Salt

Although there are hundreds of different salts, there is only one salt used in baking—sodium chloride. Necessary for good health (though overuse is detrimental), sodium chloride is primarily used in baking and cooking to improve flavor and prevent spoilage. Salt can be mined from the earth or taken from a body of water; the former method requires that the salt be dissolved in water and the brine evaporated, the latter requires that salty water be allowed to evaporate via sunlight or artificial means, leaving behind usable salt crystals. The method used to process the brine will determine the size, shape, and, occasionally, the taste of the final crystals.