Salt.
Did you know it is essential for life as humans?
Salt has had a bad rap in the past, primarily due to a lot of processed food being packed full of salt along with sugar and poor-quality fat.
Nutritional studies often come to spurious conclusions regarding certain elements but are very often confounded by multiple uncontrolled variables...
Salt is actually essential in the human diet and we are big fans here at Hunter & Gather BUT not all salt is created equal and they may not all be what they first seem.
Salt is salt, right?
Wrong!
Three main types of salt
As you guessed, there are 3 main types of salt available to use consumers;
- Table Salt (that fine white granular type)
- Sea Salt (made from evaporating sea water)
- Rock Salt (in our case Pink Himalayan)
Table Salt
This is the salt you see everywhere, in restaurants on the table, little salt packets and is normally what is simply termed “salt” on food labels and can also be called refined salt.
Table salt is often made from rock salt called Halite or sea salt, however most are heavily processed to add Iodine, Sodium Chloride, Additives (which can include Dextrose sugar) and Anti-Caking agents to stop it sticking together.
Anti-Caking agents can include Silicon Dioxide, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Aluminosilicate and many other chemicals. Many table salts also go through a bleaching process to ensure the uniform white colouration.
Scarily, food labels in the UK can simply state 'Salt' on the label of a product, leaving none of us knowing truly what is in our food.
Therefore please do check before you consume any product that the salt used is either pure Sea Salt or Pink Himalayan Salt.
Sea Salt
This is the beautifully shaped crystal shaped salt that can come in various shades from white to grey. Often found in high-end restaurants and more recently in food products such as Grass Fed Butter with Sea Salt – YUM!
There are some great Sea Salts out there, which are very natural processed and made by evaporating sea water. You know, those splashes that dry on your legs leaving a white powder after a day at the beach - that’s Sea Salt!
No additives required and very little processing – winner!
Sea salt has been dubbed a healthy alternative to table salt, however it is still important to remember that the sea water has trace minerals and elements that varies in different seas – hence the varying colour.
Some concerns have been raised around the toxicity of the salt due to micro-plastic particles and water quality. In 2017 a study was conducted to test for micro-plastic particles in sea salt and out of 17 brands across 8 countries, 16 had the presence of micro-plastics within the salt at varying levels.
And as a modern-day goldilocks, in our search for the perfect ingredients for our Avocado Oil Mayonnaise we felt that sea salt was better than table salt but still not quite right.
Pink Himalayan Salt
With colours varying from white, through soft dusky pink to almost a sunset orange – pink Himalayan salt as you could probably guess comes from the Himalayan regions, with the biggest mine in Punjab Pakistan.
It has also been dubbed as the cleanest and most beneficial form of salt available.
Himalayan salt begins it’s story more than 500 million years ago, whereby salt deposits where left due to a vast expanse of water drying up and then extreme pressure and movement of tectonic plates shifted the rock to form the Himalayan mountain ranges, locking within it the Himalayan salt mines.
This is really important as the Himalayan mines have been untouched for millions of years and have not been affected by micro-plastics or sea toxicity.
The salt is also unprocessed and mined mostly by hand, avoiding mechanical machinery.
Communities have been built around these mines and the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation ensure that workers are paid fairly, there is education provided, free medical services and community support.
But what about the health benefits?
Pink Himalayan Salt has been noted to include 84 minerals and trace elements, such as calcium, magnesium and iron. Himalayan Pink Salt can be beneficial as a natural digestive aid, balances the bodies PH, sleep inducer (who doesn't love a good nights sleep!) and as an air purifier - Himalayan Pink Salt Lamp anyone?.
Bingo, we had found the right fit for our Avocado Oil Mayonnaise!
A salt that not only tastes amazing but is natural and unprocessed and doesn’t have negative impacts on the environment or people!
Why not check out our Simply 4 Ingredient Avocado Oil Mayonnaise that uses Avocado Oil, British Free-Range Eggs, Apple Cider Vinegar and Pink Himalayan Salt?
All information provided on our website and within our articles is simply information, opinion, anecdotal thoughts and experiences to provide you with the tools to thrive.
It is not intended to treat or diagnose symptoms and is definitely not intended to be misconstrued for medical advice. We always advise you seek the advice of a trained professional when implementing any changes to your lifestyle and dietary habits.
We do however recommend seeking the services of a trained professional who questions the conventional wisdom to enable you to become the best version of yourself.
