Salt

[never_enough]

Anyone make their own? I made my first batch about a month ago.

Got my water from no mans land in Maine. Will be trying it with water while on Nantucket the next time I'm out there.

I think my next step will be to create infused and finishing salts.

[Robulous78]

I didn't even know you can make your own salt...? that is interesting... how do you do it?

[never_enough]

Its really simple. Get salt water from a not very populated spot, filter it through a few layers of cheese cloth into a big pot, boil/simmer until its turns into salt. Some people boil it down to a paste consistency then spread it out on a baking sheet to bake the rest of the moisture out of it.

Its time consuming. Took like 4 hours or so to boil down a little less than 2 gallons of water when I did it. Can't remember how much salt i ended up with. Maybe a cup or more? But how much salt you get will vary depending on water source, if its rained recently etc.

I will find my pics and post them.

[Robulous78]

Did I read on another thread you had just passed your Bar Robert?

Congradulations!!! :noon

Also good to meet a fellow zombie... I just joined about a week ago... :tu

[never_enough]

No, that was not me. :r

Congrats on becoming a zombie though!

[Robulous78]

Oh... Opps... :D guess it was someone with a similar Avatar.. :fp

Yea I have to say the Zombies are quite welcoming... :tu

Look forward to your salt pictures...

[never_enough]

Here is the process in pics. Took forever, and at one point I thought I some how managed to screw up and wasn't going to get any salt :r

Testing my patience in the beginning....

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=906&pictureid=7528


Finally some progress!

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=906&pictureid=7529

Getting there...

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=906&pictureid=7530

Pasty...

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=906&pictureid=7531

[never_enough]

The blob...

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=906&pictureid=7532


Spread out for the final dry

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=906&pictureid=7533



And after many hours, here is the gold of the ocean!

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=906&pictureid=7534

[Robulous78]

Interesting... I'll have to give it a shot the next time I feel like watching a pot boil... LoL jk :D

Do you use it as bath salts or do you use it on food like table salt?

[Robulous78]

Oh... I see on your second set of pics you use it as table salt... that is interesting... Does the taste vary much? Im sure the texture does...

[never_enough]

Yes, it taste a lot different actually. And the salt I made would taste different than you make. Its different depending on location.

I use less of the salt I made than the sea salt I buy at the store. My taste buds aren't great at picking out flavors, but it is definitely different. Plus its not processed with chemicals and what not.

The salt I made will always absorb moisture so its clumpy. The stuff you buy at the store has chemicals in it to keep it so dry.

If you have the time, it can be a fun little hobby. I am going to start attempting infusions and eventually smoking it at some point.

[Robulous78]

Smoking salt? like to add smoky flavor? that sounds pretty awesome...

and if I have misunderstood you, as I so frequently do with people on these threads, and your going to literally smoke salt... let me know how that goes for you... lol

[never_enough]

Yep, smoke salt like you smoke meat. Get a smokey flavor and a dark color.

[Robulous78]

That sounds pretty awesome... you can do the same salt with different woods... Cedar vs hickory... ect...

[never_enough]

Yeah and thats where I will need to do some research on the flavors different woods will have on the salt. Never smoked anything before, but now that I have a house and a yard, time to start grilling and smoking!

[Robulous78]

Yeah and thats where I will need to do some research on the flavors different woods will have on the salt. Never smoked anything before, but now that I have a house and a yard, time to start grilling and smoking!

I have plenty of experience grilling... not so much smoking...

But I did pick up a 35 dollar charcoal smoker from wall- world... I have had some successes with it... I find Hickory "sticks" to the meat easier...

Only down side with my cheap ass smoker is that it takes FOREVER to smoke large birds (turkey chicken ect)

Maybe if I had smoked salt I could get the flavor without the hassle, and for that sir I tip my preverbial cap... :D

[T.G]

Yeah and thats where I will need to do some research on the flavors different woods will have on the salt. Never smoked anything before, but now that I have a house and a yard, time to start grilling and smoking!


Different smoke woods will cause the salt to make the the food taste as if it were given a small shot of that particular smoke wood.

As for smoking your own, hope you have a lot of patience, it takes a long time (2-3+ days smoke time for one of the commercial guys near me) to go "fully brown-black" because it's so dense. Shorter smoking times might or might not be fully effective, I ran 18+ hours on some mesquite wood for a good friend here as a substitute for Kiawe wood and it barely put a dent in the salt. 72 hours would have been a good start.

[never_enough]

Wow. Even with having a lot smaller crystals than what is usually sold commercially?

[T.G]

I can't say. I'd recommend you just try it. Maximize the surface area and stir often. Just keep smoking it until you get it to where you like it, and remember, you can always do it in multiple sessions, it doesn't really matter if it's a continuous smoke or not.

I'm not trying to discourage you, just kind of let you know that it's going to take some time and not to give up on it too soon.

The mesquite smoked salt that I attempted was with a fine grain sea salt, where the grain was a bit smaller than the typical Morton-esque table salt in the blue can shaped containers. It had It had a nice aroma, and a little bit of flavor, but didn't pack much punch in the smoke flavor department, color had only progressed to a tan.

