Do Salt Crystal Sizes Really Make a Difference?

Salt crystals come in a wide variety of sizes, from flour to extra coarse and everything in between. What most people don’t know is that there’s scientific rationale for why we make so many different sizes of our salts. From a food manufacturing and consumer standpoint, flour salts perform very differently than extra coarse salts.

Flour Salt

Flour salt, also called powdered salt, is a unique type of sodium chloride that has been pulverized to create the smallest and finest granulations of salt crystals. With this fine-powdered crystal size, it allows for increased solubility, adherence, and blendability compared to standard granulated table salt. For example, if you were to sprinkle flour salt on top of a cracker, when you take a bite you may experience a faster burst of flavor compared to a cracker sprinkled with coarse salt. This is because the salt crystal will dissolve on your tongue faster due to its more rapid solubility.

Extra Coarse Salt

Extra coarse salts are generally the largest salt crystals available. These larger salts are generally used for topical applications due to their visual appeal. These crystals will still have the same functionality as finer cuts of salt, but they will be slower to dissolve, have less adherence strength, and more inconsistent blendability.