We are burning the midnight oil to bring you one more thing to worry about, goiters. We meet some French chemists and give ourselves a totally achievable goal for 2026 as we decide to let them eat caviar. After a visit to The Goiter Belt we address our own snobbery and delusional taste buds before tackling crystalline structures and musician magicians.
Molly's Now but Wow! - Fela Kuti: Fear No Man: podcast
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:00
Hi, I'm Molly, and I'm Matthew,
Molly 0:06
and this is spilled milk, the show where we cook something delicious, eat it all, and you can't have any. And today we're talking about
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:12
iodized salt. That's right. This episode was suggested by me. Yes, host, Molly, why did you request iodized salt? Well, for one thing, was it because we were desperate for a topic, any topic,
Molly 0:22
that's right. But also, I feel like I the reason why salt is iodized is one of those things I sort of knew but didn't really know.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:31
I don't really know the history of it. And like, also, like, I like an underdog, and I feel like in the in the kitchens of serious cooks like us, we never get this Morton iodized salt canister because, like we've been told, real cooks use kosher salt,
Molly 0:46
I know. And I came away from this also as spoiler alert, yeah, I volunteered to research this episode. And I will just say that I was researching it on a Sunday afternoon, and it took me so long to research it that I started in full on daylight and ended at like dark. I felt truly hopeless at a certain point that I would be able to bring it all together.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:11
That is, that's amazing. It's like the Korean grocery store near us is called, is called M to M, and it stands for morning to midnight, and they have a sign in the window that, like, it's a real like, graphic design is my passion, like we did this on Canva, kind of sign that says, you'll think about us morning till midnight. I quote this all the time, but you research iodized software
Molly 1:34
and and the truth is, I came away from it thinking, God, I don't know why I don't buy iodized salt I
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:41
have one reason in mind, which, which should I say it now? Or should we get into it?
Molly 1:46
Okay, well, so the reason I don't is the salt I use most often is kosher salt. And then, for some reason, I was like, Oh, if I'm going to buy fine salt for, like, baking recipes, because there are some baking recipes that call for fine salt, or, you know that the recipe was written at a time when they would have made it with table
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:05
salt, right? And I just double that amount and use diamond crystal kosher salt.
Molly 2:09
Oh, okay, I keep a fine salt around for that, but I keep around like La balaine French sea salt in the fine version,
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:17
I keep a fine sea salt around for popcorn, because Kosher salt falls off popcorn.
Molly 2:22
Yes, okay, so, so why don't you keep Morton Salt
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:27
cool, right? Because it's because it's uncool. But then, when I went to the store, like, you know, they had the this classic, like cardboard canister that is such like a great piece of packaging, even though the spout kind of sucks. It seems like that maybe they've updated the graphic design very slightly, but it is basically the exact same thing we had in our house when I was a kid, absolutely 100%
Molly 2:49
I came away from this feeling like, why am I buying this stupid, expensive, fine sea salt? Frankly, I'm not sure if I'm getting enough iodide in my diet. Okay, let's get into now that I have learned. I've done so much learning, and I can't wait to share with you.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:04
I always figure, okay, yeah, let's get into it. Because, yeah, the other thing like, this stuff is cheap, and also, there was store brand that was literally 99 cents, and I'm sure is indistinguishable from Morton's brand. I just got the Morton's because, for nostalgia's
Molly 3:17
sake, how much was this one? Though, that was 249 okay? And this was, this is a little this is like a pound and a half of salt. Wow, that's amazing. All right, so, Matthew, what's on your memory lane?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:29
This is the salt that we had in the house when I was a kid. I remember the container. I remember like this, this little metal spout that falls off after a while. If I was going to be cooking something like this is the salt I would use 100%
Molly 3:42
I would say everything the same. And what I really remember about this metal spout is that there's basically okay, you know, it lays flush with the top of the canister, yes. And there's pretty much no way to tip it up without, like, catching it with your fingernail, yeah, which feels kind of weird. I hate that feeling. It is like, Oh, if I can do it without really getting the metal under my fingernail, then
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:05
it's a good day. It's a
Molly 4:06
good day. But listen to the Yes. This is the sound of opening and closing the spout. Yeah, so satisfying. I love that they have not improved upon this design. Yes. Now I did notice we're gonna get into the slogan, right? Of course. Okay, all right. Well, wait, what is the slogan? Well, it's not on there anymore. That's what I want to talk about. Oh, it used to say near the umbrella girl. It used to say when it rains, it pours. Yeah. What do we want to say about that slogan?
