Pretty, pink Himalayan salt has surged in popularity as a trendy and magical ingredient,
but why does it cost so much?
And, just as importantly, does it live up to the hype that's helping to drive up the
price?
The good news is that yes, humans do need a certain amount of salt and sodium in their
diet, because it plays a key role in maintaining things like muscle and nerve health, and it
also helps maintain balance in the fluids of your body.
But pink Himalayan salt has been credited with doing much more than just that, so much
that people are willing to pay more for this magical, mystical pink salt.
Listen to the hype and you'll hear that it can treat the symptoms of respiratory diseases,
regulate your blood sugar, increase libido, reduce the signs of aging, and even help regulate
your sleep patterns.
"Are you having a bad dream?"
"No, I suffer from a disorder called sleep fighting."
"That must be terrible."
"Only when i'm losing."
It's claimed that even when it's in the form of a salt lamp it can cleanse the air of pollutants,
and even help those suffering from seasonal affective disorder.
That's a pretty wide variety of things it's reported to help, and it's safe to say that
everyone has probably experienced one of those things on the list, or has a family member
who gets what it's like to have some long and sleepless nights.
The thing is, actual scientific evidence that any of this is actually true is scarce, but
it's not going to hurt… right?
First, a bit of science.
Salt and sodium aren't the same thing, as salt is a combination of the ions sodium and
chloride.
And it really is magical: together, they make food wonderful and they keep our body functioning.
Different types of salt have various amounts of other minerals, and that's where many people
hop on the pink Himalayan salt bandwagon.
It's claimed that pink Himalayan salt has 84 trace minerals in it that regular table
salt just doesn't have, and internet wisdom says that's a good thing.
But, like many good things, there's a catch.
Nutritionists say those elements and minerals exist in minuscule amounts, way too small
to actually have any kind of impact on our health.
And sometimes, that's a good thing.
Among those elements are things like uranium, radium, polonium, and thallium.
There's not enough of those things in the salt to hurt you, and isn't that proof that
there's not enough of the good things to do any good, either?
This is one bit of marketing that raises the price just because it sounds good.
According to Business Insider, people who live in the areas that mine pink Himalayan
salt call it "white gold" which yes, is odd considering it's pink, but it shows just how
valuable it is.
Picking up a bottle can set you back up to 20 times as much as a similar size of regular
table salt, and part of the reason for the price is that it's one of the purest salts
in the world.
What does that mean, exactly?
Most table salt is extracted from rock salt or halite, or it comes from evaporated sea
water.
The problem?
When sea water evaporates, it can also leave behind pollutants.
And the salt that's mined from rock often occurs alongside other chemicals and minerals,
some of which are toxic.
It's all purified before it hits the shelves, but pink Himalayan salt is a little different.
That comes from crystallized sea-salt beds that were buried deep underground when they
were covered in lava, then snow and ice.
Those beds have been around for about 200 million years, and the layers on top of them
have protected them from all the horrible things we've released into the environment
in our modern-day world.
It's mined by hand and it's unprocessed, and that all adds up to make it super pure.
And that?
People are willing to pay for.
Legend has it that Himalayan salt was first discovered by the horses of Alexander the
Great in 326 BC.
Horses love salt, after all, and the story says the army was traveling through what's
now northern Pakistan when they noticed their horses kept licking the rocks.
It was centuries before it was traded, but it's been popular for a lot longer than it's
been trending on Instagram.
That place where Alexander's horses reportedly discovered an unexpected treat is still where
pink Himalayan salt is mined today.
There are only six mines where workers extract the salt by hand, and that makes it sound
rare, doesn't it?
It's not — it's estimated that the largest of those mines, Khewra, contains somewhere
around 6.7 billion tons of pink salt, and around 400,000 tons are mined annually.
Knowing that something is only mined in a single part of the world from a handful of
places by a group of workers laboring away to mine by hand makes it exclusive, and that's
enough to justify charging more for it, isn't it?
There's an old saying that looks aren't everything, but in today's age of social media and Instagram,
looks are pretty important — especially when it comes to food and getting that perfect
shot that's going to get more followers.
And that, says The Atlantic, is part of the reason retailers can charge so much for it
— they know people will pay to give their dishes that extra little bit of trendy and
hip.
There are tens of thousands of images tagged #pinksalt on social media, and it's fancying
up everything from soaps and lotions to cupcakes, popcorn, and giant slabs of barbecued meats.
Is it worth it?
That's up to the consumer.
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