Then one day I ran into chef Jimmy T (local BBQ sauce producer and caterer to some of the wineries) and we started talking smoking and trading cooking thoughts and I noticed he had some smoked salt. This smoked salt was gorgeous dark brown, almost black, you open the container and the aroma is intense, nothing like the French smoked sea salt you see in the markets where it comes in a fancy spring top jar but the salt is light brown at best with a few token dark crystals here and there. Being that this was after my sorta-failure with the mesquite, I asked him about it and he told me the story of his alderwood smoked salt. He has a huge commercial smoker, I think he said he does 800lbs of salt at a time. First time he tried it, 8 hours smoke, and it was nothing. 12 hours, nothing. 18, eh. 24, a bit. Then he just got pissed off and packed the smoker with wood, lit it and left. Came back three days later and checked on the salt and it was awesome dark and smokey. Now he's running with custom built trays that vibrate so the salt gets evenly coated and this has allowed him to reduce the times to about 48 hours.

While he is making a commercial product on specialized equipment and I don't know the source of his sea salt, the descriptions of his early, shorter runs seemed to mirror my experiences.

[Chainsaw13]

I have some larger smoked salt crystals my sister got for me a few years ago. Jet black in color. I keep them in a tight lidded jar they're so strong in smoke smell/flavor. Just a few in a dish will add a nice smokey flavor. Got too heavy and you can easily overpower it.

[never_enough]

Thanks for the info Adam. I will still give it a try. It seems intriguing at the least.

I plan on doing other infusions too. Just need to head back up to Maine to get more water.

[mosesbotbol]

Wow, my parents live along the water, can't wait to make Vineyard Sound salt!

[iaMkcK]

This is actually pretty damn awesome. I never even thought of trying to make my own salt, much less smoke it. I doubt I'd have the time to honestly give it a try, but this place never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for all the wonderful info though! But hey, maybe I could give a shot at smoking some salt.. That might be worth a try. :-D

[never_enough]

Wow, my parents live along the water, can't wait to make Vineyard Sound salt!
Do it! Like I mentioned I will be doing it next time I am in Nantucket.

You can make it a family affair I'm sure. Zest lemon and limes, dry, then toss that with your salt in a food processor. You can do w/e you want. I am going to start doing it to create finishing salts.
This is actually pretty damn awesome. I never even thought of trying to make my own salt, much less smoke it. I doubt I'd have the time to honestly give it a try, but this place never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for all the wonderful info though! But hey, maybe I could give a shot at smoking some salt.. That might be worth a try. :-D
I had never thought about it either. Just one those things in life you just assume is always there and never think about HOW it got there.

Give it a try man. It does take time, but most of it you don't need to be standing over it. Just check it every hour until it turns to paste, then turn the heat down and make sure it doesn't burn.

[mhailey]

For "smoked" salt, could you just add some liquid smoke to the water you are boiling down? Seems to me the salt would take on that flavor.

[never_enough]

Hmmm maybe? No clue, but that kind of takes the fun out of it!!:r

[T.G]

For "smoked" salt, could you just add some liquid smoke to the water you are boiling down? Seems to me the salt would take on that flavor.

Might work, I'm not sure that the flavor will be as intense as if you smoke it yourself though. Make sure you read the ingredients on the liquid smoke, some of them have all kinds of other crap in them that might not work out well (like food grade glycerine and some even use artificial flavoring).

[never_enough]

So anyone up for trying the sea salt I make? I know to most salt is salt, but I figured I would ask.

I could send 2-8 oz of salt to a few people for free. Could send you more possibly depending on what it would cost me. Maybe do a little regular sea salt, then any infusions I'm working on at the time.

I won't be smoking at this time, but I think my next experiment will me lemon/lime salt, wine infused salt (if I can figure it out), and maybe I can come up with a desert style salt. I notice chefs put salt on some of their deserts, so maybe a finishing salt can be created.

Anyways, send me a PM if you are interested. Again, will only send to a few at first. Going to cost me a bit for containers, shipping, gas to and from water source etc. Don't want to go broke just yet :r:r

[T.G]

I won't be smoking at this time, but I think my next experiment will me lemon/lime salt, wine infused salt (if I can figure it out), and maybe I can come up with a desert style salt. I notice chefs put salt on some of their deserts, so maybe a finishing salt can be created.


I prefer my deserts dry and sandy, thank you very much.

[never_enough]

I prefer my deserts dry and sandy, thank you very much.

:r:r:r I'm an idiot. Never even noticed my mistake. Desserts!!!!

[Zane]

Pm sent!

[never_enough]

Replied and the offer still stands for a few other people.

[never_enough]

Attempting a wine infused salt with a malbec. Color is nice, time will tell how it turns out.

[never_enough]

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=906&pictureid=7540

[jluck]

Looks great, Robert!

I will have to give it a try.:tu

[Zane]

How did it taste? I know you said you were going to use it for dinner.

[never_enough]

I used it on a potato for the color :r Tasted like salt:r:r

I am going to make more, and try to use more wine. I need to find the point where its too much and then back it off just a bit. Should be perfect then.

Off to buy some containers today for you people who wanted to try some.

[OLS]

Its the aftertaste of whale pee-pee I just can't get over.

[dozer]

Learn something new every day...would never think of making my own salt till now...

[never_enough]

So everyone loves something salty and sweet right?

I think I almost have sugar infused sea salt figured out. This is not just sugar and salt tossed in a blender to mix.

Can't wait to perfect it :dr

Also made a shiraz infused salt for my g/fs coworker. Turned out almost pink instead of deep purple like the malbec

[Chainsaw13]

Can't wait to try them.