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:33
Well, I mean, I think what it means, like, correct me if I'm wrong. What it means is that, like, our salt doesn't cake up because it has an anti caking agent, which it still does. And so, like, even on a humid day, you can, like, pour it cleanly from the container without, without having to, like, shake it, or, like, stick and stick a fork in it, or something.
Molly 4:50
That is such a good point, I had forgotten. It's been so okay. I don't think I've ever owned a salt shaker as an adult. We did have one in my house when I was a kid, but I. Think I'd forgotten that in in, like, diners and things where you would have a salt shaker out on the table, there would often be grains of rice in there to keep it from clumping. Right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:08
It still has calcium silicate, which is, which is sand, an anti caking agent. So, like, obviously, it's still an issue. It's an issue that nobody has thought about in many decades.
Molly 5:18
Right? I hadn't, right, okay, I want to say that. Well, just listener, you should know, this is the first episode where I've ever consulted articles on PubMed. Wow, that's great, isn't that great? This episode is full of public health. Okay, so you're gonna feel so healthy when you're done with it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:37
Oh. Another thing I like about the container is that it's 491 servings per container. I love that. We're going to finish it today.
Molly 5:44
We are okay. So okay, we're going to start out quite general here, like, why do we have iodized salt, and what is it? And then we're going to get into the history of it, which actually was more interesting than
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:57
I had. Okay, yeah, no, I know nothing about it. So iodized salt, in
Molly 6:01
short, is the thing that we in the US tend to call table salt. It's that fine grained salt that you put in a salt shaker. If you have salt shakers, oh, I put that on the agenda. We'll talk about that. Okay, good, good. It's a fine grained salt that has had added to it a teeny, tiny amount of iodine salts, also called, I believe, iodide, and we're going to get into the reasons for that in a second. Interestingly, iodide is not the only mineral or substance that gets put into salt for public health reasons. Okay, in other parts of the world, sometimes, yes, sometimes Nougat is added for health reasons. Now, sometimes iron is added, I believe, folate, potassium, fluoride for dental health and in in places where there are certain parasitic diseases, specifically India and China, they add diethyl carbon carbamazene to prevent or treat certain like mosquito borne sure parasitic illnesses, cool. So really interesting to think about salt doing all this work. Iodine is a mineral that is naturally present in our food supply, but in varying amounts, right? So it's especially it's especially prevalent in coastal regions. That's us. That's right where it is found in the water, there's a lot of iodide, or iodine in seaweed, for instance, it's found in the soil and it's found in water, but generally, like across Earth's upper crust, iodine is very rare in the soil. So unless you are eating a pretty decent amount of things that come from the ocean, or unless you are eating or consuming food that has had iodine added to it, you're not gonna get a lot of it through just like eating things that naturally grow or graze on land, okay, I naturally grow and graze on Land. Me too, me too. If you eat me, I might not be a good source of iodide, a necessary Nutri nutrients. Yeah, I think that's what I'm saying. So anyway, by that, well, you're not hurt in the ways that people are when they suffer from iodine deficiency rates. Okay, thank you. Thank you. So according to Wikipedia, about 2 billion people around the world today are still affected by iodine deficiency, even though we know all the stuff we now know about where to find iodine, okay? What's really interesting is, I think that a lot of us, sort of anecdotally, have heard iodine deficiency associated with goiters, right? But actually iodine deficiency sort of what it's most dangerous for Is It is the leading preventable cause of developmental disabilities, because you need it for proper brain development. I found that really fascinating. So in a lot of the developing world, in Southeast Asia and in Africa, you can imagine, like places where large parts of the population don't have access to the coast or foods from the coast. Presumably, iodine deficiency is still a real concern, okay, oh, and it's newly on the rise in a lot of parts of the developed world, like Australia, New Zealand and the UK, because of like public health campaigns to cut back on sodium intake. Could we put it in something else? Well, yeah, we could. In fact, in a lot of those places it gets added to, like flour for commercial breads, okay, things like that. But salt, and we'll talk about this more, it has historically been considered a really great way to deliver iodine to populations, because we use it in pretty predictable quantities. Okay, right? Yeah, it is cheap. It is easy to transport. Literally everybody has access to or uses salt, pretty much.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:55
