Weird! My friends just ran a study where they gave people Morton salt (iodized and not) and people by and large could not tell the difference. (I'll link to it when it's up.) What kind of salt was your iodized salt?
Fascinating. The iodized salt I had was also Morton! But the other salts were different brands, so maybe Morton has a particular flavor? My Morton salt was also pretty old, since my household prefers to use the pink salt most of the time. Perhaps iodized salt starts to become weird as it ages? I wonder what a comparison of 10-year-old salts would result in.
This salt experiment sounds like it used 4 different types of fancy gourmet salt and "iodized table salt". What would the results be like if you included "uniodized table salt"? I.e. another salt in the same style from the same manufacturer as the iodized salt. It's important to control all other variables than the one you claim is causing the effect.
I'd be interested in finding out as well. The pink Himalayan salt was extremely cheap, so despite the fancy color I think it's pretty comparable to other table salts. I totally agree with you about having a control, in general. This was definitely not intended to be done as a study with a control, as it was aimed at teaching people that there was, in fact, a noticeable difference between salt as a basic concept.
If I were to do this as a scientific study, it would look completely different; blind-folded participants, double-blind, and a larger number of more carefully chosen salts – including iodized and non-iodized versions from multiple manufacturers (not just multiple brands, as many of them are likely to get their salt from the same manufacturer).
I love your story of 5 salts as an analogy to learning in context! 😋 I also enjoy varieties of salts and tasting their nuances. Not everyone's taste buds distinguish the nuances. I brought back some fleur de sel from southern France in May, which is used as a finishing salt. But I recently researched its history and how it's gathered. Fascinating. Another example of learning in context.😄
Weird! My friends just ran a study where they gave people Morton salt (iodized and not) and people by and large could not tell the difference. (I'll link to it when it's up.) What kind of salt was your iodized salt?
Fascinating. The iodized salt I had was also Morton! But the other salts were different brands, so maybe Morton has a particular flavor? My Morton salt was also pretty old, since my household prefers to use the pink salt most of the time. Perhaps iodized salt starts to become weird as it ages? I wonder what a comparison of 10-year-old salts would result in.
This salt experiment sounds like it used 4 different types of fancy gourmet salt and "iodized table salt". What would the results be like if you included "uniodized table salt"? I.e. another salt in the same style from the same manufacturer as the iodized salt. It's important to control all other variables than the one you claim is causing the effect.
I'd be interested in finding out as well. The pink Himalayan salt was extremely cheap, so despite the fancy color I think it's pretty comparable to other table salts. I totally agree with you about having a control, in general. This was definitely not intended to be done as a study with a control, as it was aimed at teaching people that there was, in fact, a noticeable difference between salt as a basic concept.
If I were to do this as a scientific study, it would look completely different; blind-folded participants, double-blind, and a larger number of more carefully chosen salts – including iodized and non-iodized versions from multiple manufacturers (not just multiple brands, as many of them are likely to get their salt from the same manufacturer).
I love your story of 5 salts as an analogy to learning in context! 😋 I also enjoy varieties of salts and tasting their nuances. Not everyone's taste buds distinguish the nuances. I brought back some fleur de sel from southern France in May, which is used as a finishing salt. But I recently researched its history and how it's gathered. Fascinating. Another example of learning in context.😄
It can be fun to taste test things and try to distinguish them, even if it's difficult. Fleur de sel is wonderful stuff!