this post was submitted on 13 May 2026
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No, it has a flavor problem. It tastes bad, which detracts from the saltiness and flavor of iodized salt. However, it turns out the food naturally richest in iodine is seaweed, which works out great for vegans and vegetarians.
In blind taste tests people can not identify iodized salt
Yeah, I didn't know iodized salt has a flavor issue, either. I've never heard of this before.
“People” eat McDonald’s french fries and add white sugar to weak coffee. Their palates are overwhelmed with refined salt and sweet. Iodized salt is chemically refined to iodine and sodium chloride, same as white sugar is refined down to sucrose, and high fructose corn syrup is refined to fructose and glucose, stripping out the flavor of the location, sugar cane, and corn, respectively. That’s great for manufacturing, just like the Red Delicious apple and bland reddish tomato. So yes, “people” can’t tell the difference between salts, and that’s unfortunate.
Literal professional cooks can’t tell the difference..
If that’s true, let’s name names. I’ll start: here’s Wolfgang Puck on Masterclass.
"Wolfgang says. “Now, you have so many different salts, even smoked salts, for example. If you want to roast or barbecue something, put a little smoked salt on it. What I use all the time is great sea salt or fleur de sel. I never use iodized salt because iodized salt is not good for you and has no flavor. Good salt has a lot of flavor.”" https://www.masterclass.com/articles/wolfgang-puck-on-seasoning-food
Those salts very distinctly are not pure NaCl. For example according to Wikipedia, fleur de sel is 0.4% magnesium, 0.2% potassium, 0.1% calcium by dry weight. (For comparison, iodized salt tends to have 25mg/kg of iodine, so... 0.0025%?)
That’s right. Their impurities and the essence of smoke and sea provide flavor beyond the taste of salt. They are not refined, purified, deprived of flavor, and infused with iodine. You know why iodine is added to salt? Because people literally need to take it with a grain of salt.
So we agree?
Pure, refined NaCl tastes the same as pure, refined NaCl with that amount of iodine added.
Smoked salt tastes the same as smoked salt with that amount of iodine added (if such exists?)
Fleur de sel would taste the same as fleur de sel with that amount of iodine added, if someone would make such a thing.
?
I prefer lovage salt to pure salt for lots of purposes too, that's got nothing to do with anything iodine.
Unfortunately...
Environmental Research, Volume 278, 1 August 2025, 121631: Seaweed as a sink for microplastic contamination: Uptake, identifications and food safety implications
I don't think seaweed is the microplastic source we should be fixating on:
Since most animals eat plants, almost any problem you have at the plant level compounds or worsens at the animal level. Fish and "seafood" are the typical animal source of iodine, but they either eat algae, filter feed or eat animals who filter feed, so the microplastics accumulate. Generally, the lower down the food chain you eat, the fewer microplastics/heavy metals you'll get.
About other animal based sources, land animals are not magical iodine producers, they also need to get it from their diet like us and are usually supplemented iodine. Just use some iodized salt for cooking, idk if it has different concentrations in the US but I've never heard a single person saying it tastes bad. Or eat some seaweed, the iodine is incredibly concentrated anyway and it probably has fewer microplastics than other dietary sources.
Source is Wikipedia:
True, avoid meat, or at least land meat! I do promote a pescatarian diet whenever possible.