How To Smoke Salt: [WHEN AND WHY YOU NEED TO?]

Salt is one of the essential ingredients in the kitchen, as it is used in almost every dish. You can enhance the savory power of salt by infusing it with smoke and using it to infuse smoke flavors into various foods. But how do you smoke salt?

Smoking salt is relatively easy. Here are the steps to follow when smoking salt;

• Prepare for cold smoking.
• Spread the salt on a makeshift pan made of heavy-duty aluminum foil
• Smoke the salt for at least 4 hours
• Remove from the smoker

Since smoking offers a way to infuse it with as much smoke as possible, you can leave it for up to 24 hours in the smoker. Keep reading for more details on how best to smoke salt.

How To Smoke Salt Step-By-Step

Although smoking salt is a simple process, if you have never done it before, there is a possibility that you might find it challenging. However, you will end up with perfectly smoked salt with the following steps.

Preparing For Cold Smoking

Cold smoking is the ideal way to smoke salt. Therefore, if you want smoked salt, you must consider cold smoking. A pellet tube smoker is an ideal option for smoking salt as it is efficient in producing a lot of smoke while keeping the grill’s temperature under 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spread The Salt

After preparing for cold smoking, the next step is to spread the salt on the smoker. When spreading the salt on the smoker, you can use a rimmed baking pan or make your own. To make your pan, you need to grab a heavy-duty aluminum foil and fold up the edges and crimp them to make a pan for salt smoking. Ensure that you evenly spread the salt on the pan.

Smoke

When it comes to smoking, you can decide how long you want to do it. However, the minimum period you should smoke your salt is 4 hours, and ensure that you stir it every hour. After hours have passed while the salt is on the smoker, it will start to turn yellow with a mild flavor. After six hours, the salt will begin to brown, and the smoke flavor will increase. After 24 hours of smoking, the salt will have all the smoky goodness that you will require in smoked salt.

Remove from the Smoker for Use

Once you are convinced that your salt has attained the desired level of flavor, get it out of the smoker and store it in an airtight glass container. Proper storage of your smoked salt is vital as it helps preserve the quality of the salt.

What Is Smoked Salt Used For?

Smoked salt offers a perfect finishing adding to the top of the avocado, tomato soup, or any meal you feel will do fine with a smoky flavor. Further, you do not have to spend money purchasing smoked salt from the store when you can make a superior one at home. Here are some of the great uses for smoked salt.

• Instead of spending time grilling your food, you can add the smoked salt to the food, and it will taste as if it has been smoked. Interestingly, any food can benefit from the smoky flavor of salt.
• You can use smoked salt to make different fruit syrups.
• Another use of smoked salt is that you can use it to diversify your meals, especially when you are tired of the same sweet dish recipe. Adding the smoky flavored salt mixed with honey or caramel to the dessert will provide a mouthwatering flavor.
• Use smoked salt to make your food more delicious than you get from restaurants. The salt has the potential to add a terrific flavor to your food.
• If you are on a diet or tired of eating your fruits the same way, you can use smoked salt to make the difference. Adding smoky-flavored salt to dry fruits and vegetables will make them even more delicious.
• You can use the salt to garnish your drink, margarita, and even cocktail for a terrific experience.
• Use the smoked salt to marinate meat and hence increase its flavors.

Is Smoked Salt Healthy?

Salt helps to add flavor to food, and smoked salt adds an even extra layer of flavor to the food. But how healthy is smoked salt? The truth is that smoked salt is healthy with numerous health benefits. Some of the benefits associated with smoked salt include;

• Help in Lowering Salt Consumption – smoked salt has larger granules than salt table salt, which means that not a lot of salt can fit into the teaspoon. Consequently, this tricks people into consuming less salt, as consuming a lot of salt is never healthy.
• Smoked salt may offer digestive support.
• It helps prevent body dehydration by enhancing the balance of your body fluids.
• It May help in supporting your body muscles and the nervous system functions.

Does Smoked Salt Make A Difference?

While any type of salt is essential in making food more flavorful, smoked salt is a notch higher when it comes to both health benefits and enhancing the flavor of the food.

Smoked salt is excellent in fostering the salinity of food while at the same time infusing it with the smoky savory from different types of woods that would have taken a lot of your time and effort to smoke food. Generally, smoked salt is excellent for anyone ranging from vegetarians to look to have the taste of different smoke flavors to meat-eaters.

Different Types Of Smoked Salt

When it comes to smoking salt, you are at liberty to use different types of wood for specific flavors. The wood used becomes the name of the salt. Here are some of the common types of salts.

Smoked Alderwood Salt

The smoked Alderwood salt is a type of salt that has been smoked over the Alderwood. The wood is a traditional smoking wood for North American Indians. It offers a perfect way to add smoked flavor to a wide range of meals without having to smoke the food. If you are looking for a robust and versatile smoked salt, this will be an ideal option.

Smoked Hickory Salt

As you may have correctly guessed, smoked hickory salt is a type of salt that has been smoked using hickory wood. The hickory is best known for its robust sweet, and smoky taste. Smoked hickory salt is perfect for burgers, ribs, pork, red meat, maple syrup, turkey, honey, bacon, ham, and even prawns.

Smoked Mesquite Salt

The smoked mesquite salt is cold smoked using hickory wood to infuse the smoky flavor into the salt. Smoked mesquite salt offers a distinctive sweet flavor that makes it the official Texan BBQ salt. It is excellent for poultry, red meats, and anything you can think of cooking on the grill.

Smoked Applewood Salt

The smoked Applewood salt is cold smoked over apple wood to infuse it with the incredible and tasty sweet and woody flavor of the apple wood. The good thing with the Applewood salt is that it perfectly pairs with a wide range of meals, including shellfish, poultry, fish, and roast veggies.

Does Smoked Salt Expire?

Since salt is an essential requirement in the kitchen with several health benefits, it is not uncommon to find people wondering whether smoked salt has an expiry date.

Both ordinary and smoked salts do not have an expiry date. However, it is essential to store your salt well to avoid contamination. While salt does not expire as it is antibacterial and lacks moisture, some types of salts have additives that might interfere with their shelf-life.

Conclusion

Smoked salt is pretty valuable as it has a wide range of uses ranging from BBQ seasoning blends to serving as a finishing salt in vegetarian recipes. Fortunately, smoking salt is a simple process that requires you to cold smoke the salt over your favorite woods such as apple, hickory, or even oak.