Smoked Bourbon Barrel Flake Salt

Smoky flavor is popular in U.S. style barbecue, as well as in Mexican, Latin American and Tex-Mex cuisines. Smoked Bourbon Barrel Salt is a simple and easy way to add smoked flavor to any food without the need to break out the smoker or grill. This salt's intoxicating aroma adds a delectable complexity to meats and vegetables. Add a robust, smoky flavor to any dish with just a pinch of salt and without the effort it takes to smoke your own food!

History of Smoked Bourbon Barrel Salt

When someone smells our smoked salts for the first time, their reaction is almost always, "wow, this is so intense!" One of our wholesale customers calls our smoked salts "campfire in a jar," which is something we can't disagree on. Over the course of the past decade, we've watched the popularity of smoked salts, spices, and pepper grow greater each year. The demand for smoked salts has exploded to the point where some suppliers are having trouble keeping up with the demand! This is creating a problem in the bourbon barrel market.

There's something to be said about the price of bourbon barrels and the economy. When there is more money to be spent and people are drinking more, bourbon barrels tend to skyrocket in price. When people are spending less money on alcohol, like they were about 15 years ago, bourbon barrels are tough to unload. Nearly two decades ago, companies couldn't give their barrels away, and companies like Jack Daniels had to break down their barrels for mulch. Today, bourbon barrels are in high demand. Many companies are using these used barrels to help flavor their food products, going from simply storing their food in the barrels like you would store whiskey to going so far as to burn the barrels for the smoked flavor, in the way that they are in the spice industry. The demand for bourbon barrels has increased so much that now there are difficulties in sourcing barrels, with some places enduring costs upwards of $200 per barrel. This means that bourbon barrel salt can sometimes be an expensive product, but it is fully worth it. The flavor of this salt is truly unlike any other salt you have tasted before.

How is it Made?

Not all smoked salts are created equally. A naturally smoked salt is different from a "smoke-flavored" salt because a smoke-flavored salt is made through the introduction of smoke flavored liquid to the salt. These artificial, smoke flavored salts are quick and cheap to make. Usually these smoked salts are made of a lower quality salt so the manufacturer is able to benefit there, too. These cheap practices lead to a larger profit margin for the manufacturer.

A naturally smoked salt is made by burning wood in a "cold smoking" chamber so the smoke can circulate around the flakes and impart a unique, woody flavor into the salt. This is how our Smoked Bourbon Barrel Salt is made. The wood from bourbon barrels is burned in a cold smoking process that allows the smoke to circulate around the salt and gives the salt that distinctive flavor. Cold smoking occurs between 68°F and 86°F, a temperature range where the food won't lose moisture, but the wood can burn effectively. If you were cold smoking meat for example, the meat would not cook in this type of cold smoking environment and would instead have to be cooked before and then cold smoked after it had been fully cooked.

To produce quality smoked salts, first you must have a good quality salt as a base. Sea salts are pressed through a heated roller, forming the irregular, plate-like crystals called lamellose crystals we see as "flaked" salt. These flat salt flakes stick to food more readily than a cubic grain of salt would, but it also lingers a little longer than a regular salt would, adding a bit of crunch to your bite. The flattened salt is cold smoked for roughly 8 to 12 hours. Smoking salts is quite a process. It is usually done by people who genuinely care for the quality of their product, not for the profit margin. Our Smoked Bourbon Barrel Salt is produced with this type of care, by individuals who genuinely love smoked salts. It is crunchy, salty, and smoky, making it the perfect addition to any spice cabinet that needs something a little more unique than your standard garlic salt.

Cooking with Smoked Bourbon Barrel Salt

Use this smooth and smoky Bourbon Barrel Smoked Salt just about everywhere you love smoky flavor. It's great on burritos, grilled chicken, corn on the cob, eggs, macaroni and cheese, salads, tacos, roasted and steamed vegetables, soups, gravies, spice rubs, and stews.

Try it on your caprese salad, or on chocolate desserts. It's also an excellent salt to use as a rim salt for a Bloody Mary or a Dirty Martini. It's excellent on starchy vegetables, like the potato. The smoky flavor enhances the sensory attributes of other foods and spices, so it works well as a finishing salt. This is not the type of salt that you would use to salt your pasta water, but it is the type of salt that you would put on top of your finished pasta dish for that smokiness and the nice crunch.

What Does Smoked Bourbon Barrel Salt Taste Like?

Our Smoked Bourbon Barrel Salt has a hearty, intoxicating aroma, pun not intended. The flavor is complex, with smoke and oaky notes being the star in conjunction with the flake salt's characteristic salty flavor. The oaky notes come directly from the repurposed bourbon barrel staves, which are traditionally only made from oak.  When burned, the bourbon the wood has absorbed burns too, creating a unique smoke that wafts around the salt and infuses it with a distinctly bourbon oak flavor that is quite different from our Smoked Oak Flaked Salt. 

Substitutions and Conversions

Smoked salts can be interchanged, but usually it is best to stick to smoked salts that have similar woods. You could use a Smoked Oak Flake Salt because the wood used in bourbon barrel smoked salt is also oak, just oak that has had delicious bourbon aging in it for a few years.

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