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Rules of strategic salting from a 'selmelier' Mark Bitterman calls himself a "selmelier," a made-up word meant to evoke his wish to do for salt what sommeliers do for wine: educate, surprise, delight. Owner of The Meadow, a specialty food and flower shop with branches in New York City and Portland, Ore., he has written a book called "Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes" (Ten Speed, $35).This handsome tribute to salt outlines its history, varieties, method of manufacture and proper use. He hopes to help Americans relearn what they know about salt and how they use it.   View Here>>

Portland's Salt SellerMark Bitterman roamed the globe hunting special salt for 20 years before he opened the Meadow, a gourmet shop selling more than 100 kinds of salt in Portland’s North Mississippi neighborhood. Mark’s obsession crystallized in late 2010 with the publication of Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes, a comprehensive guide.View Here>

Shop sells worldwide gourmet saltThere are collectors of artwork and baseball memorabilia but Mark Bitterman is interested in something quite different. He is a collector of salt from around the globe and has now opened a store with his wife in New York City where everyone can have a taste.View Here>

Mark Bitterman, Selmelier, The MeadowYes, you read that correctly. Mark Bitterman is a Selmelier —a salt expert, and former New Yorker, recently opened an NYC branch of The Meadow, a shop he started in Portland, Oregon. This West Village boutique not only carries salt, but chocolate, bitters, syrups, oils and vinegars, or, as  Bitterman likes to say, it's "a place where the beautiful, the delicious, and the unexpected are brought together for your pleasure." he was just nominated for a James Beard Award and two IACP Awards for his book, Salted. In case you haven't had the chance to stop by the store, here's a little taste of what you're missing.View Here>

A Love for SaltA seasoned gift. I'm Anthony Dias Blue with the Blue Lifestyle Minute sponsored by CUISINART. Salt is so much more than a drink rimmer or a chip’s sidekick. Mark Bitterman explores the nuanced properties of this seasoning in his book Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral. Serving as “selmelier” at Portland, Oregon’s The Meadow, a critically acclaimed artisan-product boutique, Bitterman has channeled his far-reaching knowledge into a field guide to artisan salts, including the history of salt making, a reference guide, and a compilation of specialty recipes. Salted profiles 80 varieties of salt, ranging from the fleur de sel harvested from Celtic plantations to exotic rock salts found in the Sahara. The practical application portion includes recipes for everything from mango salsa with Hawaiian black lava salt to salt crust–roasted partridge with figs and chocolate. SALTED is available in stores and online for $35, from Ten Speed Press. View Here>>

Pursuing a higher, saltier powerWelcome to The Meadow. Portland's own (yet world-renowned) purveyor of the culinary world's most sacred commodity: salt. How seriously do the priestesses at The Meadow take their ministry? They stock more than 70 varieties of salt. From finishing salts like Andes Mountain Rose to artisan salts like Djibouti Pearls—The Meadow is absolutely guaranteed to have something that will send you into salt SamadhiView Here>

Last Chance Foods: Pass the Salt - The Meadow, a store that offers more than 100 types of gourmet salt, opened in the West Village this past November. At first glance, the timing seems like it couldn’t be worse. Last year, New York City joined the National Salt Reduction Initiative, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg heavily publicized the campaign to lower sodium in foods. The initiative was just the start to a much more nuanced debate, one that was dubbed “the Salt Wars,” by former New York Times columnist James Tierney.View Here>

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>>