2006-10-28 01:41:43 · 6 answers · asked by Scooter 3 in Food & Drink ➔ Cooking & Recipes
All salts that we consume are made from sea salt or mined from inland salt deposits. There are four common varieties: iodized table salt, kosher salt, sea salt, and fleur de sel (a type of sea salt). Fleur de sel is a sea salt obtained by hand harvesting the crystals that form on the surface of salt evaporation ponds. The harvesting of fleur de sel always takes place in the summer months when the sun is strongest. Most fleurs de sel claim to have higher mineral contents than table salts and often smell like the ocean. Fleur de sel has a naturally high moisture content and will tend to be "sticky", not free flowing like most salts. While it does taste amazing, it is not worth your investment if you will not be using it on a regular basis. Better to invest in a good quality sea salt and reserve the Fleur de sel for very special occasions.
2006-10-28 08:09:13 · answer #1 · answered by RAVENCRISS 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I got some a couple of years ago on a whim. You don't use it to cook with because it's so expensive. You just sprinkle it on dishes that you're about to serve, if you want a nice little bit of crunchy and ocean-y tasting salt on them. It was good with sliced fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market. I would buy it again to use with fresh summer tomatoes. But if you've got a good-tasting sea salt, it will work just fine and fleur de sel really only adds a fancy little fillip.
2006-10-28 17:40:47 · answer #2 · answered by kbc10 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes and yes. Fleur de sel is much stronger (and pure) than iodized table salt and is to be used sparingly. An analogy would be perfume and eau de toilette. Perfume may cost five or ten times as much, ounce for ounce, as eau de toilette, but you only need a drop (as opposed to a splash of EDT). Likewise with Fleur de sel, you only need a couple of flakes to get the same effect as a teaspoon of table salt.
2006-10-28 08:51:35 · answer #3 · answered by lesroys 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes, and I just love it. It's worth the price because you just use it very sparingly for a FINISHING salting. Don't cook with it! Just use it at the very end of the recipe and there is nothing else that quite tastes the same. A little goes a long way. It's absolutely the greatest!
2006-10-28 21:07:49 · answer #4 · answered by Susan B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
While I haven't used it, I wouldn't pay for expensive salt either. I'm perfectly fine with my bowl of kosher salt on the stove. It's better than iodized, and a one pound box lasts quite a while.
2006-10-28 10:09:08 · answer #5 · answered by chefgrille 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Personally I wouldn't buy it but I suppose its one of those things you either like the idea of or dont. Try it and see. :D
2006-10-28 08:44:31 · answer #6 · answered by huggz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