So my idea to put it in caviar may not be as effective, yeah, but you know, I put caviar. Pretty rich. It's probably rich in iodine already. Yeah. So, yeah. Why? So, why can't these, all these people with iodide deficiencies, just eat more caviar? I say
Molly 10:07
absolutely, that's what I was getting to Okay, so I just want to, I want to say something controversial here, which is that I think that the human body was poorly designed well. I mean, this is one of those. And I just wonder if I can, like, send it back to the manufacturer. I mean,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:21
yes, like, we've talked about like, our disdain for the human sack. But like is one of those evolutionary things where it's, like, if you're evolving in, like, a particular environment, and there's a lot of this stuff, this stuff around, and so why waste energy making it or like, let's just assume it'll always be around, because that's like the most efficient way to grow the organism, right? Then, then you end up in an environment over, like, not evolutionary time, where you don't have that thing available, and now you're in a lot of trouble.
Molly 10:51
That's right. So actually, that's interesting, because first I was thinking, Oh, well, like if humans originated in, you know, sort of what we call Africa, well, gosh, that is an area that is not rich in iodine, but I'm thinking of like the human animal, which, you know, originally came out of the primordial soup way back in the day. So is this when we were given our need for iodine, so when we were like eukaryotes, so prokaryote, protozoa.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:18
Let's go back to like, you know, Australopithecus days, like, I doubt, like in that environment, iodine deficiency was a problem. I think, I think those organisms had a need for iodide in the diet and were getting it like, what was the actual mechanics of that? I don't know, but that seems like a probably correct hypothesis. Because, I mean, because if they weren't, we wouldn't, we wouldn't be here.
Molly 11:43
That's right, right? Because now we've got these human bodies that need iodine in order to function, specifically, so we've all got the this organ called a thyroid. Okay? And our thyroid makes two really crucial hormones that are essential to our body's metabolic metabolic processes. In order to make those hormones, we have to have iodine. Okay? Without enough iodine, we run into big problems. We run into, you know, goiter, which itself is not deadly, but it's basically a swelling in the neck that's caused by your thyroid gland enlarging, and that is caused, I don't for reasons I don't really understand by iodine deficiency. The other thing, of course, is that, like neurocognitive impairment, which is really a big issue, and then in severe cases, you can have hypothyroidism that results in cretinism.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:33
Hmm, is this a term that is still used?
Molly 12:35
This is still a term we use, but it kept showing up all over Wikipedia. What should we use instead?
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:41
I would say, like intellectual disability. There we go. I mean, I think, I think they're probably talking about, like, a specific presentation of that, or like a specific type, but
Molly 12:50
it must be something else, okay, so fascinating and weird that we need this thing so badly. But most of us don't live in a place where we can just get it through food. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:01
I mean, is this one of those things where, like, the actual rate of deficiency is not really as common as like, like, vitamin D,
Molly 13:12
but that's what I would have I that's what I would have thought. But then you look at all these things studies that I did not quote, okay, sure, okay, that we're saying that, like, like, up to 70% of the British population right now might be iodine deficient. I would measuring that if it's not causing symptoms,
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:30
yeah, I right, yeah. What is a deficiency if it's not causing symptoms?
