice and large, full of minerals.

This salt actually sticks to your teeth quite a lot as well

which is not my personal preference.

它's a little bit bitter.

These flakes, they're beautiful.

它's almost as if they're machine-formed.

I know they're not.

They're what you think a finishing salt should be

in terms of its appearance.

I think B is probably more expensive than A

just because of the structural integrity of the flakes.

Alright so B is definitely a little bit

more expensive than A.

Not a huge surprise.

A is definitely more mass produced flake salt than B is.

它has a little bit more minerality than I prefer,

but salt B is a solid flake finishing salt.

Wow, this is definitely garlic salt.

If you could be here, it smells like garlic bread

baking in the oven with foil wrapped around it.

Garlic salt is an infused salt

and that really just means it's a flavored salt.

它has flavor added to it so it could be a garlic salt.

它could be a celery salt, an onion salt.

它's something that enables you

to add a ton of flavor very very easily.

Garlic smells a little bit stale to be honest.

This salt is definitely a granulated salt.

它's free-flowing.

Often times, free-flowing agents

are added to a granulated salt because

when you add a flavoring or an infusion

like a garlic powder, you're adding,

typically you're adding moisture

and you're adding ability to condense.

Sometimes even a rice flour is added to flavor salts

and that's to prevent caking.

That's like a natural free-flowing agent.

So taking a look at B here,

it smells really garlicky for sure.

The garlic smells kind of nutty in a way.

它's nice, it smells pretty fresh and rich

and this salt that is being used

is definitely more flaky and definitely more

kind of, a little bit more coarse,

but there's no free-flowing agents.

As you can see, I shake it around

and it doesn't really shake very easily.

Smells really nice and garlicky

and I'm excited to try both of these.

So let's taste salt A.

I'm excited for this.

This is pure nostalgia.

它's garlicky or sure.

它's really nice, I mean it's your classic garlic salt.

它reminds me of being at home as a kid

in a very strange odd way.

But yeah it's, it tastes good, it smells good.

The salt is a little bit bitter for sure,

but all in all, it's kind of

your classic All-American garlic salt.

So let's try salt B.

它's nice.

这盐肯定有一个非常light kind of flaky texture

and a really nice subtle garlic flavor.

Very very different from kind of the nostalgic garlic salt

that we all grew up with, but this one's very nice.

I like it a lot.

Based on a couple of factors, number one,

the fact that salt A is a granulated salt

and it looks like it has free-flowing agents,

looks like it's commercially produced typical salt,

I'm guessing it's gonna be salt B

that's gonna be more expensive than salt A.

I was right.

So salt B is definitely a little bit more expensive.

2.62 an ounce versus 28 cents an ounce.

I think each salt has its purpose.

Garlic bread for the family, for a big cookout,

standard garlic salt is probably just fine.

When it's raining and cold outside,

and you just wanna come home and make a quick dinner,

I would probably go with salt B.

它's gonna give you a lot more flavor, a lot more texture,

a lot more deliciousness in your meal.

Having said that, I think both salts

serve a different purpose and each stand on their own.

Great salts should be used not only ever single day,

but at every single meal.

There's no reason that you should go through life

using just low quality salt.

You have to have it to physically survive

so why not have the best?