What is kosher salt?

Why meat is salted

The Torah forbids eating blood: “for the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11; Deuteronomy 12:23). After an animal is slaughtered, the meat is soaked in water for about half an hour, salted on all sides, left for an hour, and rinsed well. The salt draws out the remaining blood. This process is called melichah, “salting”, and it is described in detail in the Shulchan Aruch.

Why coarse salt

Fine table salt dissolves quickly and is absorbed, so it does not draw out the blood well; very coarse salt rolls off the meat. The halachic sources describe a medium, coarse salt. Manufacturers called such salt “koshering salt”, and in English it became “kosher salt”. Chefs like it for the same reason – it is easy to pinch and spreads evenly.

Is it kosher?

Salt is a mineral and is kosher in any case. A kosher symbol on the box usually certifies that no additives or processing aids are a problem. Today most kosher meat is sold already soaked and salted by the butcher, so few households salt meat themselves. Liver cannot be koshered by salting; it is broiled over a flame.

Salting at home

Those who salt meat themselves soak it for half an hour in cool water, let it drip, cover every surface with coarse salt and leave it on a slanted or perforated board for an hour so the blood can run off, then rinse it well – the custom is three times. Meat that was left more than three days after slaughter without being salted or rinsed is broiled rather than salted.