Why Is Kosher Salt Called “Kosher” Salt?
By Melissa Wagenberg Lasher According to Morton Satin of the Salt Institute, the industry’s trade association, the name stems from the salt’s original use: to draw blood out of meat so that it meets the dietary rules set by Jewish law. (The Bible sanctions against ingesting blood and commands the use of salt to draw out the blood.) While table salt’s fine grains would disintegrate if slathered on a side of beef—potentially making for one very salty brisket—kosher salt’s larger crystals wouldn’t all dissolve. “Both the blood and salt wash off,” says Satin. The process is sometimes called koshering. Kosher salt, like most mass-produced salts, does also happen to be kosher—that’s to say, it contains no additives and has been certified as kosher by a rabbi or an authorized organization. (To debunk one common myth, kosher foods do not receive a rabbi’s blessing.) Sometimes small producers don’t bother having their products certified. Salts that have been certified kosher are marked as such
