Kala Namak

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Unmilled crystal: The typical impurities are clearly visible

Kala Namak, also black salt or Kala Nun , is a manufactured condiment that consists mainly of sodium chloride .

The salt has a sulphurous smell reminiscent of rotten eggs. It has a brownish pink to dark purple-transparent hue on the whole, ground it is purple to pink.

Manufacturing

To produce Kala Namak, rock salt from Pakistan was originally mixed with charcoal as a reducing agent as well as Indian spices, herbs and the seeds of the Harad plant ( Terminalia chebula ) in traditional cuisine . The mixture was heated in a closed vessel and partially liquefied. The carbon in the charcoal led to a reduction reaction of the sulfates contained in the salt to the smell and taste- forming sulfides . Today, Kala Namak is hardly made commercially from rock salt and plants, but conventional sodium chloride is mixed with sodium sulfate , sodium hydrogen sulfate and iron (III) sulfate and reduced with charcoal.

The country of origin of this spice salt is usually given as India , but the majority of the production takes place in Pakistan.

composition

Kala Namak consists primarily of sodium chloride and contains small amounts of sulfur compounds such as sodium sulfate , iron sulfides and hydrogen sulfide . The salty taste is based on sodium chloride, the various sulfur compounds bring the smoky, slightly bitter taste and a distinctive smell. The dark purple color is due to the presence of iron sulfides. Hydrogen sulfide is poisonous for the organism, but the concentration contained in Kala Namak is insignificant.

use

Powder-finely ground, the black salt looks more pink

Kala Namak is used for chat masala in Indian cuisine . Dishes like chutneys , raitas and all kinds of fruits are seasoned with this salt. In Ayurvedic cuisine and medicine, it is used as a cooling spice ( Vata ). The salt is used in vegan cuisine to give dishes the taste of eggs; with tofu or avocado it is used as an egg substitute. It is used against goiter in the Jammu area.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Description on Holzbach gourmet salts
  2. ↑ Brief description on a website of an online shop
  3. ↑ Lachu Moorjani: Regional festivals in India. P. 22, Gibbs Smith, 2005, ISBN 978-1-58685-777-6
  4. ^ Allahabad High Court: Commissioner, Sales Tax vs Balwant Singh Jag Roshan Lal , February 18, 1970
  5. ↑ Salt + Salt: Information on Kala Namak Salt
  6. ↑ Description on Salt & Salt, a specialist supplier of salts from Pakistan
  7. ^ ZA Ali: Folk veterinary medicine in Moradabad District (Uttar Pradesh), India. In: Fitoterapia. Vol. 70, No. 4, 1999, pp. 340-347, doi: 10.1016 / S0367-326X (99) 00039-8 .
  8. ↑ a b Nalini Sadhale: Elephants through Manasollasa - Chapter 2. Diseases and treatment. In: Asian Agri-History. No. 8, Chapter 2, 2004, pp. 115-127 (English).
  9. ↑ a b c Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR): Occurrence of hydrogen sulfide in black salt (PDF; 26 kB)
  10. ↑ Hemla Aggarwal, Nidhi Kotwal: Ethnomedicine in Jammu. In: Ethno-Med. Vol. 3, No. 1, 2009, pp. 65-68 (English).