Salt

Most chefs use Kosher salt for cooking. But for finishing dishes, they may use the fleur de sel (flower of the sea), which costs $36/pound. And there's also a black sea salt from India and red sea salt from Hawaii, among others. Salt is either mined or from the sea. In the pure form of sodium chloride--they taste the same. The difference in color and flavor are the type and amount of minerals that are attached to the crystals of sodium chloride.

For cooking, I like Penzey's Kosher salt--it is pure salt, unlike Morton's which has an anti-caking agent. For baking, I use table salt, since recipes were developed using it. For table use, I like "Real Salt" (pictured in the plastic bag). I buy it bulk for $3/pound-- it has the naturally occurring minerals.

Salt is used to bring out the flavor in food. It is also a preservative. Jesus told his followers to affect others positively, just as salt brings out the best flavor in food. He said, "you are the salt of the earth...".