While salt has always been a popular and important ingredient in cooking, people are beginning to take notice of the health benefits and cleaner taste of pure sea salt. Thus, the salt industry seems to have exploded with a wide array of flavors, types and textures — each with their own purpose.

Take flake salt, for example. Do you know about it? Have you used it? Professional chefs turn to it as an ideal finishing product for anything from sweets to savory dishes. They say that because the intense flavor of flake salt is so definitive, just a sprinkle at the end of cooking and before serving is all it takes to bring most dishes to the next level.


For instance: Chefs know this delicate salt is a sure way to enhance the flavor of eggs, grilled vegetables, sauteed edamame, steamed greens, or freshly tossed salad. It just takes a light sprinkle to add a flavor layer you never knew was there.

But stop at vegetables. Flake salt is also a popular and sure way to finish everything from fish and poultry to meats (especially roasts or steaks).


Actually, it really has no wrong use when it comes to finishing a meal — and even dessert! The salt-sweet balance is perfectly achieved with flake salt. It’s amazing on chocolate chip cookies or brownies right out of the oven, on some dark chocolate truffles, or even on a scoop of classic vanilla ice cream!

Simply put, flake salt is the perfect way to brighten flavors without changing the taste of the main ingredient itself.

One brand of flake salt I especially like is Maldon salt, from the small coastal town of Maldon in the English country of Essex. It’s also a favorite of European chefs including Ferran Adrià, Jamie Oliver and Nigel Slater. Like all salt, Maldon is made of the chemical compound sodium chloride, but it also contains a unique combination of trace elements from the local seawater that make it taste subtly different to other types of salt.


The ad copy for this salt (off their website) says “These trace elements give Maldon a uniquely clean, fresh taste - a light saltiness that teases the taste buds without overpowering. This, combined with large, pyramid-shaped flakes and an irresistible crunchy texture, makes Maldon a truly superior salt.” I found Maldon at Walmart a few years ago, and am so glad I did.

This said, though, there are several good brands of salt flakes on the market. Murray River (also at Walmart), True Salt, Jacobsen Salt Co., Fortnum & Mason, The Salt Table, and Olde Thompson are a few suggestions.


I’ll close with a recipe that is scrumptious by itself, but when finished with a gentle sprinkle of flake salt, it soars to divine! This is a cake that uses whole green or white grapes. You’d think the grapes would either sink or burst and leak during the baking, but they don’t. Just be sure the grapes are dried off well before placing atop the batter.



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    Alice Osborne
    DVO Newsletter Contributor since 2006
    Email the author! alice@dvo.com