Molly 13:34
Like, yeah, maybe we would all be smarter. Also, maybe we are maybe we are impaired, and we don't know it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:40
I mean, yeah, probably. But like, also, it seems like people in the British Isles probably eat a lot of table salt. I don't know. I don't know.
Molly 13:48
Okay, okay, well, anyway, okay, so I find the history of this really interesting in the sense of, like, you know, how do we know what we know about the human body? Okay, yeah, okay. So apparently, the idea that goiters would get smaller if a person ate seaweed or sea sponge. This was noted as early as like 3600 BC by early Chinese medical writings. Wow. So yeah, they made this connection between like, if you've got a goiter and you eat seaweed or sea sponge, it'll get smaller. Sea sponge is like Sponge Bob. Yes, exactly. But iodine, you know, they didn't know what iodine was, and iodine wasn't discovered for 1000s of years after those early Chinese medical writings. Sure, iodine was discovered in the early 1800s when this French chemist, he was trying to make gunpowder, and he was trying to isolate or extract sodium salts from seaweed. He basically added sulfuric acid to seaweed, ash or seaweed or something, and this purple vapor rose.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:58
Ooh, now that's real. Chemistry, right? Yeah, okay, shit like boiling in beakers, like shit giving off colorful smoke explosions. And he
Molly 15:08
was like, What is this purple vapor? Like, what is this substance I've just created?
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:12
And then he and then he inhaled it, and got really high. That's right. Anyway, here it is. Goiter, a
Molly 15:17
bunch of other chemists, a lot of them French, joined in the effort of studying this.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:22
Wait, did you say that it was discovered by Joseph Louis gay lussac?
Molly 15:25
Well, no, but I'm about to say what he did. So, oh, okay, that wasn't gay
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:30
lussac. Wasn't the one who discovered the vapor. That's right,
Molly 15:32
that was a different that was a different French chemist, but, but this guy named Joseph Louis gay lussac, a French chemist. He in 1813, a couple years after that purple vapor incident that one of his colleagues had, gay lussac, published a paper presenting the idea that this new substance is an element called
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:53
iodine man. There are very few things that may make me wish that I like lived at an earlier time, because mostly everything sucked, but like to live at a time where you could just discover a new element and be like, I got a new element. Guys, like, I'm gonna name it after myself. Like, I know, I know that he didn't name it after himself, but, but he should have,
Molly 16:13
so it would be like, amsterite, yeah, Amster I am Stern, yeah, yeah, right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:18
And now and now, like, we found all the elements, except, like, the ones you have to synthesize, and like, that's no fun. No one thinks all the elements. Okay, you're on. I want before, like, we're recording this, like, in December 2025 new year's resolution. I want you by the end of 2026 to find a new element and give it a name. Okay, we'll check in on this periodically. I'll be making note.
Molly 16:41
Okay, so, hey, does Mr. Etymology want to want to come in and help us out with the word iodine?
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:47
Yes. Oh, it's me. Come in.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:56
Come on in. The word iodine comes from the Greek ioides, translated as violet colored. That's i, o, e, i, D, E, S.
Molly 17:04
Why is it? So, I'm thinking about, like, beta Dyne. And like, you know, iodine washes things that you have to use before a like, a surgery.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:12
What's, what's the Dyne? Well, I guess beta dye just have iodine in it. I think, I think
Molly 17:18
it just has iodine in it. But I'm thinking, so why do I picture the color purple? Even before I learned this about the purple vapor, why do I picture the color purple associated with iodine?
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:29
I mean, that's because that's what color the element is like when it's in, typically in, in a compound or or in, I don't know if you can get like, elemental iodine, but, but that that's the color of it like, Have you ever encountered it in chemistry class?
