My $28 fancy salt turned out to be exactly the same as the $2 stuff

I bought a jar of Himalayan pink salt from a farmers market in Portland for $28 thinking it would taste better on my roasted veggies. My friend blind taste-tested me on it vs regular table salt and I couldn't tell the difference at all. Has anyone else wasted money on gourmet ingredients that just aren't worth it?

3 comments

3 Comments

stellachen21d ago

Oh wow, another person who fell for the fancy salt trap. Here's the thing though, you're missing the point entirely. That $28 salt isn't about taste, it's about the experience. The way the crystals crunch between your fingers, the pretty pink color on your plate, the smug feeling you get knowing you're using something "artisanal" from Portland. If you're just using it for taste, you're doing it wrong. Table salt is fine for cooking, but for finishing a dish, the texture and visual appeal actually matter. Plus, that Himalayan salt has like 84 trace minerals or something, so at least you're getting some extra nutrients with your roasted veggies.

terryk2821d ago

...and honestly, are we really out here acting like a sprinkle of fancy salt changes your life that much? I mean yeah, it looks pretty on Instagram and all, but let's not pretend those trace minerals are doing anything noticeable. You'd have to eat like a pound of the stuff to actually get any benefit, and nobody's doing that unless they hate their kidneys. Plus, half the time people buy it, it sits in the back of the pantry until it gets all clumpy. It's salt at the end of the day, not a magic potion.

wendy39120d ago

My neighbor Karen bought a jar of that pink salt last year and it's still sitting next to her stove, all clumped up and looking like a science experiment. She was so proud of it too, said she was gonna use it for everything. I saw her grabbing regular salt from the cabinet the other day and I was like hey what about your fancy salt. She just shrugged and said it got wet and she couldn't get it out of the jar. So I guess the trace minerals are still in there, just stuck together like a little pink brick.