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In this article, I share the Healthiest Lead-free Salt you can Buy because eating “clean” now means avoiding colored salts and many white refined sea salts, too. We want and need minerals, but how do we get them in our salt?
The use of lead-free (in the title) is not really accurate. I chose “lead-free” because it makes the subject and goal of the article clear and easier to search for on browsers. More accurately, we are looking for the most nutritious lowest-lead salt possible (which is <25ppb). In lab testing, we’re looking for “ND”, or Non-detectable.
The point is: When we give up colored salts that we thought were healthy, we need a great alternative, a mineral-rich cooking salt.
This article has been newly updated with the latest testing, which puts a new salt at the top of our Yes list — and the great news is that this better salt is also a lot less expensive, and we can buy it in bulk.
Healthiest Lead-free Salt you can Buy: The lowest lead salt
I recently wrote an article about Why to Choose White Sea Salt over Himalayan Pink or Celtic Sea Salt. In that article, I also share that Redmond Real Salt is problematic.
Pink, Celtic and Redmond all contain high levels of lead, based on recent studies.
How to make the best salt more nutritious
When my family consumes salt at home, we have one salt for cooking, and we use a different salt at the table — a flavorful “finishing” salt (this one is lowest in lead).
If you can’t afford the finishing salt, you don’t ever need to splurge for that.
The cooking salt that I use, I actually make:
- It’s 50% Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt (the sea salt lowest in lead and other heavy metals: find it here in bulk)
- and 50% Potassium Chloride (find it here in bulk).
Why is that? It’s because potassium tastes a lot like salt, and it makes salt more nutritious.
Potassium makes white salt healthier
More importantly, it’s because most people are VERY deficient in potassium.
Adding potassium to our sea salt is a way of getting our electrolytes balanced and important minerals in at every meal.
To get our hands on more nutritious great quality safe sea salt, all we need to do is “dilute it” with much-needed potassium.
Find the Potassium Salt recipe here, but be sure to use Diamond Crystal in the recipe for best salt lowest in all toxins. — Or, just measure/eye 40 to 50% potassium and 50 to 60% Diamond salt into a jar, and stir or shake to mix thoroughly! (It doesn’t need to be exact, and you want to like the flavor.)
What potassium to choose
The potassium I use is Potassium Chloride. It costs .65 an ounce. I buy it in bulk, so it’s relatively cheap.
The taste on its own isn’t great. JUST use it for cooking, after diluting it with the safest salt.
Getting the best flavor
Optional: The one variation, for best flavor, is to add a small amount of Cream of Tartar (find it here) to it, which is actually another form of potassium.
Cream of Tartar’s flavor balances the flavor of potassium chloride and improves the overall flavor of what I call “Potassium Salt”.
(Potassium chloride tastes metallic or bitter to some people, whereas cream of tartar tastes tangy and offsets that.)
If you find that the potassium flavor is too strong in your cooking (I find it’s fine!), then you can make your dilution more like 60:40 or 70:30.
Whether you make your Diamond Crystal + Potassium Chloride mixture 50:50, 60:40 or 70:30, you now have a very clean cooking salt solution that’s mineral rich, too!
How does Diamond Crystal taste?
Before I updated this post, Jacobsen’s Oregon Sea Salt was the best option. Because it’s a sea salt, it seemed more gourmet, but I actually didn’t like the taste, which was bland.
When I found that Diamond Crystal was lower in all heavy metals than other salts, including lead, I was thrilled to see the reviews on the flavor: Over 5000 5-star reviews on the flavor! I ordered mine and was thrilled to have a more affordable salt than Jacobsen’s that actually tasted much better, too!
So even though Diamond Kosher salt doesn’t say sea salt on the box, that doesn’t mean it’s not a culinary wonder. You will love this delicious kosher cooking salt, even for use as a finishing salt; it’s that good! (YAY!!!)
Excellent, too, for baking, you may notice one hallmark about all kosher salts. It’s that they’re less salty: more flavorful, but less salty. So you may occasionally opt to add a bit more than recipes indicate.
Healthiest Lead-free Salt you can Buy: What about the other minerals we need
The other main minerals most of us really need for optimum wellness are:
- magnesium
- selenium
- molybdenum and
- zinc
You can read more about usual dosages on these here, or consider mineral testing with my doctor’s PA or one of his associates here. (I do not benefit in any way.)
In the meantime, listen to that potassium need, and your body will thank you for it.
You can Pin Healthiest Lead-free Salt you can Buy here:
Theresa says
I don’t know if it’s a typo or the wrong link but you mentioned .26/oz for Jacobsens and when I clicked through it was 80 some cents per ounce.
Thanks.
Theresa
Megan says
Hi Theresa, I’ve changed my recommendation based on more recent testing. Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is lowest in all heavy metals. It’s here: https://amzn.to/3CSuvEn (If you buy Jacobsen Salt Co brand, be sure it’s from Oregon (this one), not Italian sourced (which tests high in lead).
Josie Palomino says
Hi Megan. I hope all is well with your beautiful family. From this article, I followed the link for the salt that you recommended and that you priced at .26 cents an ounce. The link was to Amazon and that brand of salt was listed as .83 cents an ounce. That is 4 times the cost. Any idea why the discrepancy? Thanks Megan
Megan says
Hi Josie, I’ve changed my recommendation based on more recent testing. Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is lowest in all heavy metals. It’s here: https://amzn.to/3CSuvEn (If you buy Jacobsen Salt Co brand, be sure it’s from Oregon, not Italian sourced.)