Molly 17:43
Okay, I guess I've always so. When I used to ride horses as a teenager, if they would have some sort of like a wound or whatever, we would clean it with betadyne, yeah. And I remember the smell of it and the color of it distinctly. And I think because of that, I've always,
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:59
no, I remember this too, not from a horse contact.
Molly 18:01
I think I think of iodine as being this kind of rust color, but I also thought of it as being purple. So I got myself confused, right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:10
No, I think of the rust color. I didn't realize we were distinguishing between like that. You were saying the purple was something different from that. I did not think of it as purple until we started talking about it today. Okay. Well, hey, thanks, Mr. Adam all, Oh yeah, yeah. So long goodbye. Bye. It was me. It was me.
Molly 18:36
So, okay, so we're still in the early 1800s well, not long after this, not long after, you know, the discovery of iodine, there was a physician in Switzerland who published a paper about how he'd administered it as like grains in distilled alcohol to patients and shrunk their goiters, to which I say, Dude, they were doing that like way back in China, right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:58
4000 years earlier. Yet it just eat Sponge Bob and you'll be fine.
Molly 19:03
Basically, the scientific method, man, it took these people forever to really, truly determine causation here. Okay, so, like, you know, in the 1830s you've got, like, a different French chemist observing that the prevalence of goiter is higher in places where people don't eat much iodine. Ding, ding, ding. Then you've got, finally, in 1852 a different French chemist. The French were really interested in iodine, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:28
guess so. Yeah. I mean, I think the French were very interested in chemistry. I feel like is, isn't there, like, a gay le sax law?
Molly 19:35
I don't know, but there's a, there's a gay lussac Street. It's in the Latin Quarter.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:39
I want to see what Gayla sax law is if I'm if I'm remembering that there is one, okay. Gaylosax law describes the relationship between the pressure and absolute temperature of a gas at constant volume. This is physics stating the pressure is directly proportional to temperature, p over T equals k. If you increase the temperature of a gas in a sealed container, its pressure will increase proportion. Definitely, and if you decrease the temperature, the pressure will decrease proportionally gay, listen,
Molly 20:04
oh, that is like, and that's something that every kid learns in high school. Yes, amazing. But anyway, really, guys, just to zoom forward a little bit, it was not until the early 1900s Okay, so almost like 100 years after that thing where they figured out that, you know, that there was this thing that eventually became called iodine. It wasn't until the early 1900s that it was, like widely accepted that iodine deficiency caused goiter.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:32
Years ago, I read a really good book about scurvy, and about how long it took to really establish that eating vitamin C would prevent scurvy. Like, I think these things are always obvious in retrospect, but, but, like, are genuinely difficult to establish in like, like, an actual population. Like, it's not, it's not because we're dumb and didn't and didn't realize the obvious is that it's not obvious, except in retrospect.
Molly 20:56
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, like, typhoid, or whatever, you know now we're like, yes, of course, it came from that lady.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:04
Yes, yes, that typhoid lady, they called her. That's what, yes, that's where the disease originated with a lady.
