Exotic salts are no better than household salt
Fleur de sel and pink Himalayan salt are no better than regular salt. The Stiftung Warentest has examined 36 products: The promises of the salvation of advertising cannot keep exotic products. Shoppers should pay attention to other things instead.
Berlin - They cost partially a hundred times the normal table salt, the slogans suggest wondrous powers: "Absolutely pure nature", "True fountain of youth" or "mysticism of the cultural circle". The slogans quoted by Stiftung Warentest promote exotic food salts, which above all promise more enjoyment and health, even though they are no better than simple household salt. The testers examined a total of 36 salts for the October issue of the journal "test".
While customers have to put up to 6.65 euros per 100 grams for the exotic, normal table salt costs just four cents for the same amount. Some exotic salts even passed the grade "deficient" in the test. On the other hand, 15 out of the 21 simple boiling and sea salts were "good" overall, with only four out of 15 for the special salts.
99.9 percent table salt against Berlin blue
Chemically, the 36 salts studied differ little from each other. They consist of 93 to 99.9 percent of common salt. The rest are predominantly poorly soluble compounds of the elements calcium and magnesium. Some providers advertise with a particularly large number of elements. In the Sal de Ibiza, however, the testers found only a fraction of the acclaimed "80 minerals and trace elements", so even in the crystal salt of the Himalayas, no 84 compounds could be detected.
A pink coloration gives salts by iron hydroxide; Changes in the salt crystal lattice may make salt appear blue. In the "absolutely pure" blue salt, however, the testers found Berlin Blue, a dye that, according to the examiners, "has no place in food".
Do not be afraid of iodine overdose
15 of the tested salts are enriched either with iodine and fluoride or only with iodine. According to the Stiftung Warentest, the inclusion of both additives via table salt makes sense for most people in Germany. An iodine overdose is not to be feared, as the contents of 1.5 to 2.5 milligrams of iodine per 100 grams of salt were observed by all tested salts. Even people with thyroid diseases such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis could use the salts enriched with iodine, quotes the Stiftung Warentest the expert Roland Gärtner of the University of Munich.
Nearly all Germans do not get enough fluoride from food. The enriched salts also hold the prescribed value in the test. Fluoridation is said to protect teeth from caries. According to the German Society for Nutrition (DGE), the elements highlighted by many suppliers are contained in too small amounts in the salt, so that one could profit from it, according to Stiftung Warentest.
Evaporated salt, rock salt, sea salt
The salts are obtained in different ways. Evaporated salt comes from salt mines, the salt is extracted from concentrated salt water - the brine. The pure salt consists almost exclusively of sodium chloride, a strong salt taste is a result. The manufacturers often add free-flow aids, iodine, and fluoride. Rock salt, on the other hand, is drilled, blown up or cut from tunnels. It is natural and unrefined sold, for example as Ur, blue or Kalahari salt. In the case of sea salt, on the other hand, sun and wind slowly crystallize the salt out of the water. Fleur de Sel (German salt flower) is rarer sea salt.
For those who want special salts, the "Flor de Sal d'Es Trenc natural" testers recommend it for 5.50 euros per 100 grams or "Fleur de Sel de Guérande" for 4 euros or "Hartkorn Persian Blue Salt Coarse" for 3.20 euros, which were all rated "good". Also "good" and much cheaper is "harvesting Ur-salt" for 50 cents.
Even more favorable and also "good" cut the iodine and fluoride salts for four cents each from Aldi Süd, Edeka, Lidl and Penny . The best iodine salt is for the examiner "Rapunzel sea salt with iodine-containing algae" for 46 cents. And if you like it without any additives, Stiftung Warentest recommends "Byodo Atlantik Meersalz" for 20 cents.
Berlin - They cost partially a hundred times the normal table salt, the slogans suggest wondrous powers: "Absolutely pure nature", "True fountain of youth" or "mysticism of the cultural circle". The slogans quoted by Stiftung Warentest promote exotic food salts, which above all promise more enjoyment and health, even though they are no better than simple household salt. The testers examined a total of 36 salts for the October issue of the journal "test".
While customers have to put up to 6.65 euros per 100 grams for the exotic, normal table salt costs just four cents for the same amount. Some exotic salts even passed the grade "deficient" in the test. On the other hand, 15 out of the 21 simple boiling and sea salts were "good" overall, with only four out of 15 for the special salts.
99.9 percent table salt against Berlin blue
Chemically, the 36 salts studied differ little from each other. They consist of 93 to 99.9 percent of common salt. The rest are predominantly poorly soluble compounds of the elements calcium and magnesium. Some providers advertise with a particularly large number of elements. In the Sal de Ibiza, however, the testers found only a fraction of the acclaimed "80 minerals and trace elements", so even in the crystal salt of the Himalayas, no 84 compounds could be detected.
A pink coloration gives salts by iron hydroxide; Changes in the salt crystal lattice may make salt appear blue. In the "absolutely pure" blue salt, however, the testers found Berlin Blue, a dye that, according to the examiners, "has no place in food".
Do not be afraid of iodine overdose
15 of the tested salts are enriched either with iodine and fluoride or only with iodine. According to the Stiftung Warentest, the inclusion of both additives via table salt makes sense for most people in Germany. An iodine overdose is not to be feared, as the contents of 1.5 to 2.5 milligrams of iodine per 100 grams of salt were observed by all tested salts. Even people with thyroid diseases such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis could use the salts enriched with iodine, quotes the Stiftung Warentest the expert Roland Gärtner of the University of Munich.
Nearly all Germans do not get enough fluoride from food. The enriched salts also hold the prescribed value in the test. Fluoridation is said to protect teeth from caries. According to the German Society for Nutrition (DGE), the elements highlighted by many suppliers are contained in too small amounts in the salt, so that one could profit from it, according to Stiftung Warentest.
Evaporated salt, rock salt, sea salt
The salts are obtained in different ways. Evaporated salt comes from salt mines, the salt is extracted from concentrated salt water - the brine. The pure salt consists almost exclusively of sodium chloride, a strong salt taste is a result. The manufacturers often add free-flow aids, iodine, and fluoride. Rock salt, on the other hand, is drilled, blown up or cut from tunnels. It is natural and unrefined sold, for example as Ur, blue or Kalahari salt. In the case of sea salt, on the other hand, sun and wind slowly crystallize the salt out of the water. Fleur de Sel (German salt flower) is rarer sea salt.
For those who want special salts, the "Flor de Sal d'Es Trenc natural" testers recommend it for 5.50 euros per 100 grams or "Fleur de Sel de Guérande" for 4 euros or "Hartkorn Persian Blue Salt Coarse" for 3.20 euros, which were all rated "good". Also "good" and much cheaper is "harvesting Ur-salt" for 50 cents.
Even more favorable and also "good" cut the iodine and fluoride salts for four cents each from Aldi Süd, Edeka, Lidl and Penny . The best iodine salt is for the examiner "Rapunzel sea salt with iodine-containing algae" for 46 cents. And if you like it without any additives, Stiftung Warentest recommends "Byodo Atlantik Meersalz" for 20 cents.