Sea and table salt have a variety of differences

heloise

Sea and table salt have a variety of differences

Dear Heloise: I have some recipes that call for sea salt. What’s the difference between sea and regular table salt? Flo, Bellaire, Ohio

Where it comes from, taste, price and even color are the differences. Sea salt is a general term for salt that is simply made from evaporated seawater. It is not usually processed, is generally coarser than table salt and contains more minerals. Sea salt contains iodine naturally.

Table salt is mined and processed, which removes most minerals, including iodine.

Sea salt is usually more expensive, and some varieties are very expensive, but if your recipe calls for sea salt, give it a try! You should be able to find regular sea salt at your grocery store. Heloise

P.S.: Many high-end grocery stores have it in bulk, so you could just get a small amount that way to try.

Dear Heloise: One of my relatives owns a cheesecake store, and I have watched his staff cut cheesecakes for customers. They have a percolator for coffee filled with hot water. A long, sharp knife (kitchen knife, not table knife) is used. The blade is dipped in the hot water to warm the metal, wiped dry, and one cut is made. The blade is wiped, dipped again and re-wiped before the second cut.

I have used this method at home, only using hot water from the tap running over the knife. It works. Mary Ann Peeples, Stedman, N.C.

Dear Heloise: Buy a notebook-binder-style photo album with magnetic clear sheets for your recipes. You can take the pages out when you need to use them. If anything gets spilled, you can just wipe it off. You also can rearrange the recipes, and additional pages are cheap. To save money, you could buy a three-ring-binder notebook and replacement pages. This works great for me. Pat in Arkansas

Isn’t it fun to read and collect new recipes, even if we may never get around to actually making them? My latest pamphlet, Heloise’s All-Time Favorite Recipes, is filled with delicious family recipes, and it would be a great stocking stuffer. All you need to do is send $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (61 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Recipes, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. This pamphlet includes favorites like Heloise’s Peking Roast, Cookies From Cake Mix and Apricot Preserves, which are so easy to make you won’t believe it! Heloise

Dear Heloise: I love croissants, but slicing them can be a bit annoying. I buy 12 to 14 at one time and put two to four into plastic bags and put them in the freezer. When I want a sandwich, I pull out a bag and slice the croissant in half while still frozen/semi-solid. By the time I finish making the filling or slicing the meat, the croissant has thawed. Kandee, via e-mail

SBlt Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or you can fax it to (210) HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate