History of the Hickory Tree

The hickory tree can be found all over the United States as it is indigenous to North America. You will find many mentions of this tree in our history books linking it to our colonial past. Hickory was the choice wood of settlers in Virginia who would smoke, cure, and preserve meats to last through the year. Its firm hardwood makes it a very resilient tree and Andrew Jackson used to be called “Old Hickory” as an homage to his tough reputation.

The wood from a hickory tree is prized for its unique uses, which include tools, wheels for early wagons and carts, the making of drumsticks, and walking sticks. Hickory used to be the primary wood used for crafting baseball bats, but now that job falls mostly on ash wood.

Hickory wood has an incredible amount of energy stored within it, making it the perfect wood for burning. Historically speaking, this was an excellent wood for woodstoves or for home heating. It was also used for flooring in some cases because of its durability and resistance to wear and tear. Today, hickory is a popular wood for both cooking and smoking in the Southern United States. Barbecue is often made over a hickory fire because of the great flavor the smoke from the wood leaves on all the foods it cooks.

How is it Made?

Every hickory salt you encounter is created differently. Some are smoked with care and attention, like ours. Others are produced through the use of artificial colors and flavors, which are then marketed as a cheap smoked salt.

Our Smoked Hickory Flaked Salt is made with sea salt. The sea salt is flattened into a plate-like shape with the help of large heated rollers that pass over the sea salt and help them go from cubic to smooth “lamellose” flakes. These flakes are both flat and have little mass, helping them stick to the surface of foods more readily. The length of the salt also contributes to the amount of crunch you will get from biting down on the salt.

Once it has been flattened, the salt undergoes a cold-smoking process. Cold smoking is a process where flavor is added to a food without it cooking. Hot smoking, or just smoking, is when the food takes on a smoky flavor while also being cooked. Cold smoking is used because the salt doesn’t need to be cooked, it just needs a little smoky flavor added to it. The ideal temperature range for cold smoking is 68 to 86°F. The process of cold smoking is quite simple- the salt is laid out on trays and wood pellets are burned until the smoke surrounds the salts and wafts around the smoking chamber. After about 8 to 12 hours, the process is complete.

Cooking with Smoked Hickory Flaked Salt

Smoked Hickory Flaked Salt is a perfect secret ingredient in homemade beef jerky, burgers, chicken, cheese dips, gravies, nuts, meats, potatoes, stuffing, and turkey. It’s excellent in barbecue sauces, spice rubs, and vinaigrettes.

Love to grill all summer and dread the day you have to put the grill away for the comfort of oven-cooked food inside? Using this salt is a way to bring that grilled flavor to your table all year round without actually doing any grilling at all. Use it on your favorite roasted vegetables or pan cooked meats to impart that savory, grilled flavor in a way that can’t otherwise be so deliciously replicated.

There are sweet applications for this incredibly diverse salt, too. It’s excellent on plain ice cream flavors to bring out the nuances of the sweet. Just a pinch on your favorite specialty chocolates will help you enjoy the chocolate even more than you usually do, and that’s probably saying a lot considering specialty chocolates are already out of this world to begin with. Salted caramels ring a bell? Instead of using plain sea salt, use this smoked salt for an extra dimension of smoky flavor.

Smoked salt tastes interesting with citrus, especially grapefruits. Eating a grapefruit for breakfast every day might get boring, but adding a little bit of smoked salt to the mix is sure to switch up your routine for the better.

What Does Smoked Hickory Flaked Salt Taste Like?

Our Smoked Hickory Salt has a savory, smoky flavor. It is a more intense smoked salt.

Substitutions and Conversions

If you are looking for a suitable substitute for this smoked salt, you could look to Smoked Oak Salt, which also has a smoky, woody flavor to it.

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