It’s spring! Nearly summer in fact, and it was a muggy day today in Boone. I was on the phone when lightning struck—I felt a slight electrical jolt and the phone wigged out. Fortunately I’m fine and the call didn’t even go dead…it was just a little, well, shocking. Bad pun, I know!

The best part of today was taking some new and improved, now soy free Thai Temple burgers over to Tom’s place. They are soooo good! We did a spontaneous photo shoot with Tom in his lovely bachelor pad overlooking the Blue Ridge. I happen to have a new iphone 5s (lost my dear old 4s!) and I was truly impressed by the photo quality. I was prepared not to like the new phone, so was pleasantly surprised. Let me know if you agree about the photos! Anyway that’s enough about phones.

The great part was how beautiful the Thai Temple burgers looked poised over the Blue (and now partly green) Ridge, after Tom prepared them low-carb style, open face on gluten free buns with gorgeous green veggies on top – spinach, green chillies, a splash of red onion, and generous portions of avocado. Tom eats healthy bachelor food. Thai Temple and French Broad Burgers are Tom’s favorite dinner staple. Did I mention how amazing it all looked sitting atop the Blue Ridge?

I'm sorry to tell you we aren't shipping veggie burgers yet BUT we have started our dry ice time tests with a few types of shipping containers. Go to our Veggie Burger page to sign up to know when they'll be available shipped to your door!

Satvic Salsa

In case you wanted to add an extra bit of pizzazz to your next batch of Thai Temple or French Broad burgers, here’s a super simple chutney recipe, that even a bachelor could make. I think even Birjoo (another bachelor) agrees, and he tried this chutney on Prana Pancakes eaten as dosas, just last week!

Super Simple Chutney, or call it Satvic Salsa. (click for full recipe)

But for now Salt is a subject very dear and tasty to my heart. Let’s all eat more salt. Good, pure, unprocessed salt.

So why have we heard that salt isn’t good for us? That is partly true and partly a lie. It all depends on the salt.

Before we start, please go in your kitchen right now, and throw away your Morton salt. Toss it. Please. Do it right now. And look at any other types of salt you have. Are they white? Throw them away too. Real salt is pale gray or pink. If it isn’t gray or pink, even if it is called sea salt, throw it away. Just do it. I’ll wait here.

By the time you’ve finished reading this article, you’ll stop regretting that you threw it away and be glad you did.

I love Real Salt. It honestly could be my favorite food, right up there with good grass fed butter. When I was growing up I couldn’t stand salt but after I had a child I began to love it and crave it. They say that generally, you tend to crave foods that are good for you (ok not saying you should eat sugar 10x a day but…), so I trusted it and ate more. It turned out to be an amazing thing to eat more salt, because I had been dehydrated without knowing it.

Fortunately I had switched to Celtic Sea Salt (one of the good salts) at just the right time. Real Salt regulates the amount of water in the body. It is an electrolyte, which, simplified, means it keeps your body fit, strong, working properly and keeps you fresh and alert. Actually, it’s the minerals in the salt that have the electrolyte effect. It’s the gray or pink part of the real salt that does the electrolyte job. The minerals move things into and out of cells. Mineral depletion is a big problem because of the all the chemicals we ingest, including in table salt. About 80 different trace minerals are present in whole salts! Ingesting enough of these minerals can have a profound improvement on overall health.

As we know, a high “sodium” diet causes high blood pressure, stroke, heart failure, osteoporosis, stomach cancer, kidney disease, kidney stones, enlarged heart, puffiness and bloating. But in fact, processed salt is the culprit! The problem is actually the sodium without the naturally occurring minerals. Let’s face it. Table salt is toxic. Refined salt, stripped of its natural minerals, causes all the trouble. (if you didn't throw your table salt away yet, go do it now!)

Studies on real, whole salt and uses in Ayurveda reveal that our various real salts have these startling effects that we do not usually associate with salt.

· Prevent kidney stones!

· Stabilize blood pressure!

· Powerful electrolyte – regulate water in body

· Remove gas

· Improve appetite

· Soothe heartburn

· Improve arthritis

· Help fight infections

· Fight tumors

· Can whiten or harden teeth (mixed with sesame)

· And so much more.

If you want to know all its uses, google saindhava lavana. That is the Sanskrit name for Rock Salt. It is essentially the same as Himalayan pink salt in India, but do be careful of things labeled Rock Salt in the US. And, pink rock salt (sendha namak) and black rock salt (kala nimak) have different effects so check into them before using for a particular remedy.

If you are on a low sodium diet, all of this might be making your hair stand up on end. I get it. You don’t have to take my word for it. Do a little more research.

It’s shameful, but if you google “processed salt” the first link that comes up is from the Mayo clinic claiming that whole, unprocessed salt and processed salt are basically equal. This is nonsense. Another website even says the trace minerals in salt are “impurities.” This is also nonsense. That’s like saying white sugar and raw cane sugar are equal and the molasses in the cane sugar is an impurity. We all know it isn’t and in fact the minerals in the molasses help you digest the sugar. Salt is no different.

Salt used to have an amazing reputation. That’s why we have terms like “Salt of the Earth” and “Anyone worth their Salt,” and that’s why Roman soldiers used to be paid in salt. It was a precious commodity. It made food taste good and gave them energy like nothing else could. In fact, the term “worth their salt” came from the way soldiers were paid. Any soldier who was “worth his salt” was worth his salary.

Most chefs I know would tend to agree. Salt is precious. If you could only add one single thing to any dish to make it amazingly tasty, that would have to be salt. It has to be in the right quantity to bring out the best in the natural flavors of the food. The right quantity to bring out the maximum flavor, in my opinion, is usually just below the threshold of too much. I love foods with tons of flavor. Perhaps this is how I developed my taste for good salt.

If you are avoiding sodium in processed foods, that is a good thing, because 99% or so of processed foods also contain processed salt. To eat more good salt, cook at home more often and choose packaged foods carefully that use real salt. (Like Prana Foods!)

At Prana Foods, we only use Celtic Sea Salt. But you probably knew that already. It’s just a reminder that when you eat our flavor-bursting veggie burgers, our scrumptious pancakes (with that perfect threshold of salt that makes them taste buttery) and our heavenly cookies, you will be increasing your intake of all the healthy trace minerals that come with Real Salt.

There are some that believe earth salt (Himalayan or Rock salt) is the best of all, and they may be right. I chose Celtic salt because I love the sea. In any case, choose Real Salt. Please rush out right now to Earthfare, TJs or Whole Foods to get your Real Salt.

Okay, and I was weirdly and madly in the mood for some good salt (and dessert) after I wrote this article so check out what I made…Prana Cookies, then sprinkled them with Himalayan pink salt! Rather gourmet, I must say…there’s a reason salted caramel with imported aged sea salt flakes is a hit.

Weird? Maybe. Good? Definitely! After this might have to up the quantity of salt in the cookie mix! Just kidding. But try it, seriously.

To your good health, inner and outer beauty and enlightenment!

And click here for the bonus recipe! It includes Real Salt.

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