The Complete Salt Guide - Albert Menes

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Salt in the kitchen: fleur de sel, grey salt, pink salt and flavoured salts

Origins, uses and buying tips from a fine food house founded in 1921 in the Basque Country and awarded at the 2026 Concours Général Agricole.

Salt goes into almost every recipe, yet its varieties are not used the same way. A salt hand-harvested in the Guérande salt marshes, a rock salt mined in Pakistan and a salt blended with AOP Espelette pepper differ in texture, in moisture and in how they are used in cooking. This guide covers their origins and uses. It also gives practical pointers for choosing them, measuring the right amount and storing them properly at home.

Fleur de sel

Fine crystals that form on the surface of salt-marsh ponds in hot, windy weather and are skimmed off by hand. Fleur de sel accounts for only a few percent of a salt worker's harvest. Its crunch is best added just before serving, never during cooking.

Grey salt

Harvested from the bottom of the ponds, in contact with the clay that gives it its colour, grey salt stays moist and contains magnesium. Guérande salt has held a PGI since 2012. Use it for cooking water, salt crusts and brines.

Himalayan pink salt

A rock salt mined mainly at Khewra, in Pakistan's Salt Range. Its colour comes from trace amounts of iron oxide. Made up of 95 to 98% sodium chloride, it is used in a grinder or as a block for searing.

Flavoured salts

Fleur de sel or fine salt combined with herbs, spices, citrus or seaweed. In the Basque Country, the blend with AOP Espelette pepper is the most common. The ingredient list gives the share of each flavouring and shows whether it is the real ingredient or a flavouring.

How to buy salt

  • Check the origin: for Guérande, the PGI logo guarantees where the salt was harvested and that it was harvested by hand.
  • Read the ingredients: unrefined salt contains no anti-caking agents (E535, E536, E551).
  • Choose by use: fleur de sel to finish a dish, grey salt for cooking, rock salt for the grinder.
  • For flavoured salts, look for the percentage of the key ingredient (such as AOP Espelette pepper) and the absence of added flavourings.
  • Store salt in an airtight jar away from moisture. Pure salt does not expire, but a flavoured salt loses its aroma within 12 to 18 months.

Three ways to use it

  • Sea bass in a grey salt crust: 1.5 kg grey salt and 2 egg whites for a 1 kg fish, baked 25 minutes at 200 °C.
  • Heirloom tomatoes with olive oil, finished with fleur de sel and AOP Espelette pepper just before serving.
  • Salted butter caramel: 200 g sugar, 80 g butter, 200 ml cream and 1 teaspoon fleur de sel.
Celery SaltCelery Salt3.30 € Himalayan Pink SaltHimalayan Pink Salt4.65 € Pink Salt with Espelette Pepper MillPink Salt with Espelette Pepper Mill4.40 € Pink Salt with TrufflePink Salt with Truffle9.50 €

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between fleur de sel and grey salt?

Both come from the same marsh. Fleur de sel crystallises on the surface and stays white and dry. Grey salt settles on the bottom of the pond, in contact with the clay, which makes it moister and coarser.

Is Himalayan pink salt healthier?

Its minerals are present in amounts too small to have any effect at normal intake. The WHO recommends no more than 5 g of salt per day, about one teaspoon, whatever the variety.

Does salt have an expiry date?

No. EU Regulation 1169/2011 exempts cooking salt from a best-before date. Only flavoured salts carry one, because of their added ingredients.

Can grey salt go in a grinder?

Yes, as long as the grinder has a ceramic mechanism, because the moisture in grey salt corrodes metal. If it clumps, dry it for 10 minutes in the oven at 100 °C before filling the grinder.