What is Salt?
Salt is the mineral sodium chloride, the only rock regularly consumed by humans. Salt enhances food flavor and helps to preserve food products. Most culinary salt is mined from underground salt deposits, crushed and mixed with potassium iodide and sugar to create the common iodized table salt. However, Hawaiian sea salt is made in a more pure form.
Sneak Peek into The History Of Hawaiian Sea Salt
For centuries, Hawaiians have used sea salt for a variety of purposes including for preserving foods, as a seasoning, and as medicine. Long before making contact with Europeans, Hawaiians harvested salt from seawater in saltpans. Originally, Hawaiian salt was harvested in small batches and was white. Salt would be one of the first items that native Hawaiians traded with the earliest Europeans to venture to the islands. It played a crucial role in a barter economy. By the 19th century, Hawaii became the main supplier of salt to the Pacific Northwest. Hawaiian sea salt would be used to cure the salmon caught by fishermen in that part of the US.
As demand increased, large-scale production methods were adopted. Large saltpans were excavated into Hawaii’s volcanic clay, which was red due to its high iron ore content. Some of the salt took on a reddish color from the iron ore in the salt pans.
Red Hawaiian Salt
Red sea salt is a natural sea salt product from Hawaii that contains numerous healthy minerals. Alaea salt is the sea salt mixed with Hawaiian volcanic red clay. It gives the salt a terracotta or brick red in color. This salt is rich in minerals, iron oxide, with a slightly earthy clay smell and has a ten year shelf life. The Hawaiian island of Kauai is the main region for this salt and is one of the most preferred natural salts in the world.
Black Lava Salt
Hawaiian Black Salt is also known as black salt or black sea salt. Black lava salt is not actually volcanic in origin as the name would seem to indicate. It is sea salt made black after heating it with activated charcoal, to give it a silky smooth texture, slightly sulfuric aroma, and earthy flavor. This process also adds a numerous amount of benefits to the salt.
Benefits of Hawaiian Sea Salt
1. Natural minerals and electrolytes
When red salt is formed, the red clay in the mixture not only gives the salt its beautiful color, but also iron oxide, which occurs naturally in the clay. Hawaiian red salt contains more than 80 healthy minerals, mainly consisting of sodium and chlorine as well as sufficient amounts of iron (digestible) and low levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, and other minerals. These nutrients help to regulate organ function and maintain electrolyte levels within the body. The iron content in red Hawaiian sea salt can play a small role in restoring iron levels in someone with a deficiency. Black salt from Kauai includes activated charcoal, which is used to detoxify. These are minerals that will typically be removed from table salt, which is why Hawaiian salt is healthier.
2. Using Salt for Oral Health
According to a study done in 2018 by Draper dentists, a saltwater rinse helps fight off gingivitis, bad breath and even a sore throat. Plus, this simple remedy can even promote quicker healing in your mouth after surgery or a small trauma, like a cut. Where bacteria thrives, so does sickness and when you use a salt rinse, it’s harder for the bacteria in your mouth to grow spores that thrive and breed. And these bacteria spores can lead to sickness and a sore throat. Plus, saltwater rinses help remove particles of food that are stuck between your teeth. If left there, those particles could irritate and inflame your gums. Give Laki Naturals Sea Salt Gargles a try! We use Hawaiian sea salt mixed with a variety of beneficial ingredients like Chamomile and Zinc.
3. Skin Health and Inflammation
Taking a sea salt bath is thought to decrease skin dryness and inflammation. Hawaiian red salt contains clay that can be used as a face scrub or facial mask in combination with oils like coconut oil or olive oil, which can help to remove dirt and impurities trapped under the skin, as well as smooth and brighten the skin. In fact, the National Eczema Foundation recommends adding 1 cup of salt to bathwater to help relieve irritation from eczema, a condition marked by red, itchy skin. They go on to say, “Sea salts that have a high magnesium content may be the best types to add to baths for those with skin issues.” Try Laki Naturals Magnesium bath soaks, also made with Hawaiian sea salt.
