Kosher salt (sodium chloride) is one of the most commonly used salt in commercial kitchens today. Kosher salt, unlike common table salt, typically contains no additives (for example, iodine). Kosher salt has a much larger grain than regular table salt, and a more open granular structure.Kosher salt gets its name, not because it follows the guidelines for kosher foods as written in the Torah, but rather because of its use in making meats kosher, by helping to extract the blood from the meat. (Nearly all salt is kosher, including ordinary table salt). Because kosher salt grains are larger than regular table salt grains, when meats are coated in kosher salt the salt does not dissolve readily; the salt remains on the surface of the meat longer, allowing fluids to leach out of the meat.Kosher salt can be used in nearly all applications, but it is not generally recommended for baking with recipes that use small amounts of liquid (wet ingredients). If there is not enough liquid, the kosher salt will not dissolve sufficiently, and this can result in small bits of salt in the resulting product. In certain applications this is undesirable. In recipes where there is enough liquid to dissolve all the salt, a volume of table salt can be replaced by approx. twice as much kosher salt (by volume.)Chefs often prefer kosher salt because its texture allows the chef to pinch a larger quantity of salt and evenly sprinkle the flakes on food.This profile was edited with The Kosher Myspace Editor
