salt!

I typically seem to a have more a salty tooth than sweet. Torn between a fresh hot pretzel and a stick bun, I dare say I'd go for the salted pretzel. Wait, why did I come up with a situation that only happens at food courts? Okay, it could at a farmer's market.

Anyway, I often add a little extra salt-factor to my food, with a sprinkle of salty 'parmesan', tamari, braggs, sea salt and so on. Generic soy sauce if need be when out, trying not to think about how NOT organic it is.
I switched to sea salt for the majority of my "salting" culinary needs a few years ago, and haven't really looked back. I've also had some coarser salts at home, and have used kosher salt, but sea salt I buy in bulk does me well.

Every so often At The Meadow, a salt, chocolate, flower and wine store in town, will have a salt-tasting booth at the PSU farmer's market. It's given me the opportunity to taste salts I'd never considered before - flavored with wood, smoke, and exotic varieties from all over the world.

After a couple years of visiting the booth at the market, I recently visited the store in the Mississippi Arts neighborhood in Portland, and here's what I picked up:

Black salt (which isn't really black), finishing sea salt and three teeny bars of fine chocolate, you know, so I could meet the $10 debit card minimum. I sampled the mint and the orange, and so far the orange was actually my favorite. The store has an incredible selection and I think everything is also available for sampling. You can shop online here.

And WHOA! Himalayan cave salt. A gift from a dear friend, who knows how much this means to me (as recommended by Blossoming Lotus). This is supposed to be finely grated onto foods, and food can also be cooked on it in the oven! Time to get off my ass and buy a microplane grater.
I'm very, very excited.

Check out At The Meadow's Guide on Gourmet Salt usage here.