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Large crystals of Bolivian Rose resist the mouth’s first overtures; they put up a fuss, then shyly relinquish their subtle flavors. Bolivian Rose is surprisingly mild for a quarried salt, well-balanced and slightly sweet, with a clean finish. Tasted on its own, it has a consistent silky sweetness that goes on and on and on, fading imperceptibly until you suddenly recognize it isn’t there at all—sort of like Girl Scouts knocking politely at the door to sell you their cookies, leaving you something nice to show for your time, then disappearing without a fuss.

In combination with food, Bolivian Rose provides a bold rush typical of rock salts, but the rush is one of mirth rather than of fury. The secret lies in the salt’s mineral makeup: it’s naturally rich in calcium and potassium with about 0.7 percent of each by content, and contains lots of magnesium as well, with trace amounts of iron and other minerals. Compare Bolivian Rose to Himalayan pink, and you will experience as clearly as possible the amazing differences that can arise from the subtle mineral combinations harbored in a salt crystal. Himalayan pink is as intense and spicy as Bolivian Rose is clean and sweet. Try Bolivian Rose on seafood, ceviche, and salads of cucumber, lime, and chiles.

Bolivian Rose can be bought as a fine or coarse grind. Buying it coarse gives you the opportunity to pound it in a mortar and pestle or grind it in an adjustable mill to the desired grain size. Once ground up, the salt’s exceptional physical beauty is lost, shattered into a dull pink powder. Such is the ephemeral beauty of even the most eternal of salts.

Himalayan Pink

ALTERNATE NAME(S): Himalayan rock salt, sendha namak (India), Pakistani namak (India) MAKER(S): various TYPE: rock CRYSTAL: pebbles COLOR: transparent to blood red FLAVOR: pungent, with lasting spicy heat over a lean mineral body MOISTURE: none ORIGIN: Pakistan SUBSTITUTE(S): Bolivian Rose; Jurassic salt BEST WITH: negroni cocktail rim; roasted game birds; venison or buffalo steaks; salt brittle; shaved over green apple or sashimi white fish or shellfish

Life is not all about wholesomeness. There is an edge to our existence, and explorers of that edge come to appreciate its flavor. It tastes like fun, fear, bubbling laughter. The irony of Himalayan pink salt is that it is widely marketed as a wholesome health food, a miracle mind-and-body relaxant, a purifying tonic. While neither affirming or disputing these claims and perceptions, it is worth mentioning that they are beside the point. Himalayan salt is crazy. It is fun. It is ancient, even in cosmological terms; comes from a savage wilderness; glows with brooding intensity; lends itself to as many creative uses as any salt on the planet; and lets loose its unique spicy-hot pungency with all the subtlety of a medieval army—and with twice the ingenuity.

Himalayan pink salt is mined from the south-facing scarp of the Potwar Plateau in the Punjab region of northern Pakistan, between the Indus and Jhelum Rivers. Buried amid an unruly jumble of sedimentary rocks spanning much of the Paleozoic era—from the Cambrian period (543 to 490 million years ago) to the Upper Carboniferous period (320 to 290 million years ago)—folded up among deposits of dolomite and beds of oil-shale, vast strata of salt up to eight hundred feet thick penetrate deep into the earth, swirled into bands of marl and gypsum.

For at least two millennia, men have dug these mountains for salt, cutting and hauling it by hand for transport to the cities below. The salt that comes from these mines is beautiful, and remarkably pure, ranging from 99 to 97 percent sodium chloride. The hills surrounding Pakistan’s Khewra salt mine harbor some 6.7 billion tons of rock salt reserves, an estimated 220 million of which are deemed commercially accessible within the current extent of the mine. There are several mines in the area, making Pakistan’s salt resources effectively unlimited.

Jurassic Salt

ALTERNATE NAME(S): Real Salt