What to put in a salt grinder?

Sesame seeds

Korean bamboo salt

The grains from Unicorn tears,every meal will taste magical...fact

What do your do with your artisanal rock salt crystals if not grind them, or do you have someone on hand to grind them for you? I thought this was a Cougar not a Captain Flashy thread 😉

Cocaine....

A serious answer: freshly ground Maldon sea salt flakes taste more 'salty' than the same amount of pre-ground salt so you can have less - which is healthier.

Vinegar

freshly ground Maldon sea salt flakes taste more ‘salty’ than the same amount of pre-ground salt

I think a double blind trial is in order regarding that claim.

It’s salt. Who needs freshly-ground salt,

Its not necessarily the freshness but 'table salt' and sea salt have their differences

Sea salt is produced by evaporation (theres a fascinating place making it a few miles from me in a structure that when I saw it wasn't sure if it was an art installation or some sort of pagan shrine). It means it as a few other trace elements in it rather than just 'salt' as its evaporated sea water, whether you's taste that I've no idea as what you'll mostly taste is 'salt' but I think people like to modulate the courseness when they grind it to get different mouth feels - so its nice to have crunchiness in some dishes. But I really don't like the gritty/crunchy action of using a grinder with salt - its just a bit horrible and harsh sounding

Table salt is more commonly mined salt, and being already finely ground its prone to absorbing moisture and clumping up, so often has anti-caking agents in. So in cooking rather than seasoning at the table cheffy types might avoid it if those agents upset whatever finely honed confit juis they're making

Theres probably more than one way to make course sea salt as some is hard/crunchy enough to need grinding but some is much flakier - maldon for instance or the blackthorn above. Thats something you can just crunch up with your fingers and doesn't feel like losing a filling if you bite a big lump. So I buy the blackthorn stuff above  for no reason that it supports something interesting

I've seen stuff like smoked salt crystals - maybe that would be something a bit different as an excuse for a bit of grinder action

For really chi-chi, niche salt "Sel de Nourmantier".

More pepper? Maybe those fancy pink peppercorns rather than regular black ones.

Maldon sea salt or other flaked salt. If you set the grinder to a coarse setting you'll get bigger, sharper pieces. It looks better on food - don't forget that the taste of food is really a combination of smell, taste, vision and feel.

This thread is useless without pictures

Your knob

maldon sea salt is flippin lovely.

I sprinkle flakes on loads of savoury stuff, bread and butter, humous, whatever. Its just awesome.

so put that in your grinder.

Your knob

Thanks, now I need to empty cola out of my keyboard.

Have you confused it with Grindr?

Maybe those fancy pink peppercorns

This is what I was leaning towards. It's not actually pepper I don't think, it's some sort of dried berry or seed? Not something I've ever cooked with, anyway.

Coffee beans. Take the coffee snob bollocks to a new level!

Another vote here for Molden sea salt

ahh - was I  getting the wrong idea? - I though you were asking what sort of salt would give you an excuse to use the grinder - but you're asking what to put in it instead of salt?

Nerds maybe

Coffee beans. Take the coffee snob bollocks to a new level!

Funnily enough I friend of mine used to grind pepper corns in a coffee grinder. He used to cook things like a balti for 100 people in one giant pan, so got through a lot of seasonings:-)

Smoked salt flakes for me.

I try to watch my salt intake so avoid it other than on steaks. Got to be careful, salt the meat, but if you make a Stilton cream sauce, theres a lot of salt in Stilton, so it can become over salted.

Got a nicely marbled Wagyu fillet in the fridge for this eve 🙂

No need for an actual grinder though.

Tl:Dr

When I moved in with my girlfriend, now wife, years ago we had two sets of S&P mills

Simple solution was to use my set for coriander and cumin seeds

Maldon? you lot shouldn't be on here! It's smoked Maldon salt you need. IFYKYK

?

Some really dank skunk.

Original point stands, why would I need freshly ground artisanal smoked Maldon sea salt rather than just artisanal smoked Maldon sea salt straight out of a tub?

The only reason I can think is to control granule size, a lot of US recipes call for kosher salt which isn't what it sounds like but rather a coarseness somewhere between table salt and rock salt (as far as I can tell). But as regular readers will know, I'm unlikely to be seasoning steak in the near future.

Original point stands, why would I need freshly ground artisanal smoked Maldon sea salt rather than just artisanal smoked Maldon sea salt straight out of a tub?

Answer still stands - so that it doesn't need to have been mixed with anti-caking agents when its packaged. But theres no point to put maldon in a grinder as  it's stuff you can just crunch up with your fingers. Grinders are for much more robust course salts rather than flaky stuff like Maldon or Blackthorn. Maybe use a grinder for a mined salt like the Himalayan pink stuff

I’m unlikely to be seasoning steak in the near future.

you're such a purist 🙂

Rock salt. Big, crunchy, chunks of salt. They work well in a grinder. Though make sure the grinding parts are ceramic to avoid rusty grinds.

sea salt flakes like Malden or Halen Môn are too soft and flaky for a grinder. Better to use a salt spoon or sprinkle them by hand.

reserve flaked salt like smoked Malden or desert Malden for a bowl and spoon to sprinkle over your food. No need to grind those delicate pyramidal flakes. https://maldonsalt.com

avoid rusty grinds.

I'm sure he posts on here

I’m sure he posts on here

Excellent!