Molly 21:12
That's right. Or the germ like, germ theory seems so obvious, right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:17
It does seem obvious now, yes, yeah,
Molly 21:20
big thoughts we're having here. That's right. Okay, so Switzerland was the first country to introduce iodized salt. Okay, okay, and they did this in the early 1900s so right around the time that people were like, ding, ding, ding. Iodine deficiency causes goiter. Well, so around that time, goiter was endemic throughout Switzerland, huh? Lot of goiter.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:42
I'm sure, like, as you said, I'm sure, like, this is a thing that's still common in some parts of the world. But like, it is weird to think about like that. There was a time not that long ago when most people in Switzerland had a
Molly 21:52
goiter, I know, isn't it fascinating? You know, there was a, there was a pediatrician there, frankly, who made, you know, who kind of had this idea to basically spray, I believe, a small amount of potassium iodide on salt, and he gave it to like some of the cantons in Switzerland, and immediately there was an improvement or a reduction in the incidence of goiter. And so by 1922 they introduced iodized salt throughout the country, and this was the world's first food fortification program. Oh, okay, which now, I mean, it seems so like we put so many vitamins and minerals into very materials. That's right. Anyway, today,
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:36
today, you can't, you won't find a goiter anywhere in Switzerland. You can go to Canton, to Canton,
Molly 22:42
pretty much like iodine deficiency, at least, you know, according to Swift Swift, yeah, public health officials, has essentially been eradicated in Switzerland, which is pretty, pretty incredible. That is cool, yeah. Okay, so around the same time in the US, so this is in the 1920s there was also a ton of goiter in a particular part of the country. So there was a swath called the goiter belt. Have you heard of the goiter belt? No, okay, well, so basically, goiter was endemic in the Great Lakes Appalachia and the northwest. Okay, so I don't really understand, is this sort of like, like a goiter serpent. It could be a goiter serpent. Yes, I'm trying to picture it. Oh, I just got myself confused. But anyway, I when I said a pediatrician in Switzerland, I meant a pediatrician in in the US. That's okay. I didn't catch that. Whatever. Anyway, the same year that Switzerland, officially, you know, started using iodized salt across across the country. Basically, this pediatrician in Michigan was like, Guys, we got to do something about all the goiter in this population. I proposed that the US adopts the Swiss practice of iodizing salt. Okay? And his work, I mean, he, advocated quite tirelessly, and he is in large part responsible for the adoption of iodized salt, which was a huge change that companies had to get on board with. Because basically, the iodization of salt has never been mandatory in the US, sure, whereas in like something like 120 other countries it's mandatory, including Canada, Mexico, etc. I never,
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:24
it never occurred to me to wonder, like, what, what like percentage of the iodine you need can come from like, one serving of iodized salt, and it's one quarter teaspoon of salt. One serving contains 45% of your daily iodine, 68 micrograms.
Molly 24:39
Okay, okay. And the interesting thing is that I guess in initial efforts to, like, get iodine in people's diets, there was some trouble figuring out what was the right amount, because you have too much, then you get into, like, hyperthyroidism, and it's toxic, right? So you actually need so. Oh So, so little I had eyes salt made by several different companies, one of them diamond crystal, one of them Morton's, hit the shelves in Michigan first in 1924 I think, like May of 1924 and by that fall, the Morton Salt Company, which was then in Illinois, began distributing it nationally. So yeah, apparently this is according to Wikipedia, a study found that, and again, I don't know the methods of this study, or whatever, a study found that introducing iodized salt in 1924 raised the IQ of one quarter of the population most deficient in iodine. His findings explain roughly one decade's worth of the upward trend in IQ, in the US, wow.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:43
So like, that's probably good for, like, Jeopardy contestants. That's right, those areas.
Molly 25:47
Yeah, that's right. But you'll notice, if you live in the States, that you know iodine is never is not really listed on nutrition labels. Apparently, there's huge variability in whether or not it shows up in like, multi vitamins and things like that. And so certain populations, like pregnant and lactating people and babies, they still have to make really conscious efforts to get enough iodine, huh? Because in the US, yeah, it's just not, like so many other things in this country, the thing that that we we need is not actually mandated, and therefore it's left up to individual companies and people. Wow, yeah, but it's wacky anyway. So yeah, salt is a great way to get iodine into people because, yeah, it's super cheap. Everybody uses it and it doesn't spoil so this is, like, probably the world's simplest and cheapest
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:40
public health intervention. Yeah, isn't that cool? Yes, it
Molly 26:43
is anyway. And yeah, in parts of the world where where the iodization of salt is impractical or whatever, they often iodize flour.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:52
Okay, so can we, can we taste this? Let's taste this. My hypothesis is so like some people, when, when I was getting into cooking, like people. People are like you should use kosher salt. It tastes better. I highly doubt this is true. I doubt you can taste the iodine and iodized salt. I think when people say salt tastes different, they're talking about the crystal structure. Okay, I didn't get no, wait,
Molly 27:16
wait, I don't think we need two things. No, but wait a minute. Matthew, hold on, so we've got three different salts. Here we've got Morton's
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:22
iodized salt. I didn't get Morton's non iodized salt. I should have whatever.
