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Cooking with grey salt

Why it clumps — and why that is the point

Three reasons, all of them consequences of what you bought. It genuinely holds around 13 per cent water. The magnesium and calcium salts in it are hygroscopic, so they pull more moisture from the air. And there is no anti-caking agent, because adding one would make it a refined salt. A block in the jar is the additive-free label doing what it says.

Why it dissolves differently

Large, damp, irregular crystals expose less surface area per gram than fine dry table salt, so they dissolve more slowly. That suits brines, pasta water, roasting trays and anything with time and liquid. It suits a shaker and last-second seasoning rather less, which is exactly why the fine grade exists — the same salt, slowly dried and stone milled so it behaves at the table.

Measuring it

Because grey salt is part water and irregularly shaped, a teaspoon of it delivers noticeably less sodium than a teaspoon of fine table salt. If you are substituting by volume in a recipe, expect to need a little more. If you are substituting by weight, you are close enough not to worry.

Coarse, fine or pre-dried?

Coarse for cooking — brines, boiling water, roasting, and the grinder. Fine for the table, for baking and for anything where you want it gone quickly. Pre-dried coarse sits between: the coarse crystal, dried at low temperature so it runs more freely, which is the one to choose if damp salt has annoyed you before.

A note on grinders

Damp, mineral-rich salt is hard on a steel mechanism. A ceramic grinder does not corrode the same way, which is why the one we stock uses ceramic.