 It means it as a few other trace elements in it rather than just ‘salt’ as its evaporated sea water, whether you’s taste that I’ve no idea

Exactly, it is contaminated with pollutants. If you buy Mediterranean Sea Salt, it has traces of all the sewage from southern Europe, the Levant, and North Africa.

Szechuan peppercorns...then when you get your grinders mixed up you'll get a lovely surprise!

If you buy Mediterranean Sea Salt, it has traces of all the sewage from southern Europe, the Levant, and North Africa.

Thats what you should buy proper essex salt with proper traces of essex effluent and a note of vagazzle glue

Funnily enough I friend of mine used to grind pepper corns in a coffee grinder. He used to cook things like a balti for 100 people in one giant pan, so got through a lot of seasonings:-)

I've been doing that since i "won" a free coffee grinder about 10 years ago. It's never been used for coffee, but can turn 100 grams of dried herbs/spices into a fine chopped powder in 5 seconds. Ideal for cooking for 20.

I just have rock salt in my grinders, large chunks, then can do whats suggested up there, big lumps to go on roast veggies, looks and tastes "nicer" than sprinkling "ordinary" cooking salt on there. Same with salting at the table. Have some pink himalayan in one grinder and some black/grey/white salt that i picked up in a spice shop last year in another. Then just rock salt in a third. (And Kosher salt in a little jar). The ceramic grinders from IKEA are really rather good for the 3 quid i paid for them 10 years ago.

Ours has Anglesey Sea Salt (Halen Mor), we are over that way pretty often and have had many fun days when the kids were kids at Anglesey Sea Zoo next door, so using the salt brings back those memories.

Rock salt is the only thing that should go in a salt grinder. <end thread>

A place not far from us started making sea salt, the owner of the business made himself very ill due to the conditions in his factory - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0335ljkg5ro

Really don't understand all the fuss over sea salt, rock salt is sea salt after all, just been sat underground for a few million years. Evaporated from much cleaner seas than we have today.

Pink Himalayan

Really don’t understand all the fuss over sea salt, rock salt is sea salt after all, just been sat underground for a few million years.

Theres just a modest little question about how sustainable that is, much like everything else we dig out of the ground I suppose. Unlike pepper salt doesn't just grow on trees. (with the exception of blackthorn trees I guess 🙂 )

I think we got there in the end, but to be clear, Maldon Sea salt should never be put in a grinder. The whole point is the large, delicate flakes - macerating them through a grinder takes away their defining characteristic. Coke Maldon Seat salt should be served in a small bowl on the table for you to take a pinch and gently crumble over food.

Salt tastes of salt, so the only differentiating characteristic is the texture. Therefore I never see the point in those hard lumps of sea that you need to grind up. Dirst cheap salt for cooking, Maldon for dressing food at the end - no point in anything else IMHO (smoked salt sits apart obviously, and pink Himalayan hippie stuff can do one).

If I had to fill a spare grinder with something, I might try Sichuan/Szechuan pepper as I bloody love the stuff.

Theres just a modest little question about how sustainable that is, much like everything else we dig out of the ground I suppose.

There is literally oceans of the stuff buried all over the planet.

I would question the sustainability of UK produced sea salt. You either need strong sunlight or a heat source, a lot of the old salt pans were near coal seams to provide cheap heat. I think the modern approach is to heat it with gas.

Persinally i like rock salt, especially ground over stuff that I’m cooking or baking.

Where I work in the west of France isn’t that far from Guerand. I’ve had sel de Guerand in a few restaurants, and I’m now convinced that it is head and shoulders above all other salt on earth. But for info, it doesn’t seem to work in grinders!

Pretty green parrot +1

Rock salt for the salt mill.

Blackpepper corns for the pepper grinder.

For days when caffeine isn't enough, some ammonium triiodide crystals. 😉

For days when caffeine isn't enough, some ammonium triiodide crystals. 😉

I’ve been using coarse salt in a grinder, along with peppercorns for years - I like lots of pepper, but not to much salt, and it’s just easier to control the amounts in a grinder. If I go to get som fish and chips, I won’t let them put salt on, they inevitably cover everything with a heavy layer of salt, which I hate.

I actually have a pepper grinder with chili flakes in as well as the black peppers, so I can get the right amount of salt, then vinegar, then the pepper and chilli. 
Yum. 😋 

Use some sea salt from the

Use some sea salt from the

Aside from dubious claims about the relative quality of evaporated Atlantic, Île de Ré salt kind of backs up the bonkers cost of UK sea salt, presumably as we can't use free solar energy to make it.

Île de Ré - under £2/Kg (ok a delivery will add a bit) often sold in Kg or 5Kg bags

Maldon - £10/Kg

Artisan twig (insert own unique process that definitely makes our salt betterer than any other available) enriched salt. Provenance marketed to death and only sold in tiny overpriced bags, somewhere between £30 - 50/Kg (make up own price depending on how artisan and historical your salt is).

It's bloody hard work producing salt:

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It’s makes no sense but we have salt in our second grinder. Like the OP i tried to resist as it makes no sense. However mrs Ampthill wanted a pair with salt in one. So that’s what we have. The only benefit is that it’s much easier to control the application of salt by grinding than shaking

 Of course you are now wondering about the power dynamics at Ampthill towers. Last time we discussed bikes she said “i don’t need to know just buy it”. No trip or ride has ever been declined