Pat said:
>Peter, thanks for this interesting info--I recently included harvested
>and natural (?  :) salt from a "prehistoric" bed in a mail order, out
>ofcuriosity. It was a bit more granualr, and very light beige. The
>hype was that less was required--I noticed no difference at all. Does
>the book you referred to give mineral comparisons of processed vs hand
>harvested salt, and what any such differences might be valuable--and
>why?

Pat, here are some comparisons from the book. On your question of why
Jacques de Langre believes natural sea salt is good for you I will
return later.

Tracking Down Refined Salt.

"Refined salt is often labeled sea salt in supermarkets and natural sea
salt in the health food stores.  Without any training, anyone can
easily judge if a salt is truly unrefined and natrual or if it is a
fraud.  To recognize a genuine sea salt, one need only look for these
three signs:

1. A salt is natural and refined if the structure of each grain is made
up of fairly small (3/16th of an inch) and very regular cubic crystals.
Some refined salts, however, are recrystallized in large white crystals
for certain markets such as road deicing , water softeners, cattle feed
and kosher salt that only has to appear "natural" but is not.

2. Natural salt has a slight gray color, not white.  However, the
overall appearance of each crystal is one of clear sparkling brightness
or luster.  Some large crystal refined salts are often coated with
glucose or other chemical to prevent them from sticking together and to
allow them to pour easily.  Most often, these crystals will then be of
a dull, milky white appearance.

3. Pinching below the surface of the salt package, reach for a few
grains, if the individual crystals feel damp and are moist enough to
cling to the fingers, this is a "sun-dried only" ocean salt that has
been stored properly after the harvest.  Keeping in a cool and dark
place helps to retain the protective moisture content and the precious
mother liquor, which is the heart of the salt.

The Taste Test.

Using the taste buds to track down refined salt is often the ultimate
and most telling way.  To establish the benchmark for the comparison,
one or two crystals of Celtic salt are placed on the tongue and the
saliva allowed to dissolve them.  This is the guiding mark and once the
flavor has been duly noted, the mouth is rinsed with clear water.  A
similar amount of the questioned salt is then tasted in the same way.
This test is usually more than sufficient to decide if a new salt is
genuine natural sea salt or a refined product that has been
masquerading as the real thing.


The Lab Test.

Should a more scientific test be required, one not based on personal
taste, a test made in a laboratory of the University of California by
biologist Jacques Loeb can be duplicated with very little equipment by
following the pioneering procedure.  It will track down a refined salt
without complex analysis.  Dr. Loeb demonstrated that a pure sodium
chloride (refined sea salt) solution, at the concentration in which the
seasalt exists in sea water, is poisonous to marine organisms.  The
poisonous action of the sodium chloride was not due to the absence of
the other constituents of sea water;  Young fish lived indefinitily in
distilled water.  It would, as Loeb remarks, be impossible to prove the
toxicity of sodium chloride, if the organism were not able to live in
distilled water.  If Dr. Loeb's fish died in a solution of refined
salt, what is the fate of our internal organs when fed commercial
sodium chloride?
When the moisture inherently present in seasalt is forcibly removed by
boiling, kiln-drying, or vacuum flash re-crystalllization, the first
essential elements to dissipate are magnesium salts.  All other vitally
important trace elements follow the leader and also leave whenever salt
is mangled.
In refineries, salt is subjeted to excessive heat, exhausting
oxidation, and one or more bleaching agents are also used.  Thus white
refined salt is now bone-dry and sterile: it cannot maintain life. The
salt makers' commercial advertisements state with pride that their
product is 99% pure.  This whiteness, however, is far from being a sign
of excellence, it benefits only the chemical industry that buys 93% of
the refineries' output.  For such important customers, one can make
concessionns that hurt only a few other customers.  The moisture
present in natural sea salt assures us that it still contains the
numerous elements that buffers the sodium chloride part of the salt and
make up as much as 16% by weight in valuable trace elements  and
macro-minerals. Yet the Codex standards for food salt states that sea
salt shall not contain more than 2% of trace and extra minerals, other
than sodium chloride.  The salt sold in health food stores, even that
which is labelled "sea salt," must conform to the same regulations and
comes from the same refinery that produces toxic industrialized salt.
Such sea salts as Lima, Si-salt and others have been purged of their
minerals down to the 2% of macro-nutrients spelled out in the U.S.
Codex .

The Attributes of True Salt.

Salt is such an important part of our food that very close scrutiny,
attention and sensitivity must be given to the process used to produce
it so that the end product accurately fills our biological
requirements.  Most modern consumers are familiar only with the refined
white, vacuum-evaporated product.  To determine that a salt is a truly
whole product of natural crystallization of the ocean, these guideposts
will help.  Only natural sea salt will have the following
characteristics:

1. It is grey in color and, on standing, the color darkens slightly at
the base of the container.

2. It is moist to the touch and retains its moisture even when kept in
cool storage for long periods.

3. It is formed of very small, precisely cubic crystals."


Best, Peter
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