Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: One salt size should not season all

Salt is a fundamental element of good cooking — beyond making things taste salty, it helps release aromatic compounds, bringing out the flavour of our food.

But with so many varieties of salt out there, it can be confusing to know which to reach for in the kitchen.

All salt is technically the same: it's sodium chloride, and sometimes contains trace minerals, depending on how it has been harvested and processed.

The main difference is in the production, which determines the texture of the grains.

All salt comes from the sea, or from places that were once covered with seawater. It's produced through evaporation using salty water from the ocean or a saltwater lake, or with a brine made of salt flushed from ancient sea beds.

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If it's processed quickly, under pressure, the result is finer grains; if the process is slower and undisturbed, more fragile crystals are able to form in intricate shapes and flakes.

In home kitchens, the most common salt is fine table salt, which often comes in a box and has iodine and anti-caking agents added.

Table salt tends to be the saltiest salt — because the grains are so tiny and dense, they fill a space in a compact way.

Kosher salt has larger, lighter, more irregularly shaped grains. Because it's not as dense, you typically need 1½ to two times the amount of kosher salt versus fine table salt, depending on the brand. The general rule of thumb for Diamond Crystal kosher salt is you'd need twice as much as table salt to achieve the same salinity.

Many recipes call for sea salt, which is kind of a misnomer. Technically, it's all sea salt, though sometimes "sea salt" refers to salt that doesn't have added iodine, as table salt typically does.

You can find sea salt in a wide range of textures.

Flaky finishing salts like Maldon salt are typically hand-harvested. Maldon is made on the southeast coast of England, in large heated pans that allow the formation of delicate pyramid-shaped crystals.

Closer to home, Vancouver Island Sea Salt hand-harvests salt in small batches, using water from the Pacific ocean.

Then there's pickling salt, which can be fine or coarse, but doesn't have anti-caking agents or other additives that can make your brine cloudy.

There are plenty of regional salts, like Himalayan pink salt, which has become popular for the trace minerals and impurities that give it its pink colour.

The right salt for you

When it comes to deciding which salt to use in your kitchen, the main considerations are texture, accessibility and affordability,

Fancy, flaky (and pricey) salt is best saved for finishing things like open-faced tomato sandwiches, steaks and chocolate chunk cookies, where you can best appreciate its delicate, crunchy texture.

If you're salting your pasta water, reach for the cheap stuff: table salt, sea salt, even that box of pickling salt.

If you're baking, fine salt and kosher salt will dissolve easily into your doughs and batters.

And if you're using a salt grinder, ensure it's set on fine for baking.

It can be coarser for seasoning meat, or soups, stews and other dishes, or salting your food at the table.

When it comes to salt, understanding the differences between them will help you season your food well — and to taste.

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