Molly 27:27
But I guess, yeah, we've also got Laval fine sea salt, which is not iodized. And then we've got diamond crystal kosher salt. Okay, so we're tasting the iodized salt first.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:38
Tastes like salt. Okay, tastes like salt. If anything, like that, the diamond crystal tastes a little more salty. I think, as the crystal structure is more like, kind of like, flaky and feathery, and so there's more surface area. Oh, you feel that it tastes more salty. The kosher tastes more salty.
Molly 27:58
Oh, well, so I licked the tip of my finger before putting it in each tip of your finger. And I, and I feel like the iodized was saltier, okay, but maybe it's just, maybe I just got more on my hand.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:11
Oh, wow. This, this lab Ballen is really fine. Is it finer than them? I mean, they all taste like salt. Successful tasting.
Molly 28:19
I feel like I'm getting a slight seaweedy flavor from this. Am I delusional?
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:24
Try again? I doubt it. I mean, I'm not. I'm not getting it.
Molly 28:27
Okay, hang on, I'm gonna do it one more time. No, maybe you're right. I'm going back to the iodized, oh, I think the Morton iodized salt tastes saltier.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:35
Yeah. I mean, it's, it's more dense, like, there's more salt per per unit volume then certainly then the diamond crystal, and probably then the LA balaine Also, which is not like a bad thing. The reason I wouldn't buy this like to be my main salt is because I like picking salt up with my fingers, and it's hard to pick up with your fingers, compared to, like the flakier kosher salt.
Molly 28:59
That's right, that's right. And you were saying that when you encounter a recipe that calls for table salt or fine salt, you use just twice the recommended amount, but of
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:11
kosher salt always, yeah, okay, and it always works fine, huh?
Molly 29:15
Okay, so, yeah, this stuff doesn't taste any different. I wonder, why is Why is kosher salt not iodized?
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:22
I don't know. You mentioned the diamond crystal made an iodized salt. I don't, I don't know if it was kosher salt. I don't know it was. I don't, yeah, I don't know the answer. Well, huh? Maybe we should consult Mr. Mr. Gayla sack.
Molly 29:36
So anyway, yeah, again, salt is iodized by spraying it either with potassium iodate or potassium iodide. And I just want to point out that when people talk about, like, nuclear crises, oh, yeah, right, you need, like, your iodine pills. Yeah, you need your iodine pills. Tends to be, I guess, potassium iodide, okay. But I just want to say just so you know, everybody you will not get any protection against. Radioactive decay, decay through iodized salt. There is not nearly enough iodine in it to protect Good
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:09
to know. Yeah, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I mean, like, what else would I do, other than hang on to this thing of salt and use it and use it for baking? Because why not? Like, I'm probably not gonna use it for cooking, just because I like standing by the stove and like, you know, salt baying some salt onto my food as it's cooking.
Molly 30:25
But I feel, remember salt bae. I do remember salt bay but I'm thinking of this la balaine, you know, imported French sea salt. It's kind of the same. It's kind of the same, only without the without, like, a helpful micronutrient, a helpful micro. And probably also it costs more. It costs way more. And you know, you would think I had a moment where I thought to myself, like, oh, well, because it is from the sea, it must have iodine in it. It does not, no, I mean, it like tiny, tiny amounts of iodine, but not nearly enough to meet our bodies
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:01
needs, not enough to make it onto the nutrition facts. That's right, yeah.
