Salt: Morton's vs. Diamond Crystal

[wd40 1976]

[WhatTheBuck 28788]

On 1/17/2022 at 12:52 PM, WhatTheBuck said:

Suddenly I have a craving for a salty dog. 

Since I was thinking about it, I found some finer grain pink salt in the store. Still coarse enough to coat the rim of a cocktail glass. So I grabbed a box of that and a carton of “Ruby Red” (i.e. pink) grapefruit juice and figured I’d try a different twist on the Salty Dog this weekend. I’m thinking I probably need to garnish it with a maraschino cherry.

Speaking of a Salty Dog, here’s this for Larry Sanders fans (Artie rules):

.

 

[Captain Ron 12883]

Just noticed this thread, thought I would add this video I saw a week or two ago

 

[WhatTheBuck 28788]

He should read the labels of the packages sitting in front of him. He said those kosher salts don’t contain anti-caking agents. They do. Someone mentioned above that Diamond Crystal kosher salt contains an anti-caking agent. My Morton kosher salt box lists yellow prussiate of soda as its anti-caking agent.

[Brisketexan 105158]

He should read the labels of the packages sitting in front of him. He said those kosher salts don’t contain anti-caking agents. They do. Someone mentioned above that Diamond Crystal kosher salt contains an anti-caking agent. My Morton kosher salt box lists yellow prussiate of soda as its anti-caking agent.

The horror. I will only accept blue prussiate of soda as my preferred anti caking agent.

[Pato del Muerto 52528]

Biggest thing I’m getting from this thread is that for baking purposes, pick one and don’t change unless you want to affect your recipes or have to adjust them. 
 

for seasoning, different salts accomplish different things visually and texturally. 

[WhatTheBuck 28788]

46 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

The horror. I will only accept blue prussiate of soda as my preferred anti caking agent.

Aha! During my research on yellow prussiate of soda, aka sodium ferrocyanide decahydrate (Na4[Fe(CN)6]·10H2O), I found this:

Quote

A simple naked eye analytical method of detecting YPS [yellow prussiate of soda] on store-bought table salt in the form of the pigment Prussian Blue (Fe4[Fe(CN)6]3·xH2O) can be utilized as a related demonstration, to visualize the presence of YPS in table salt, or a quick laboratory exercise for inorganic chemistry.

The steps to perform the quick laboratory exercise for inorganic chemistry to detect the Prussian Blue pigment were not provided and I didn’t research it any further.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ed500776b

[The Other White Meat 39]

The majority of cookbooks I have bought in the last couple of years have specifically said their salt measurements are for Diamond Crystal and to adjust for any other kind. So there is that.

[bluto 4932]

Does it matter which type for dissolving in soup/stews or are they same?

[Jerry Callo 8704]

Does it matter which type for dissolving in soup/stews or are they same?

From what I understand, Morton adds less saltiness by weight than Diamond Crystal. I taste everything as I cook and rarely strictly measure salt, so it makes no difference to me.

[WhatTheBuck 28788]

35 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

From what I understand, Morton adds less saltiness by weight than Diamond Crystal. I taste everything as I cook and rarely strictly measure salt, so it makes no difference to me.

I’ll bet they’re the same by weight, just not by volume. The tiny cubes of table salt pack tighter so it only takes 1 tsp to equal 1.5 tsp of Morton kosher salt and 2 tsp of fluffy Diamond Crystal. Also, Diamond Crystal has been described above as being less salty and that would correspond with it being less dense. There would literally be less salt in 1 tsp of Diamond Crystal than in 1 tsp of Morton.

[jimmyjazz 45978]

1 minute ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I’ll bet they’re the same by weight, just not by volume.

Correct.  Sodium content is roughly 39% of the weight of salt, not counting Yellow Dog Commie Prussiate or whatever.  Equal mass Morton's and Diamond Crystal should be indistinguishable in most applications.  Equal volume (i.e., per tsp, etc.) will represent an extreme difference in "saltiness".

[52-80 19175]

5 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Biggest thing I’m getting from this thread is that for baking purposes, pick one and don’t change unless you want to affect your recipes or have to adjust them. 
 

for seasoning, different salts accomplish different things visually and texturally. 

Good baking recipes will have everything by weight. Volume measures of flour and salts is for the birds.