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religion. It can come in granules coarser than table salt but is more common as flaked salt (i.e., made by rolling out granulated salt). Kosher salt is suitable for canning because the particular anti-caking agent used (if any) does not cloud liquids and because iodine is never added. However, be advised that flaked kosher salt, the more common type, is less dense than regular canning salt and therefore measures differently. The density of the flaked Kosher salt from the Morton company (sold in the blue, rectangular, 3-pound box) is such that 1 pound makes about 1½ cups. Another kosher salt, this one from the Diamond Crystal company (orange carton) and made by the Alberger process, is even fluffier: it takes about 1⅔ cups to equal 1 pound. In a recipe that calls for a substantial amount of salt, this problem can be solved by calculating the weight of whatever measure of canning salt is called for and using the same weight of kosher salt. In a recipe that calls for only a small amount of salt, you can simply round the measure slightly.

Sea salt is produced in both food-grade and non-food-grade forms. The food-grade sea salts sold in supermarkets and gourmet food stores are expensive compared with regular table/canning, pickling salt, but are used because they contain minerals from sea water, which give them distinctive flavors. Sea salt is available both granulated and as coarse crystals, which are ground in a hand-mill at the table. Its mineral content can affect the color of preserved foods and therefore it should not be used in any type of home preserving.

Solar salt sometimes is referred to as “sea salt,” but it is not food-grade, is not labeled food-grade, and has never been promoted by its manufacturers as food-grade. Instead, this salt is produced mainly for use in water-softening systems, and its coarse, rather soft pellets are discolored by the organic residues of dead aquatic life. It is called “solar” because it is evaporated in open ponds; among the sources of it in North America are the Great Salt Lake, San Francisco Bay, Baja California around the Sea of Cortez, and Great Anagua in the Bahamas (legendary Turks Island salt comes from this chain of islands in the Caribbean).

Triple Warning: never use (1) solar sea salt in curing, especially in curing meat and similar low-acid foods—not food-grade, it contains substances that interact with protein to cause spoilage. Never use (2) halite salt, or “rock salt,” the sort used to clear ice from walkways and freeze ice cream. It is not food-grade, and therefore could contaminate the food it was supposed to protect. Finally never use (3) a salt substitute as a seasoning in preparing food that is going to be heat-processed—it can have an unpleasant aftertaste from canning or even just cooking.

Brining

Brine is salt dissolved in liquid, and for the purposes of this book there are two kinds of brine. One comes from adding pure pickling salt proportionate to the volume of water. The other is the solution that results when dry salt is added to plant or animal material to draw out the juices from the tissues, and the salt combines with the juices.

When we describe brine as being of a certain percent, we are referring to the proportion of weight of salt to the volume of liquid—NOT to the sophisticated salinometer/salometer reading used in laboratories or in industry (and occasionally confused in some bulletins with the simple weight/ volume rule of thumb that is adequate for use in putting food by at home). Which is: 1 part of salt to 19 parts of water (totaling 20 parts) = 5 percent, allows some benign fermentation; 1 part of salt to 9 parts of water (totaling 10) = 10 percent, the strongest solution generally used in pickling at home, prevents the growth of most bacteria.

Brine of 2½ percent actually encourages benign fermentation; brine of 20 percent controls the growth of even salt-tolerant bacteria (see Chapter 20).

These percentages are offered for your ready reference, but are not really needed here: at every stage in every procedure involving brine, we