Himalayan salt is rock salt (halite) mined from the Punjab region of Pakistan. The salt, which often has a pinkish tint due to trace minerals, is primarily used as a food additive to replace refined table salt but is also used for cooking and food presentation, decorative lamps and spa treatments. The product is often promoted with unsupported claims that it has health benefits.
Local legend traces the discovery of the Himalayan salt deposits to the army of Alexander the Great.However, the first records of mining are from the Janjua clan in the 1200s.The salt is mostly mined at the Khewra Salt Mine in Khewra, Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan, which is situated in the foothills of the Salt Range hill system between the Indus River and the Punjab Plain.It is primarily exported in bulk, and processed in other countries for the consumer market.
Himalayan salt is used to flavor food. Due mainly to marketing costs, pink Himalayan salt is up to 20 times more expensive than table salt or sea salt.The impurities giving it its distinctive pink hue, as well as its unprocessed state and lack of anti-caking agents, have given rise to the unsupported belief that it is healthier than common table salt.There is no scientific basis for such claimed health benefits.In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration warned a manufacturer of dietary supplements, including one consisting of Himalayan salt, to discontinue marketing the products using unproven claims of health benefits.
Slabs of salt are used as serving dishes, baking stones, and griddles,and it is also used to make tequila shot glasses.In such uses, small amounts of salt transfer to the food or drink and alter its flavor profile.
It is also used to make “salt lamps” that radiate a pinkish or orangish hue, manufactured by placing a light source within the hollowed-out interior of a block of Himalayan salt.Claims that their use results in the release of ions that benefit health have no scientific foundation.Similar scientifically unsupported claims underlie use of Himalayan salt to line the walls of spas, along with its use for salt-inhalation spa treatments.Salt lamps can be a danger to pets, who may suffer salt poisoning after licking them.
