Jessica is really Gwyneth Paltrow!

Awesome! I own a castle!

Balsamic vinegar, if they use real balsamic vinegar, is slightly sweeter than regular vinegar. I'm not sure that is a flavor I'd actually like on chips.

I've tried some of the Archer Farms brand, and they're quite tasty (though it is an unusual flavor). Not really sweet, it's mostly the tang that makes it into the chip, but they're not bitter like regular vinegar ones.

I DID NOT KNOW THERE WAS PINK SALT!! I NEED THIS POST-HASTE! I wonder if Central Market carries it? Or maybe even Market Street?

If you (the general "you") stop using regular table salt and switch to one of the "fancy" salts, check the iodine content. It may not have enough. Also, if you consume soda with brominated oil in it (damn you, Mountain Dew), you may need more iodine, because bromide shoves iodine aside and takes its place, the bully. I learned this the hard way. My thyroid problems, for which I was told I'd have to take replacement hormones for the rest of my life, went away when I went back to using table salt and started taking seaweed supplements.

As for "fancy" salt, the one I like best is called Real Salt and it's mined from a dried-up prehistoric lake in Utah. It's delicious.

There is pink salt! Just do be careful asking for it: "pink salt" is also a common name for meat-curing salts, which may produce yummy bacon-y flavor but you definitely don't want them sprinkled directly on your dinner!

If you (the general "you") stop using regular table salt and switch to one of the "fancy" salts, check the iodine content. It may not have enough.

Most "fortified" foods (bread, breakfast cereals, etc) also have iodine in them these days - it's not so necessary to get it directly from iodized salt anymore.

There's an article on salt tasting in the Times today by Harold McGee. On iPhone so no link.

Most "fortified" foods (bread, breakfast cereals, etc) also have iodine in them these days - it's not so necessary to get it directly from iodized salt anymore.

That's what I thought. Perhaps I need more iodine than the average. Perhaps the Mt Dew, love of my life, made me need more. I don't know. I can only report my personal anecdata.

Just do be careful asking for it: "pink salt" is also a common name for meat-curing salts, which may produce yummy bacon-y flavor but you definitely don't want them sprinkled directly on your dinner!

I've also found that the price of Himalayan pink salt goes up in direct proportion to the number of bullshit health claims written on the package. (The one I have claims that it is both the purest salt ever to salt the earth and to have some kind of magical harmonious balance of vitamins and minerals that will cure cancer and make me fart rainbows. Like I said, it was a gift.)

Since I don't have a thyroid, I don't need iodine anymore. However, I switched to Kosher salt many moons ago because I had to go on a low-iodine diet and needed iodine-free salt. Kosher is iodine-free and that made me a happy girl.