Sale

Italians almost universally use sea salt from the Mediterranean to flavor their food. Salt is a preservative—prosciutto, baccal (salt-dried cod), anchovies, and capers last for months because they have been preserved with salt—but it is also the first and major seasoning in every dish.

In the kitchen, women keep a bowl or jar of coarse sea salt, sale grosso, by the stove—they toss handfuls of it into the water for pasta and potatoes, for instance— but they put fine sea salt, sale fino, on the table. Crystals of kosher salt are less salty than sea salt; iodized salt has been washed and magnesium has been added so it won’t clump and will pour freely. Crystals of natural sea salt are pure—they are, after all, what remains when seawater has evaporated—they are rich in minerals and have a clean taste. Many grandmothers keep their fine sea salt in a shaker with grains of rice so it can pour easily.