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October 07, 2007

Himalayan Rock Salt

Salt is a natural and very important part of the human diet. It is especially balancing for Vata, and second to sweet taste, should make up most of all healthy diets.

So why does it get such bad press? Because iodised salt, or table salt, like many modern "foods" is refined to the point where it is no longer nourishing, and can actually be dangerous to the body. All minerals are removed from common table salt until there are only two: sodium and chloride. The other minerals that are removed are sometimes even sold as medicines-a far more lucrative product!

But for every gram of sodium chloride that the body cannot get rid of, the body uses twenty-three times the amount of cell water to neutralize this salt. I don't need to mention the health problems that have been related to excessive consumption of table salt. It's in the media every other day.

The largest salt range in the world is in the Himalayas. The salt here is up to 700 million years old and is mined by hand. It contains around 80-90 minerals and is black or pink in colour, with a very sulphurous smell.

It is available from many Indian grocery stores, and can be used in any way you use regular salt. In the same way that treacle is much more tasty than refined sugar, Himalayan rock salt is much more tasty than what you are used to. Don't be put off by it's smell (my sister calls it egg salt!) your body will learn to love it. It is best to put salt into your food at the beginning of cooking, things cooked in the same pot are more easily assimilated by the body.

NB. You can get many other forms of rock salt, which is preferable to iodised salt, but the pink or grey Himalayan Rock Salt is the best of all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi
I found this info interesting. However I am not able to find this anywhere here in NY. Do you have a name of the brand etc?
thanks a ton
Vidhya

Julia said...

I haven't bought it under a brand name. I've found it all around Australia in Indian grocery stores, so hopefully go to an Indian area of NY and they should be able to help you. The packets I've bought it in are just little plastic pouches without much labelling. It might also be called black salt or kala namat. You can buy it online but it appears to be more expensive. Sorry I can't help much!