What is Pink Salt, and is it better (for worse) than regular salt?

Is it Pink Himalayan Salt ? ? ?

“Pink curing salt” which is an additive for preservation like sausage and Corned Beef is Sodium Nitrite !

It’s just salt. Yes, it is a gimmick.

The salt, often has a pinkish tint due to trace minerals.
Some believe it to help to stimulate circulation and detoxify the body, but no foundation for this.

It’s just salt.

@Tropical_Willie the bag doesn’t use the word ‘himalayan’ but the word PINK is in large print.

Pink salt, as in Himalayan pink salt, does taste better than regular salt. Celtic sea salt tastes similarly, IMO. I prefer it, but my husband doesn’t care.

Just remember most fancy salts and course salts have no iodine AND a lot of packaged foods with high salt content that you typically would not add salt have no iodine.

“Salt” is the tricky term. Any solids of a chemical mixture are called “salts”. In the case of “salt” we think of as table salt, it is just sodium chloride. Many times iodine is added to help boost a healthy thyroid. Pink salt has other trace minerals in it that your body can use so it is likely healthier for you in some cases.

My vote is gimmick. I bought some once because it was pretty and it must be better, right? It’s from the Himalayas after all! Some say it tastes better but someone would have to have a very refined palate to tell the difference in salt. Also, I would guess it depends on the brand as to whether it’s truly “pure”. It’s also more expensive.

As an experiment I put a couple of grains of table salt on my tongue. Then I put a couple of grains Himalayan salt on my tongue. The Himalayan salt was sweet in comparison. For those who can tell, there really IS a difference.

YES…it’s a gimmick!!! Himalayan salt is rock salt mined from the Punjab region of Pakistan. The salt, which often has a pinkish tint due to trace minerals, is primarily used as a food additive to replace refined table salt but is also used for cooking and food presentation, decorative lamps, and spa treatments. The product is often promoted with unsupported claims that it has health benefits. It’s made to impress others. It is considerably more expensive than table salt. It reminds me of Sea Salt with a Pink hue. There aren’t many health benefits. I think you will find the chips to have an extreme salt taste. This is what Healthline has to say on the subject. I’ve also read many articles that debunks what Healthline has to say. Normally, I use finely ground Sea Salt & forget the Pink stuff until we have better info!!!

Okay. So the gimmick really has a taste difference! Who knew!

@snowberry “Pink Himalayan sea salt” just has a little iron oxide in it. All the salt we have is sea salt. It’s still primarily sodium chloride. Taste differences have more to do with the size of the grains and texture. If it tastes “sweet” to you are you sure it was not refined with a little added sugar? Even if you can somehow taste a slight difference will you still be able to if it’s added to food? If you took a whole panel of people and had them blindly taste salt of the same grind would they be able to tell the difference? The question we need to be asking ourselves is if it’s worth paying 3–5X the cost for this salt over regular table salt that has added iodine which is a tangible health benefit.

If its a type of sea salt then its used to use less salt. Sea salt taste saltier than regular salt so you can use less of it. Though I have Pink Himalayan sea salt and it doesn’t seem to taste any saltier but looks pretty in a clear salt grinder. I also have regular sea salt and that is super salty tasting, so a little goes a long way. If you have to watch your sodium intake, sea salt is better for cooking with. You can cut your sodium by more than have using sea salt. That’s why a lot of companies are switching to using sea salt.

@Pandora It makes no sense to me that sea salt would have less salt than table salt by weight. Maybe it does by teaspoon since it’s usually coarse.

We are getting back into the definition of “salt”. Salt is not just NaCl. “Salt” is an ionic compound made up of a metal and a non-metal ion joined together. It could be sodium chloride, it could be potassium chloride, it could be potassium iodide, it could be any number of combinations. The differences between regular table salt, sea salt, and Pink Himalayan salt is the places it came from and the processing of the material. Table salt has been chemically refined to be about 98% sodium chloride. Sea Salt and PH salt are not as refined. They are taken either out of the water or out of the ground and used. The majority of these are still sodium chloride, though the percentages may vary quite a bit.

Most of your table salt really is not that refined. “sea salt” A.K.A. “salt” is typically 90–95% NaCl. Big thing is iodine is added. You really need that.

@seawulf575 True, but the word salt is commonly used for Sodium Chloride and not the others.

Including Potassium as a salt is more of a medical thing, and even then I would use the term electrolytes not salts.

@Blackwater_Park I’ll keep buying it. I’ve used Celtic sea salt and Himalayan sea salt interchangeably for many years. I prefer it. Thanks for your concern.