Name: Why Bamboo Salt Is So Expensive | So Expensive
Uploaded: 2021-05-23T09:55:28.000Z
Duration: 6 min 12 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

High-quality bamboo salt costs almost $100

making it the most expensive salt in the world.

Koreans have used bamboo salt for cooking

It's made by placing sea salt inside of bamboo

The goal is to infuse the salt with minerals from the bamboo

But the premium compared to other types of salt is steep.

sometimes referred to as "purple bamboo salt,"

can cost over 10 times the price of pink Himalayan salt.

Most of that cost comes from the labor-intensive process.

Narrator: The process starts by cutting 3-year-old bamboo

leaving one side closed as a container for the salt.

is densely packed by hand into the bamboo.

This process takes around 12 to 14 hours.

Baking everything at over 800 degrees Celsius

burns away the bamboo, leaving a column of salt.

Narrator: The ninth and final roast is the hottest,

It's fired in a special kiln and operated by an expert.

Shin Tae-joong has been making bamboo salt

At this temperature, the salt and bamboo completely melt

Workers carefully break this down by hand,

depending on where you buy it and what form it's in.

But nine-times-roasted bamboo salt doesn't come cheap.

have always played an important role in Korean culture.

For centuries, bamboo salt baked two to three times

has been used in traditional Korean medicine.

the nine-times-roasting process was developed.

Manufacturers say this process has the lowest toxicity

Today, it's used for cooking, toothpaste, soap,

Narrator: Proponents of bamboo salt say that it can help

with everything from digestion to oral health,

The proposed medical benefits have likely helped it

But there hasn't been enough scientific study

Studies have shown that bamboo salt contains higher levels

and that it could improve your immune system.

the majority of bamboo salt is sodium chloride.

it's unclear how potent the health benefits are.

The full benefits of bamboo salt compared to sea salt

But despite that, bamboo salt continues to be popular.

earned around $24 million in sales in 2017.

And the traditional labor-intense process

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Why Bamboo Salt Is So Expensive | So Expensive

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