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Just around the corner from my home is an amazing new shop, The Meadow, that specializes in gourmet salts, chocolates, cocktail flavorings, and unique dishes, salt cellars, and spoons. The original store is located in Portland Oregon and has been open for a few years. I was first taken by the astonishing array of salts the store has to offer (all of which you can taste before buying). With varieties from every corner of the world (Hawaii, southern France, the Himalayas), I immediately started to think how wonderful they would be to season the dishes I order in or the few I make at home. French fries with Black Diamond salt would be delicious and striking.View Here>

A Shop Worth its SaltDour city officials may have declared sodium a public enemy last year, but that didn’t stop Portland, Oregon–based salt shop the Meadow (523 Hudson St between Charles and W 10th Sts, 212-645-4633) from opening an outpost here in the fall. Thirty-plus countries are represented in the store’s collection of more than 100 salts, each painstakingly sourced by owner Mark Bitterman. Perennial chef favorites like delicate fleur de sel, flaky Maldon and quartz-like slabs of Himalayan pink are well represented. But the real treat is chatting with the shopkeepers and tasting their colorful, far-flung finds, contained in glass canisters lining the shelves. A new arrival, the Alaska Pure (bright, sweet flakes with a mineral crunch) works with everything from moist fish to winter green salads, and the magenta-pink Maboroshi Plum Salt, made from the vinegar of salt-preserved plums, has an acidity that plays well with sautéed vegetables, pork and poached eggs. Bitterman calls these crystalline beauties “elemental pleasures,” and the same can be said of the rest of his offerings: Flowers—including amaryllis and tulips—fill the space, ready for an impromptu arrangement; bitters, like local upstarts Bittermens and Regan’s, are arranged on hemlock tables; and an entire wall of chocolates emphasizes rare and single-origin varieties. We favor Byrne & Carlson’s stunning, limited-production bars decorated with crystallized violets, and the Sahagun Sun Drops—dark-chocolate balls oozing sunflower-seed butter and raw blackberry honey. We can’t help but think that a handful of these, and an upgrade from Morton table salt, might be just what some curmudgeonly legislators need. View Here>>

Pink Himalayan Salt PlatesI recently received two pink Himalayan salt plates for Christmas. They are, after reading Mark Bitterman's salt tome, Salted, exactly what I wanted.The plates are carved from boulders of Himalayan salt rock quarried from mine shafts in Pakistan. The salt rocks' color ranges from cherry blossom pink to duck breast burgundy. Fissures naturally run through the stone create lightning-like cracks of white color, making the plates even more visually engaging. The plates have a number of uses which vary based on their temperature and can be used as a serving platter, a curing stone, or a cooking surface. When the plates are cold they can give chocolate or butterscotch ice cream a perfect hint of salt that balances the sweet. At room temperature, I use the plates to cure crepe paper thin slices of sirloin beef. The salt imbues them with a pleasant, minerally flavor and effectively cooks the beef. A splash of lemon juice and a flurry of parsley pleasantly finish the dish creating a delightfully old-world appetizer. Fish such as yellowtail or salmon also cure well on the plates. Plus, unlike soy sauce, whose salty flavor can easily overpower fish, the salt plates offer a salt flavor that carefully heightens the flavor of the fish. Lastly, the plates can easily be heated for cooking purposes as well. Bacon and eggs, flank steak, duck breasts, and even dinner rolls cooked on the plates pick up a delicate saltiness that gives food dimension. Salt plates can easily be purchased online at stores such as The Meadow.

Salt SellerSalt is in the zeitgeist. Although the stuff has been around literally forever (read this book on its fascinating history), it’s being particularly fetishized at this moment. No fewer than 3 people gave me salt this holiday season, bringing my collection to 18 different types! A couple of the gifts came from the same store: The Meadow, on Hudson Street in New York City. Jennifer Turner Bitterman and her husband “selmelier” Mark Bitterman founded this boutique in Portland in 2006. It specializes in salt, chocolate, flowers and wine (though on a recent visit I noticed only bitters; more on those later). The assortment of salts is truly mind-blowing. From Bengal Blue to Smoked Red Alder, there are more than 100 types, sourced from all over the world. The most instantly striking thing in the store are blocks and slabs of pink Himalayan salt, big translucent pieces for cooking and serving food. You can arrange sashimi on a chilled brick of the stuff and watch the edges of the fish turn pale and firm as it actually cures right there. Or heat a block on the stove or the barbeque and grill thin slices of flank steak for a unique and delicately salty flavor. I can’t wait to try this! View Here>>

Need a gift for the foodie who has everything? Wander over to The Meadow. Featured in the New York Times, The Meadow sells chocolate from around the world, an extensive line of artisanal bitters and over a hundred different kinds of salt. I recently spent an enthralled half hour in The Meadow’s shop on Hudson Street in New York City. Part Victorian greenhouse, part alchemy shop, part candy stand, The Meadow is filled with delectable items. A long display table and wall shelves—made of 100 year-old salvaged hemlock planks—hold fragrant flora and edibles: Flowers, mosses, tiny salt cellars, row upon row of chocolate bars and hundreds of apothecary jars filled with salt of every color, grain and provenance imaginable. Your eye is immediately drawn to The Meadow’s grotto-like store window, stacked round with what look slabs of luminous, pink quartz. But they’re not. The rosy, translucent chunks are actually Himalayan salt, quarried and cut in Tibet. Beautiful as they are, the Himalayan salt blocks are also practical: You can serve—and cook!—food on the slabs. View Here>>

Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential MineralThis interview originally ran on the Food for Thought show on KLCC in EugeneSalt connoisseur Mark Bitterman says it’s time to trash the Morton’s and even that culinary favorite, kosher salt. Bitterman, a self-proclaimed “selmelier,” has just published “Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral.” Laura McCandlish recently caught up with Bitterman at the Meadow, his gourmet salt shop in Northeast Portland.View Here>>

Salty advice and a recipe for Chevre with Cyprus Black Flake Sea Salt and Cacao NibsSalting as a deliberate act. Sounds a bit intense. And for Mark Bitterman, it is. It's a call to action, a plan to banish bland food. "Think about salting as a deliberate act," says Bitterman, author of "Salted" (Ten Speed Press, 2010), a 312-page devotional to salt. "This isn't about being a fancy chef. It's about how to make every single food you eat in your daily life come alive." Because truth is, salt has a powerful effect on food. And just a little bit goes a long way. Here's Bitterman's tips to help you sort through the maze of salts that crowd the market. Salts vary in moisture, mineral content and the size and structure of their crystals, Bitterman says. Moisture dictates "mouth feel," while mineral content will play up or tone down a food's intrinsic qualities, such as fruitiness. Crystal size creates different sensations on the tongue.  View Article>