Pickled cucumbers growing on the vine.
When food prices skyrocket, budget-conscious people often rediscover traditional food preservation methods like canning and preserving. These methods allow home cooks to purchase seasonal produce and preserve it for later use. Since home food preservation often requires salt for canning and pickling, knowing how to choose between products is important. You can choose the best salt for canning and pickling by looking for large crystals, not paying too much attention to salt names, and knowing if your recipe would benefit from sea salt.
Salt for preserves and pickles.
Quality preserves in brine have a large crystal size. Traditionally brine and brine were used to extract the juice from the meat, preserving it for later use. The large crystals were an advantage because the large crystals adhered to me more easily than the small crystals. Even if you’re not preserving the meat, add large crystal salt. Canning and pickling recipes are formulated to use large crystal salt and will come out too salty if you use small crystal salt.
Pickles.
When shopping for canning and canning salt, don’t worry too much about the name of the salt. There are few or no legal standards governing the labeling of salt. Canning or pickling salt may be labeled as kosher salt, pickling salt, canning salt, or kosher salt. As long as the salt has large crystals, it will work for general pickling and canning.
However, not all types of large crystal salt are exactly the same. The best salt for you depends on the recipe you are using. Sea salt, as its name implies, is mined from shorelines around the world. Because it comes from the evaporation of seawater, sea salt contains more minerals than other types of large crystal salt. If you’re working with delicate produce like cucumbers or fruit, you may find that sea salt has more character. For strong-flavored recipes, it may be better to use a cheaper kosher salt, as the more subtle nuances will be lost in this type of recipe.