Jim Berge says
Thanks Megan, this is particularly interesting to me since I’ve gone carnivore. I have been using redmond’s, looks like I may have to reevaluate!
Megan says
Great to hear, Jim, that you’ll be switching, and so glad it’s helpful! (Excited to hopefully see you guys soon! I look forward to hearing more about your diet and how it’s going!)
Olivia says
I just ordered both the salt and potassium, I am very greatful to have find your article while I was researching about salts. Not Google of course, I used duck duck go. I appreciate you, I am ready for the health benefits.
Megan says
Awesome, Olivia! Thanks so much for sharing. Blessings, and I’m super happy for you to have benefits, too! Such great changes to make. 🙂
Roxanna Rutter says
I am so grateful to find you online! Late spring i was at Sprouts (FLA) and the woman restocking the bulk herbs exclaimed that they now have celtic Sea Salt in bulk (!); to never buy pink himalayan b/c of lead
content. For the summer i used only celtic – O! no! I’ve been on the search for a good mineral salt since. What does research indicate for Colima Sea Salt – i love the taste; its from the Nayarit Coast in Mexico! Thank you so much for this info! bon Appetit. Roxanna
Megan says
Hi Roxanna, I’m so glad the article is helpful! The chances of your specialty lovely tasting salt being low in lead are very small indeed, based on how many salts came up extremely safe and low in toxins. But your salt was not tested. I use the Icelandic salt that came up safe as my course finishing salt: https://amzn.to/4hEhZrF or Diamond Crystal as a finer cooking and finishing salt, which is much lower priced: https://amzn.to/3CSuvEn Sorry about that and that I can’t report specifically where yours falls. I’m glad you’re so aware now. 🙂 And it’s good that word is getting out about the pink salts.
Cindy says
I have read that Jacobsen ‘s Italian salt has lead in it. I have read that their salt from oregon does not have the lead. What do you think?
Megan says
Hi Cindy, yes! That is correct. Instead of the Oregon-sourced Jacobsen Salt Co salt, I now switched to Diamond Crystal because it tastes better, is a lot less expensive, and it’s lower in all heavy metals than any other salt tested. True that the Italian sourced salt was just tested, and it tested positive for lead, so it should be avoided.
Allison says
Hi, I’m looking for a fine table salt if there’s a safe one available. Thank you!
Megan says
Hi Allison, happy to help. I recently updated this article and just updated the photos. I think the photos must have confused you. The updated article shares that Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt (find it here) is the lowest in all heavy metals overall, including lead. I do not buy Jacobsen anymore, and definitely not the Italian sourced one. Amazingly, Diamond Crystal is the best tasting salt, too, and it’s very low priced. Texture-wise, it’s not course, but it’s not superfine; it’s almost soft and crushable, lovely. Enjoy! This is exciting news. 🙂
Kathy Baker says
Hi There, I really appreciate your articles and had purchased the sea salt you had recommended because of the low micro plastics that you mentioned in your previous post. There’s no mention of that here. What do you think?
I’ve gleaned so much wonderful health information from you and I appreciate you!
Best Wishes, Kathy
Megan says
Hi Kathy, I’m in the same spot you are: wondering the same thing. Unfortunately, the new testing did not show anything in regard to microplastics, but: While microplastics have been found in kosher salts in general, the levels are generally low because of the methods used; so that’s reassuring news. I also take something called TRS that detoxes plastic residue (as plastics break down) and heavy metals.
(For anyone who may be interested in the future, too, I’ve been taking TRS for years, and I plan to keep taking it. You need a distributor to buy it, so I became one. Here’s the info and my link if you’re interested. Click the Shop Now button. The product is called Advanced TRS [I buy the 3-pack in glass bottles].)
I hope that helps a little, but hopefully testing will be done in the future. Best wishes, too, and thank you for your kind comments!
Carol N. says
Thank you for this information. Question though….does the Diamond salt you recommend have the same minerals/trace minerals that sea salt does?
Megan says
No, Carol, this the major paradigm shift to get our minds around. I now take minerals separately. I recommend (as a friend) starting with potassium salt: https://eatbeautiful.net/homemade-lite-salt-salt-substitute-recipe-morton-copycat-salt-potassium/ , as potassium is the key electrolyte most people need in addition to sodium chloride. After that, all of us should be taking magnesium: https://eatbeautiful.net/magnesium-oral-topical-which-is-best/ You’ll see details in that article, but I take Mg orally and use the lotion. These simple inclusions keep it not too complicated.
Beyond that, I tested (both blood and hair) and supplement accordingly with zinc, selenium and molybdenum. There are a lot of trace minerals we don’t want that are in mineral drops and colored salts (minerals like copper or too much manganese, for example). So it’s safer to add in zinc, selenium and molybdenum. You can find these and start at the base doses of them, which works for most people or do testing if you’re inclined. As you may already know, it’s not wise to take a multivitamin or mineral because both contain dangerous inclusions. Sorry it’s not as easy as it used to be, but those were not best practices, just an unsafe shotgun approach. Blessings!