Why add salt to food? The better question here is why not add salt to food? Unless you have been medically directed to limit your salt intake, you can feel good about salting fresh food that you've prepared at home.

Salt binds to food in a way that doesn't necessarily make food taste salty--when used in the right proportions--but rather, it just makes food taste better. It enhances the positive nuances of food and helps downplay bitterness. Thanks to salt's capacity to draw water out of food, flavorings like seasonings or vinegars can be more fully absorbed and result in a dish that's loaded with flavor. 

Humans crave salt because it is necessary for our bodies. Salt helps with the transmission of nerve impulses, the contraction of our muscles, and the balance of fluids. Since we cannot retain salt for a long time, we must eat it regularly to keep our bodies in the best shape possible. Just like everything, consume salt in moderation.

Types of Salt

There are several types of salt, some of which you may have never heard of before. Each type has its own benefits and disadvantages.

Table Salt: This is the small-grain salt you see in shakers all over the place. It is very fine, densely packed, and very salty. In the United States, table salt is usually iodized, which arose in the 1940s in order to compensate for lack of naturally occurring iodine in the diet. Some people think that iodized salt gives their food a metallic flavor. The size and cubic shape of table salt comes from how it crystalizes, which is usually in a manmade vacuum chamber specifically made to keep the salt uniform. Because this salt is so fine it's easy to over-salt your food, so use cautiously.

Kosher Salt: Kosher salt is a salt with a large and irregular surface area, meaning it clings to food better and dissolves better than granulated table salt. Kosher salt is excellent for everyday cooking. The practice of removing blood from meat, called koshering, is where this salt earns its name, because it is excellent at drawing liquids from foods.

Sea Salt: When seawater evaporates, sea salt is left behind. These salts come in different shapes and sizes, depending on where, when, and how they formed. They are often harvested using low-yield, labor-intensive practices, so they tend to cost more than what table salt would cost, even though they are unrefined and less processed.

Gourmet Salts: When people think of gourmet salts they are usually referring to sea salts that are thought of as "fancy" or flavored salts. This group includes Himalayan pink salt or Hawaiian black salt, along with favorites like chipotle salt, garlic salt, and smoked varieties of salt. These salts are often good for finishing, meaning they are added to the end of the recipe to provide punchy flavor and even a bit of crunchy texture.

When to Add Salt to Cooking

The timing for when you add salt to a dish depends on what you are cooking and what kind of salt you are using. Salting is often done throughout the entire cooking process, though with some dishes it may be more prudent to add salt just at the end, so it doesn’t overwhelm the food. You want to taste your dish as it cooks and only add salt over time if necessary. Remember that salt needs time to fully dissolve and permeate a dish, so it is best to learn what exactly salt will do to your food before you start to work with it.

• Red or dense meat, like venison, can be seasoned up to a day before it is ready to be cooked. If you can't season the meat a full day before you're planning on cooking it, keep in mind that more time is better. If you have less than 30 minutes to season your meat before cooking, just season as you cook and forego the pre-salting.
• Seafood is not like meat. It is too delicate to be salted in advance. Instead, salt your seafood just before you cook it.
• Eggs cook faster if you salt them! Add a pinch of salt before you cook to make perfectly fluffy scrambled eggs and omelets. Season fried eggs or those cooked in the shell just before serving.
• Fatty foods need more salt. Fats can be dulling to the sensory receptors in our brains, so to get the same flavor impact out of high-fat ground beef that one might expect from a leaner top sirloin cut, add more salt.
• Vegetables contain a carbohydrate called pectin, which is not digestible to the human digestive tract. This pectin can be softened through the addition of salt. Salt your vegetables about 10 to 15 minutes to let the salt permeate the vegetables, but don't do it much earlier than that because they may become rubbery if salted too early. The salt will draw liquid out of the vegetables for as long as you will let it, so don't let it go for too long.
• Fruits are not usually something you would associate with salting, but this can help bring out the sweetness of the fruit if it is left to sit for just a few moments before consumption. Fruit also has pectin, so it does take a few moments for the salt to do its magic.
• Beans are a hard food to master. Often, they are undercooked or overcooked, and they are almost never seasoned properly. Salt can help with that. Beans, much like fruit and vegetables, are a victim to pectin's toughness. Salt does the same thing for beans and legumes as it does for fruit and vegetables. Salt your beans when you soak them before cooking. If you are not soaking the beans, you can salt them at the beginning of the cooking process.
• Dough is a finicky brat. If you introduce it to salt, it will instantly stiffen up and act tough. This is because salt is a great friend of gluten, helping it firm up and make the dough chewier. This is necessary for a good pizza crust or pasta. If you forget to add salt and you've made your dough, you can definitely add it at the end!
• Mushrooms react to salt in a different, less favorable kind of way. Because they are about 80% water, salt will shrivel them up if they are salted too early. You want to salt them after they have already browned in the pan so they can retain some of their shape.
• Salt your pasta water. Pasta water should taste as salty as the sea, so don’t be afraid to add a good handful to your water. As a bonus, if you add it to cold water it can help the water boil sooner.
• Rice needs to be salted at the beginning of cooking. It will require less seasoning after it cooks if it has been properly salted.

Salt balances out bitterness even better than sugar does, so a pinch of salt to your pasta sauce may be a better bet than a pinch of sugar. 

How Much Salt to Use During Cooking

You want to use enough salt to make your food taste good, but not salty. In general:

--Use one teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of meat

--Taste frequently during cooking to adjust seasonings as necessary

--Fine salts can lead to accidental over-salting, so choose your salt carefully

 --When in doubt, under-salt during the cooking process since you can always adjust seasonings at the end

Practice makes permanent! The more you practice when and how to salt your food, the better you will understand how much salt you should use in your cooking.