I never really knew (or paid much attention to) salt before a family vacation to Utah a few years ago. Sure, I knew it tasted great and made the flavors pop in your food SO much more. Sure, I knew that sea salt was supposedly better than “table salt”, but I didn’t really know why. Something with the minerals, right?
My family and I had stopped in at a little diner for breakfast in the middle of nowhere, Utah (literally, just some small town on the way to Monument Valley). We all got this amazing green chili hash brown and eggs breakfast plate, and my Dad reached for the salt, as he normally does without even tasting his food. Don’t worry, I’m trying to teach him why he shouldn’t do this…if for only taste reasons, haha! But then, instead of just the regular restaurant table salt, we found a little bottle of Redmond Real Salt, and a little flyer that went with it, titled “Is your salt REAL?” the nutrition geek in me was intrigued, to say the least.
Sure, i was prepared on that vacation to be mind blown by the spectacular natural beauty that is Monument Valley (and frankly, the rest of Utah)…but I wasn’t ready for what this little salt shaker had in store for me. The pamphlet went on to talk about how regular table salt contains anti-caking agents, dextrose, and a whole lot of other gross chemical sh*tstorm-type things. In SALT, people?! I mean, who would even think to look at the label of salt if you didn’t know any better…it’s just salt, right?? Wrong.
Fun fact: almost all salt is technically “sea salt” because it originated from the sea – from oceans, ancient sea beds, dead seas, and the like. You may have heard about the trace minerals that are found in salt. If you’re buying regular table salt, those natural trace minerals have been destroyed in heat processing, whereas Real sea salt is unrefined, has all those trace minerals, and tastes freaking delicious. No more benefits from all those ancient seas! Also, many salts that are produced today come from seawater that has been exposed to environmental pollution, like acid rain, mercury, lead, toxic waste, sewage, etc. Um EW, please don’t serve that to me in my salt. K, thanks.
But Dana…there are no seas in Utah. Where the heck does this REAL salt come from, if you say it’s natural and unrefined? Fair question! I wondered the same thing myself. “According to geologists, the Real Salt deposit is the remnant of an ancient inland sea” (the Sundance Sea) from the Jurassic period. Over time, the salt that had settled on the bottom of the sea was pushed to the earth’s surface close to the town of Redmond, Utah, where REAL salt is harvested. They mine and mill the salt in Redmond, which is about 150 miles south of the Great Salt Lake. Now, Redmond (the company) follows careful mining practices so they don’t damage the salt source or the salt itself, and it is passed through an automatic screening to ensure no metal residue or other contaminants were introduced during the process.
Um, there’s this weird pink stuff in my salt? Don’t worry, that’s not from fake chemical additives. Those pink flecks come from more than 60 naturally occurring trace minerals, which give REAL salt a unique, delicate taste.
And now I won’t use anything else. Sure, I’ll use the occasional sea salt, fancy truffle salt we picked up in Italy, or hand-crafted sea salts I find at special stores, and all that jazz. But my go-to is always Redmond Real Salt. We have enough things to worry about what’s going in the rest of our food, let alone our salt! And, you don’t use Real Salt any differently than you would a regular salt. So any and all of the recipes on my site (or any other blog, cookbook, or magazine, for that matter) can be made using Real Salt, and the only difference will be that you’re taking out some junky ingredients, and adding in trace minerals! For the freaking win.
Just for you guys, I’ve created a new recipe highlighting Real Salt. Zesty Ranch Smashed Potatoes? Umm, yes please. Remember those sour cream & onion chips that were weirdly curved, came in a can, and you could make a duck face with them if you turned one upside down? Yep, pringles. These taste kind of like those, but in a much less chemical sh*t storm kind of way. Is serving them with a little homemade Ranch dressing on the side a little overkill, you think? No WAY. Just try it and see for yourself!
Don’t be a dummy. Go check your cabinets…is your salt REAL? Or full of junky chemicals? Bottom line – when you’re looking for a GOOD quality sea salt, check your ingredients. You want a salt that is unrefined, has no additives or weird ingredients, and that contains natural trace minerals.
- 1 ½ lbs new potatoes / mixed baby potatoes
- 3 Tbsp oil - I used 2 Tbsp ghee and 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp dried parsley
- 2 tsp dried chives
- 1½ tsp Real Salt
- 1 ½ tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried dill
- ½ tsp mustard powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- Homemade ranch dressing
- Optional: hot sauce, for dipping
- Fill a medium sized pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Carefully slide the potatoes into the pot and boil for 15 minutes, until just fork tender. You don’t want the potatoes to fall apart in the water! They also won’t get as crispy in the oven if you cook them too much at this step.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Prepare the ranch seasoning: combine all the herbs and spices in a small bowl and set aside.
- Drain the potatoes and pat dry with a towel. When they’re cool enough to handle, transfer them to the parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and gently smash with a fork, until they’re about ¼-½ inch thick. Drizzle the melted oil over all the potatoes, then sprinkle with 2 Tbsp ranch seasoning. You will have some leftover.
- Bake the potatoes for 30 minutes, until crispy. Top with some reserved ranch seasoning (if you like), and maybe some ranch dressing + hot sauce!
This post was sponsored by Redmond Real Salt. All thoughts and snarky opinions are my own 🙂 Redmond also has a ton of other great products for cooking, like their seasoned salts, and for natural beauty, like epsom salts, toothpaste, face masks! Go check ’em out!
