Salt and Kosher Cooking
When most people think of kosher salt, they picture the highly salted Krumkake that is also known as chocolate kumara. But when the salts are cooked in a kosher kitchen, theyre very different.
Yes, there are subtle differences, but dont let the name fool you. When you cook kosher, its just like cooking any other type of kosher food: youll use kosher salt for your meat, and not ketchup. And while kumara is salty, its usually used to season more than just food, in the way that Worcestershire sauce is used to season meat or cream.
Kosher salt in Arabic is simply a name for sodium chloride salt. It can also be referred to as kosher salt, local salt, or kosher salt. These are some of the ways that salt is actually used.
Salt has been used in many ways since ancient times. In traditional cooking, salt is added to prepare the food, before the meat is cooked. But modern salt can be very similar to kumara and is used to bring out the flavor of meat, fish, or poultry. The very thin slices of salt are called charcoals.
Kosher salt has been available since 1872 in Germany but was not widely distributed in the United States until after World War II. By that time, the name kumara had become popular all over the world, and the Swiss, French, and Italian markets all sold the traditional salt.
But the new salt did not catch on in the United States until kosher salt began to show up in local markets in California. From there, the name kumara became common in kosher restaurants and kosher markets. Today, salt and kumara go hand in hand in the United States, because of the demand from the American public for a kosher cookware product.
Kosher salt is now available in a wide variety of forms, including kumara, crackers, ground, and even solids. For restaurants and kosher shops, the best types are the kosher salt flakes, which can be used in place of kumara, and store for months longer. Some Kosher companies are selling kumara, crackers, and solids separately, but that seems a bit unnecessary, especially for the cost of a bottle of kosher salt.
In recent years, the worldwide kosher salt market has grown, as well. Kosher salts are now being sold through online stores. These online stores will sell only kosher salts and will ship the order right to your home. That means no more waiting for the salt to arrive by truck, or to be shipped through an old-fashioned ocean shipment.
So now there are kosher salts everywhere. You can find them in some supermarkets, or you can find them online. If you are planning a kosher cookout or kosher potluck, theres no need to wait a week for the perfect Kosher salt or worry about the salt getting lost in the crowd.
Or, if youre wondering about the name kosher salt, there is one good answer: its a reference to how the kosher system and the salting process are similar. Salting is done after the meat is prepared. But kosher salt is used at the very beginning, prior to the meat is even put on the table. After the salt is added, the meats are cooked in the traditional way.
The process of salting and treating meat before cooking is known as the tzedakah, or ritual of tzaarbaalei chaim. This is why kosher salt is used to prepare kosher food: it prevents the tzaar baalei chaim from happening. There are many questions and answers surrounding the use of kosher salt in kosher cooking and how to make the right decision on a good kosher salt for your family.
