Salt: NaCl in a World of Flavors

I have a sinking feeling that many of my posts will start out, "So I was dating this guy who .... and he taught me about..." You'll catch on pretty quick that they aren't all the same guy, but at the very least I am hanging out with interesting people who I can learn from. Also, welcome to the first edition of Food Friday. I figured that along with Mondays and Sundays, Fridays can have their own theme (while due to some strange laws of time and space, Thursdays don't really exist).

So! I was dating this guy who wanted to become a chef and he taught me about salt (the guy before him taught me about pepper, but we'll save that for another day). Salt, it turns out, is way more than the iodized stuff with a girl and an umbrella on the front. Sea salts are great for seasoning and garnishing, and there are a variety of tastes to choose from. We tried some smoked sea salt on prosciutto-wrapped asparagus and I loved how the salt brought out the meat's flavors while adding a bit of texture.

Unfortunately for my spice cabinet (seriously you should've seen his paprika), we broke up. While I immediately bought a sea salt grinder, what one of my friends has that I really want is a block of salt. Specifically, a Himalayan sea salt block. I could grate it over dishes and it would be fun just to lick every now and then. It is apparently a bit sweeter than table salt, and I think it would look cool in my kitchen.

Artisan Sea Salts have a great range of salt flavors
The block is sold at Sustainable Sourcing
The Cook's Thesaurus Salt Page is a good resource
As is the What's Cooking America? salt page