Narrator: This is pink Himalayan salt.
It may look pretty, but a pinch of this stuff will cost you,
and 100 grams of pink Himalayan salt
can cost up to 20 times the price of generic table salt.
So why is it so expensive?
Pink Himalayan salt has gathered a cult following.
Its supporters claim that it helps with everything
from weight loss, reducing aging, regulating sleep,
and even increasing your libido.
And while the pink salt itself can cost $10 per kilo,
the products made using it can be far more expensive.
But what actually is the difference
between types of salt,
and where have these claims come from?
To get an idea of what makes pink Himalayan salt different,
we need to look at the different types
of salt in the industry.
Table salt is often made
by drilling into underground seabeds,
pumping out the saltwater,
and then refining it in purification plants.
Natural minerals like magnesium or potassium are taken away.
Sea salt is made by evaporating seawater
using the sun or indoor heaters.
Unlike table salt, it normally has no extra chemicals added,
and its natural minerals stay intact.
Rock salt is different.
In certain regions of the world,
buried hundreds of feet below the ground,
are the remains of evaporated seas.
This mineral, halite, gets harvested
by drilling the rock face, crushing the salt,
and splintering it into pieces.
Pink salt can only be found in very few places,
from the Murray River in Australia
to Maras in Peru,
but the supply is far from limited.
The majority of pink salt mines in the world
are in Pakistan, at the base of the Himalayas,
and the Khewra Salt Mine in Pakistan
produces 350,000 tons per year.
So is pink salt healthier?
The salt has an estimated 84 different minerals in it,
which give it its pink color.
But these minerals only make up around 2% of the salt.
So apparently, it's reported you can get around 84
different trace mineral elements.
However, it's such a very small percentage of the salt
that makes up these minerals
that you are highly unlikely to get any real benefit
or any trace of them in your regular serving of salt itself,
and I hate to be the bearer of disappointing news,
but it's pretty similar, nutritionally.
Narrator: Pink salt's supposed benefits
aren't just about eating it though,
and many people claim it has healing properties
when either inhaled or even when used as a lamp.
Rhiannon: I can see why trends come about.
So for instance, there's a lot
of different homeopathic remedies
that can seem very, very appealing,
but actually because they're not grounded in evidence
a lot of the time, a small hint
of something having a promise
can get blown out of proportion,
especially when it comes to the media,
especially in terms of beautiful-looking items,
and I think pink salt of course is a lot more appealing
for a lot of people
when you compare it to your regular white salt.
Narrator: So Himalayan salt doesn't have
the health benefits claimed,
but it's still marketed as a luxury salt,
and global salt consumption is forecast
to be worth $14.1 billion by 2020.
So does it taste any better for the price?
I think it tastes nicer,
but I don't know if I just think it tastes nicer
because I know it's meant to taste nicer.
It doesn't taste that different.
It's a bit less harsh on the palate.
It doesn't sort of burn your tongue as much,
which I guess is a good thing.
I couldn't really tell too much of a difference
between them to be honest.
If I was cooking with them,
putting them in a dish,
I probably wouldn't be able
to tell the difference between them.
It just kinda tastes like salt.
Narrator: There's one other big thing
that's led to pink salt's popularity: Instagram.
It's because Instagram is an image-based platform,
so if you think about it,
it's more attractive to take pictures of something
that's pink naturally or something that's bright green.
It's more, I would call it, aesthetic food.
So looking at how food appears
rather than it being a miracle benefit,
and I think if you are looking at social media on a whole,
it goes in seasons, and it goes in
whatever is the most photographed item.
I don't think it will be around forever.