SALT

SALT PROJECT

The idea of this project is deceptively simple.

I start with a small empty tray of salt shakers, there are 12 in total.
Each of these salt shakes should have a different interpretation of ‘salt’ in them.
The substance in the shaker needs to be a white granular powder and safe to eat.
There is no major visual element of this project.
The usefulness of these salts its outside the scope of the project.

This is the tray of salt shakers that I decided on. It is unfortunatly not that visually interesting.

The first stage of this project was determining what substances I could add to make these salts and if I was able to make or procure those substances.
Below is a non exhaustive list of the materials that have been used towards this project.

SOUR

Citric acid
Malic Acid
Tartaric Acid
Ascorbic Acid
Sodium Diacetate

ALKALINE

Sodium Carbonate
Sodium Bicarbonate
Potassium Carbonate
Potassium Bicarbonate

HOT

Capsaicin Isolate
Piperine

COLD

Erithritol
Mannitol
Xylitol
Menthol Crystals
Menthol Lactate

SLIMEY

Polyethylene Oxide
Sodium Polyacrylic

SALTY

Sodium Chloride
Potassium Chloride
Ammonium Chloride
Ferric Ammonium Citrate
Sodium Citrate
Sodium Diacetate
Potassium bitartrate
Black Salt

SAVORY

Monosodium Glutamate
Disodium Inosinate
Disodium Guanylate
Gluthathione
Nutritional Yeast Powder

CREAMY

Maltodextrin Oils
Coconut Milk Powder
Milk Powder
Lactose

GRITTY

Silica Powder
Silica Microspheres
Talc
Calcium Carbonate
Mica

SWEET

Granulated Sugar
Sucralose
Aspartame
Acesulfame Potassium
Erithritol
Mannitol
Xylitol

BITTER

Denatonium Benzoate
Tannin Powder
Caffeine Isolate

NUMBING

Hydroxy Alpha Sanshool
Spilanthol
Saliclic Acid

ASTRINGENT

Tannin Powder
Quinine Powder

SOAPY

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Sodium Carbonate
Potassium Carbonate

These are the core elements that I have to work with. Each of these have been recombined in various ways to make an aesthetically interesting result. These materials are mixed at various ratios to produce a white powder, one that is nondescript and looks mostly like any other white powder these combinations will look like. These powders are than placed into salt shakes and presented as sets.

Each salt mixture have a identity of its own. I have also given them descriptive names based off the above categories of taste, sensation, and texture. These names act as a kind of poetic description of the experience the salt offers.

This project is a microcosm of the taste world, its taking all of the alchemical materials that make up the basic tastes and removing the flavor elements. All tastes that can be experienced have been reduced to white powders in jars. They have been recombined into strange untrustworthy mixtures and been presented in the least visual form possible. Knowing what they are is only achieved by namesake. –Slimey Sour Gritty Salt, Hot Cold Salt, Salty Numbing Sweet Salt, Foaming Bitter Salt– It is difficult to predict what each of these salts will taste like. There is a mix of the real and the synthetic and everything has been reduced to trust. These are all fantastical combinations and in many ways are more experience when thought about rather than when tried. This project in many ways is opposite of my Impossible Flavors Project, which is also about distilling things down to their basic elements but instead of the flavors of those things these are their tastes.