Molly 31:04
So, yeah, I don't know. I think I've just been being a real idiot, and I'm the next time I need some la baila, and I'm gonna buy Morton iodized salt instead.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:15
Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna use this for popcorn. Also, great. Yeah, this is cool stuff. Maybe might reduce the size of my goiter, but like, that's kind of like, it's kind of a fashion statement. It is,
Molly 31:27
it is it looks really nice with the sweater you're wearing. Thank you. Anyway, yeah, so hey, that was our iodized salt episode.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:34
Great pick. I learned. I learned a lot. I didn't expect Gayla sack to make it like, it's a great name, right? Such a so fun to say. It's such a good can I say? When I went to the store initially, I was like, I don't know if they have this, because my for like, you know, decades now, my mind has been editing out that section of baking aisle because I'm like, where's the diamond crystal? Like a real snob, like a real snob,
Molly 31:59
yeah, yeah, no, I truly came away from this feeling like, wow, there's no reason to not use iodized assault. It's, it's great. Hey, Matthew, I have a now, but wow, oh, great.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:18
Okay, I'm really excited about, oh, I've heard of this. I haven't listened yet.
Molly 32:21
Okay, so this episode, you know you're listening to this. It's spring of 2026, well, about five months ago, this fantastic podcast came out called Fela Kuti fear no man, yeah. It is hosted and written by Jad a boomroad, who was, he was radio lab. Radio lab, yeah, half of radio lab. I think we went to see him live once. I think we did too. Oh, my God. This is the best new podcast I have listened to in ages. I am genuinely so fired up about this though. Okay, yeah, so excited. I think there are 10 or 11 episodes, if you're not familiar with him. Fela Kuti was a legendary Nigerian musician, I must said, magician,
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:02
common mistake. What my I remember my mom when I was very little, saying that that my dad was a musician, and so I asked my dad if he would do some of his tricks for me.
Molly 33:16
Okay, well anyway, Gucci is an absolute legend, the father of a style of music called Afrobeat. If you have heard his music, it is so recognizable. I have been a Fela Kuti fan, I think first through listening to the music of his son, Femi. Femi had an amazing album that came out in like 2000 called fight to win. Yeah, I love Fela Kuti and Jad aboom ra does too, and he made this incredibly masterful podcast that not only looks at the power of art through the example of this one man, but also it is an incredible look at the complexity of post colonial African country, yeah, truly, I was trying to think. When I was driving over here, I was thinking, like, is it encyclopedic? What is it? What I mean is, like its range is so broad and so deep, yeah, this podcast anyway, I hope you can, you can hear my enthusiasm as I talk about this, but you should check it out. It is Fela Kuti, fear, no man podcast. You can find anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:25
Yeah, no, I think I think of probably a lot of magicians or musicians probably like, when they think of Fela Kuti, they like, I write my little punk rock songs, of which I could change the world, but that guy actually did it. Yeah, right,
Molly 34:38
yeah, yeah. Absolutely, an incredible story and so beautifully told. Yeah, boom rod
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:45
has, I can't wait to listen to this. It's you're gonna love it. Okay, our producer is Abby circuit. Tella Molly's got a newsletter called I've got a feeling that she I just read a great installment of and you can get every bit of it for a very reason. Price by going to Molly.
Molly 35:01
Weisenberg.substack.com, that's right. Matthew makes music.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:05
I make little punk rock songs that will never change the world, but might be fun to listen.
Molly 35:09
Are really fun to listen to. You can find him under two different band names. There's early to the airport and there's Twilight diners. Yep, anywhere you get music, you'll find those things. And you can rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. Yep, and catch
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:23
up with other listeners at reddit.com/r/everything, spilled milk. Someone, someone recently I saw posted, just a nice thing, like, I found this podcast, and I'm so glad I did, like I didn't know we still got new listeners. That's so fun. Thanks, new listeners.
Molly 35:40
Okay, well, hey, we've been doing this podcast so long. We are now one person, but we're still married to each other. No, we're still married, but not to each other, that's right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:51
And I'm and I'm Matthew Amster-Burton and Mrs. Matthew.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:01
Wow, I really mistyped that.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai