Ashley Moran wrote:
> ... I've seen a lot of different brands of salt that claim to be
unrefined.  I was  > under the impression that true unrefined salt is brown
from the layer of mineral > sediment that settles below the salt.  But the
"unrefined" salt I bought was      > white.

    Actually, the unrefined sea salts I have seen are more light gray in
nature, rather than brownish. I think the final color of the product on sale
depends more on how finely ground the salt is - fractionation of light, etc.
    A better indiciation is how "dry" the salt appears. Morton salt in the
United States - what is commonly called table salt - tends to look like very
fine, white sand, because it is very purified (sodium chloride) and has an
additive that allows it to flow better & not cake together. They also often
have a bit of dextrose (a sugar) added to incorporate iodization into the
salt.
    Most sea salts do not normally have "flow" additives (unless it's from
Hain, what I consider a compromiser in the organic area) and can become
sticky - like damp beach sand - if not covered well between uses. An
alternative would be Jewish kosher salt.

Mary Anne Unger