All Salts Are Not Created Equal

Recipes in my cookbooks and blogs are tested using diamond crystal kosher salt. If you are using other brands of salt, you will need to adjust the amounts called for in each recipe.

Below is a list of sodium content of salts available at supermarkets. Sodium contents of store brand salts vary. Do read the Nutrition Facts label on the container.

NAME SODIUM SODIUM
¼ teaspoon 1 teaspoon
Diamond Crystal:
• Kosher 280 mg 1120 mg
• Regular, iodized 430 mg 1720 mg
• Salt sense 390 mg 1560 mg
Morton:
• Kosher 480 mg 1920 mg
• Regular, iodized 590 mg 2360 mg
• Lite 290 mg 1160 mg
• Salt sense 390 mg 1560 mg
Sea Salt 580 mg 2320 mg

22 Responses to All Salts Are Not Created Equal

  1. Wendy says:

    I’m excited to see this blog. I soooo love cooking and was even once the pasta cook in a restaurant.

  2. Wilderness says:

    I am so glad to know that someone else uses the Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. Everyone tries to tell me sea salt has less sodium. Also Diamond Crystal is the only Kosher salt I have found with that low a sodium. I am for ever pulling the box from my cupboard and showing non believers

  3. Connie says:

    I’m so glad to see this information on salt. I never realized that different salts have different sodium content. I’m going to use Diamond Crystal kosher from now on.
    Thanks, Norma!!!

  4. Sophie says:

    Hi Norma,

    Wow, super informative post, you’re right: salts are not created equal! It’s not something I ever thought about. I think about kosher vs. sea salt for example, but not the actual sodium content.

    It was nice running into you today at Adams. Have a wonderful holiday.

  5. Mary Hysong says:

    You know, I never thought to check the sodium content of salt. I mean salt is salt, right? wow this really shows up the difference!

  6. So you should eat sea salt instead of table salt? Is table salt really that bad? I would purchase sea salt but its so expensive compared to Morton’s.

    • Norma Chang says:

      Hello Seeds and Shovels,
      The salt table is for comparing the sodium content of different salts. My recipes are tested using Diamond Crystal kosher salt the salt I use myself.

  7. Phyllis Smith says:

    Great to know about the differences in salt. I will be switching to Kosher salt tomorrow! Thanks Norma. Nice to have attended your cooking demo at Adams tonight! Phyllis

  8. I had no idea there were such differences in salt! I knew that “sea salt is better for you than table salt”…or so I thought…

    I just recently bought a box of the Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt for a new recipe I’m trying and I love it!

  9. Am bookmarking this page for future reference -great post, thanks!
    anne

  10. Eva Taylor says:

    Just wandering around and I saw this page; I usually use sea salt but I am intrigued by the lower sodium in Kosher. Does it mean that you use more salt for the flavour or is the flavour still the same? I had heard that sea salt contains less sodium than table salt, I’ll have to google my brand.

    • Norma Chang says:

      Hello Eva,
      If you check the sodium content of different sea salts you will notice there are differences. Notice also diamond crystal kosher salt has a lower sodium content than morton kosher salt.

  11. JustAGuy says:

    Ummm… sorry but this post is, quite frankly, just plain wrong! You’ve used a VOLUME measurement for the various salt comparisons, and depending on crystal size, shape and density you will get a vastly different WEIGHT of salt. So… you’re right in one sense… a teaspoon of one salt may very well have more or less sodium than a teaspoon of another… but only because you’re comparing by volume! As long as we’re talking about common sodium chloride, and ignoring any other trace mineral elements that might occur in sea salts or other specialty salts… the sodium content is the when you compare with a proper weight measurement!! For more (accurate) information, see here: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/salt.html

    • Norma Chang says:

      Hello JustAGuy,
      Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. Yes, I chose to use VOLUME measurements as that is what is on the Nutrition Facts label of the products. Thanks for the link.

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