Caloric content and chemical composition of black salt. Useful properties, harm and contraindications to the use of the product. How it is obtained and prepared, recipes for dishes with spice and interesting information about it. In rare cases, a person has an intolerance to this product, in the presence of which, after its use, severe itching, nausea, weakness, apathy almost always occurs.
How black volcanic salt is mined
The product is mined in the Himalayas, in those places where the level of hydrogen sulfide in the lava is high. Whole, unbound crystals are taken out of it, which are then sieved. As a result, the garbage is removed, and the required raw materials are processed in ovens. In them, it is kept for more than three days at temperatures above 700 degrees, this allows you to reduce the unpleasant odor and make the raw materials softer and more pliable. A wide variety of herbs and spices are used in this process, such as Amla and Bibhitaka seeds. After the salt has been successfully dried, it is cooled and ground in large vats before it is sent to the end customer. At this stage, the mass is turned into a fine powder, in which not a single lump should remain. As a result, it takes on a gray-pink color. Then the product is delivered to the customer, who already packs it in cardboard, plastic, wood or plastic packaging.
How to make black salt
Since most often it is sold already in crushed form, the buyer only has to rinse, dry and fry the product before use. It is not necessary to do this at all, but it will reduce the unpleasant hydrogen sulfide odor and eliminate the taste of bitterness. Saute the spice in a well-heated frying pan, without vegetable oil, for about 5-10 minutes. In this case, the fire should be low so that the powder does not burn. Do not put hot salt in the dish, you need to wait until it loses its harsh aroma. To do this, you can take it out into the fresh air or refrigerate it. You can add this ingredient to a dish at any stage of its preparation, but it is best to do this not at the very end. Otherwise, the powder may not completely dissolve and cause discomfort when eating.
Black salt recipes
This salt gives dishes a rich aroma and a piquant taste, somewhat reminiscent of eggs. That is why many vegetarians replace them with this particular spice, actively adding it to soups, cereals, potatoes, salads. The most daring people experiment and eat it along with fruits and berries, most often with persimmons, apples, strawberries and watermelon. This product can be added to fish, meat, dairy dishes. But it is not worth completely replacing ordinary salt with it, it is better to combine them, taking 50% of both.
Here are some helpful recipes:
- Pumpkin porridge … Wash and peel the pumpkin (300 g), dice the flesh, season with salt and pepper. Then boil milk (250 g), add sugar (1 tablespoon) to it, and then vegetables. After 10 minutes, put honey (1 tsp), raisins (50 g) and walnuts (3 tbsp) here. Leave the dish on the stove for 20 minutes under the lid, then turn it off and pour over melted butter (2 tablespoons).
- Fish in a double boiler … Buy, wash and clean 1 kg of Notothenia. Then divide it into several small pieces, rub it with black salt and put it in a bowl, into which you need to pour vegetable oil in advance. After that, peel carrots, onions and tomatoes (2 pcs.), Fry them, salt and put in a container with fish. Next, fill it with liquid, which will take so much that the notothenia is completely covered with it. Then select the "steaming" mode and keep the dish for 30 minutes.
- Cottage cheese casserole … Grind homemade cottage cheese (500 g) through a sieve, chop hard cheese (100 g) and combine these ingredients with 1 tsp. black salt, 2 egg whites, sugar (1 tsp), a pinch of pepper, basil and 3 tbsp. l. flour. Now put the mixture in a baking dish in a layer up to 4 cm thick. Then make small indentations in it over the entire surface at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other and put the pitted olives in them. Sprinkle the dough on top to your liking with dried marjoram, brush with yolk and bake in the oven for an average of 30 minutes.
- Toast … Break 3 eggs into a cup, add sour cream (2 tablespoons) to them, grated hard cheese (80 g) and prepared raw potatoes without skin (2 pcs.) In the same way. Then add black salt, pepper and basil to taste. Next, cut the loaf into thin slices, put the mass on them and fry on both sides until golden brown.
- Hepatic balls … Boil eggs (3 pcs.), Two potatoes and carrots (1 pc.). Then clean it all up, grind it with a grater and combine it together. Next, add black salt to your taste, ground red pepper (a pinch), sour cream (1 tbsp. L.), Cod liver (200 g), crushed with a fork, and grated hard cheese (100 g). Then roll up balls up to 5 cm in diameter from this mixture and roll them well in sesame seeds. Insert parsley sprigs into them from above.
This product goes well with other spices - basil, marjoram, turmeric, sage, rosemary, dried garlic and dill. And this is just some of the options for cooking various dishes with black salt.
Interesting facts about black salt
Very often this product is confused with the Thursday analogue, which is also popularly called black. It is completely wrong to do this, because the latter is nothing more than ordinary table salt, cooked in the oven. These two ingredients are not similar in composition or appearance. Another name for the product is widespread - black Indian salt, due to the fact that its main volume is mined in India. This spice is also produced in Nepal and Pakistan. Here it is one of the main ingredients of national cuisines and serves as an important component of the "chat masala" seasoning, which is put in numerous fruit salads and combined with toasted nuts. In the United States, and specifically in New York, in elite restaurants, black salt is served instead of ordinary table salt. But, however, it is not imported from the Himalayas at all, but from the Hawaiian Islands, where the spice is extracted from local lava. In the cafes of European countries, this is a rather rare "guest", since the price for it is not democratic. The cost of this product is 10 times higher than that of the classic analogue. Black salt is used not only in cooking, the monks of Tibet, for example, use it to obtain energy from biofuel. Ayurveda followers also find the spice useful, considering it a source of strength and good mood.
To keep it as long as possible, it must be kept in plastic, wooden or glass containers under a lid. It is impossible to do this in a metal container because of the salt's ability to react and change its chemical composition. Very often there are fakes on the market, which are not at all difficult to recognize. To do this, you need to soak a little salt in water and see if it darkens. If this does not happen, then this is not an original product. Carefully read the label on the product packaging, which should not contain any mention of any impurities and additives in the form of E-535 and E-538. If they are part of the product, then this indicates its unnatural origin and even harm to the body, you should not expect anything good from it in this case. Watch a video about black salt:
This spice really has a very specific taste and smell, spreading them to the dishes in which it is placed. As a result, they turn out to be unusual and pleasant to the taste, bring pleasure and give satisfaction. You just need to choose the best black salt recipes and use them correctly.
