Worth Our Salt

The ubiquity of salt in our cooking belies the complexity of this simple ingredient. That’s because salt comes in many varieties, and which type you choose—even the brand you pick—makes a big difference.

At Milk Street, we use kosher salt for our savory cooking. It is easier to pinch and clings better to meats. Also, its larger granule size makes it more difficult to overseason foods.

But the two main brands, Diamond Crystal and Morton Coarse Kosher Salt, vary significantly. Because Morton salt is smaller and denser than Diamond Crystal, 1 teaspoon contains 5 grams of salt. But 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal has just 3 grams. In practical terms, 1 teaspoon of Morton equals about 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal.

Historically, we developed our recipes with Diamond Crystal, but we recently switched to Morton. We believe this makes it harder to accidentally oversalt if using Morton.

Other common cooking salts also vary widely when measured by volume. To illustrate the differences between varieties, we weighed out nine different salts to allow easy comparison.

1 Teaspoon Table Salt

= 1 Heaping Teaspoon Morton Coarse Kosher Salt

= 2 Teaspoons Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt

Salt Volume by Weight

TYPEGRAMS PER 1 TSP

...PER 1 TBSP

Celtic Sea Salt, Fine

411

Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt

39

Fleur de Sel

412

Himalayan Pink Salt, Coarse

718

Himalayan Pink Salt, Fine

6

18

Maldon Sea Salt

4

10

Morton Coarse Kosher Salt

515

Morton Iodized Salt

618

Sea Salt, Fine

515