Twelve Days of Christmas 2021 Day 5: Salt Rock
On the 5th Day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a rock that is super salty!
Salt! We love it, we need it, we cut back on it, we sweat it, we scrub with it, bathe in it, make lamps out of it, cook on it, with it, and never ever without it!!
I love salt. It’s unreasonable. It’s most likely unsafe. It’s genetic. My whole family loves salt. I often hold back on seasoning as I cook, and sprinkle my salt on top of the dish to try to avoid using too much. I don’t even like pizza unless there’s just a littttttle dash of sea salt on top. My favorite cheeses are the salty ones. As a kid, I didn’t mind getting a mouthful of ocean water…it just made me hungry. My Dad has been known to salt his cantaloupe and though I said I wouldn’t go that far, watermelon feta salad is a summertime favorite, so really not that far off!
Aside from the flavor, there is so much to love about salt. More than any of the other flavors, because salt is not plan based, it is an actual mineral! A rock. It has healing properties far beyond just ingesting it. Have you ever taken a salt bath, or used a salt lamp, or sat in a salt cave?! It is soothing, detoxifying, and can actually reset the PH in your body. Talk about powerful.
I am fascinated by its value in ancient trade markets. It is incredible all of the ways it is sourced, and to me it has a magic that cannot be matched by many other kitchen element. It is a natural antiseptic. It is used in thermal energy storage. It holds heat or cold longer than any cast iron pan. Salt can preserve or even cook food without using any heat at all. Incredible.
The salt rock that you have there is a Himalayan pink salt rock. Himalayan salt is mined in the Punjab region of Pakistan. The pink hue is from the other trace minerals that can be found in it. This is a pasta rock. If you have never used a pasta rock before, (or heard of one!) I will explain! When we cook pasta, it is best to add a good generous amount of salt to our water as it comes up to a boil. There has been much debate behind the idea of the salt actually speeding up the time that it takes for water to come to a boil, but it does no such thing. The salt is used entirely for flavor.
To use, drop your rock into a pot of water. Bring it up to a boil. After it has boiled for about a minute, remove the pasta rock and cook your pasta as usual. It will have the perfect amount of flavor! I like to keep a small dish on my stovetop that holds my pasta rock between uses. Another use is dropping it into the bath for a nice detoxifying soak. Leave it on the size of the tub between uses. However you choose you use it, I’m sure you will be wanting more…Enjoy!