Ingredient Snobbery? My findings on Salt

[Undertoad]

"Table salt is man-made, so it contains all kinds of impurities. Sea salt is natural, so it is pure."
-- some dumb shit I saw on a PBS cooking show a few years ago

Originally Posted by wikipedia

Unrefined sea salt contains small amounts of magnesium and calcium halides and sulfates, traces of algal products, salt-resistant bacteria and sediment particles. The calcium and magnesium salts confer a faintly bitter overtone, and they make unrefined sea salt hygroscopic (i.e., it gradually absorbs moisture from air if stored uncovered). Algal products contribute a mildly "fishy" or "sea-air" odour, the latter from organobromine compounds. Sediments, the proportion of which varies with the source, give the salt a dull grey appearance.