Hymalayan Salt - my cure for cramp?

Rose pink crystal salt

Earlier today we popped into Nature's Harvest, an interesting looking health food shop in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.  A quaint little local shop, alas no website to point you to.  We picked up a packet of Himalayan Rose Pink Crystal Rock Salt; Rachel had previously clocked our friend Natasha mentioning it on her blog sometime ago click here to pop over to her site.

Seems that it is salt with a difference - i.e. it is unrefined - not mucked about with, processed, jazzed up, over packaged.  It has some 84 elements within it, apparently the same as is found in the human body.  These elements are in colloidal form, meaning they are small enough to be absorbed into the body, so that's a handy thing to know.  It comes from the natural waters in the Himalayas and is harvested naturally and by hand.  There are no additives (such as anti caking agents, bleaches and so on) and this explains why it is presented in such an unusual form - small pinkish coloured crystals.

The idea of us trying this out is three-fold:

• seasoning for our food; perhaps bringing a nice, new taste
• could this be a possible cure for the cramp I seem to suffer from more these days
• it's something new for us to try

We were amused to read on the packet that the "Best Before" date is April 2018.  While that is some way off right now, it does strike us as being unnecessarily precise when you take into account the packs claim of the salt "having formed over 250 million years".  So why something that old will go off in the next 4 years and 8 months is beyond me.  Mind you, whether it is actually 250 million years old depends on where you stand on the New Earth or Old Earth theories, but although that is an interesting debate, it's not for this blog.

I mentioned about cramp.  Yep I get cramp in my toes, feet and legs quite a bit these days.  The most inconvenient time is when I'm on my bicycle with my feet locked into the pedals courtesy of SPD pedals and shoes.  I tell you, that can be pretty scary at over 30mph.  Take a look at this article for the full account.

Mind you, while I'm looking forward to trying this salt out, I'm going to be careful I don't end up taking too much salt in.  No matter how good this is, too much salt can raise blood pressure which is best avoided these days for us all.

So there you go.  Some new salt which is possibly millions of years old and costs £3.99 for 500g.  It is supplied wholesale by http://www.profusionorganic.co.uk.  Whether it cures my cramp or not - we'll wait and see!