What is Black Salt: Two Types Explained

Black salt is a common term that is applied to two different salt-related products. Black lava salt, and Himalayan black salt.

Black Lava Salt

Black Lava Salt is sea salt combined with activated charcoal. Black lava salt is used in magick to absorb and trap negative energies. Salt is used by many to absorb energy, and charcoal is well known to absorb toxins, so the two make a natural pairing. You can make your own black salt by powdering chunks of food-grade activated charcoal (Amazon) with your mortar and pestle and then mixing that with coarse sea salt crystals (non-iodized). The charcoal will coat the salt crystals and you can blow away the excess.

Comparison Table for Black Salt Types

Black Salt Type	Ingredients	Properties	Common Uses
Indian Black Salt	Himalayan rock salt, Indian spices	Pinkish-gray color, pungent odor, sulfuric taste	Cooking, seasoning, traditional Indian cuisine, digestive health remedies
Witch’s Black Salt	Sea salt, activated charcoal, herbs	Black color, earthy scent, protective and banishing properties	Rituals, spellwork, warding off negative energy, spiritual cleansing, divination

Black Lava Salt for Healing

Black Lava Salt is used medicinally to absorb and flush toxins from the body.

Black Lava Salt for Magick

Magickally, black lava salt can be scattered around an area to absorb toxic energies. It must be swept up and discarded afterward in order to dispose of the absorbed energies.

There are several additional recipes for black salt available online, some suggest using dye, the scrapings from the bottom of your cauldron or other cast iron pan, especially one used over an open fire, ashes from your fire pit, and lampblack. Any of these recipes are suitable if and only if you will not be using your black salt internally.

Property	Indian Black Salt	Witch’s Black Salt
Color	Pinkish-gray	Black
Flavor	Sulfuric taste, tangy and pungent	Neutral
Aroma	Pungent odor	Earthy scent
Energetic Properties	Adds grounding and protective energies	Absorbs negative energy, banishes negativity, protective properties
Culinary Uses	Enhances flavor in traditional Indian dishes	Not typically used in cooking, primarily for spiritual and magickal use
Magickal Uses	Associated with grounding, protection, and purification	Used for banishing, protection, and warding off negative energy
Ritual and Spell Uses	Cleansing rituals, purification baths, spiritual remedies	Rituals, spellwork, protective circles, hex breaking, banishing rituals

Ashes that result from the burning of particular herbs can give your black salt particular qualities. Uncrossing herbs are often burned to create black salt for removing spells.

A mixture of equal parts salt and ground black pepper is also used as “black salt” in some recipes, but this combination has more of a warding action versus the absorbing action of the charcoal/salt combination and I have seen many recipes that call for black salt and black pepper used this way. Toss this salt/pepper combination in the path of an enemy, or sprinkle it into his footprints to encourage him to go away and never return.

To rid your home of unwanted energies, sprinkle black salt around your house and then sweep it out the door.

Do this right after someone you don’t want returning walks out the door, to ensure he never comes back.

Black salt is an ingredient in a variety of curses, especially mixed with black pepper, graveyard dirt or added to war water, most usually to cause an enemy to leave, move away, quit a job, etc.

Black Lava Salt for Cooking

Black salt is usually added at the table, rather than during cooking. Different types of charcoal are used. For example, Hawaiian Black Lava Salt (Amazon) is made from charcoal from burning coconut shells. This is said to add a bit of a smokey flavor to the salt.

Himalayan Black Salt

Himalayan black salt or Kala Namak(Amazon) is a sulfur and iron-rich rock salt used in Southern Asian cooking. Himalayan black salt is actually brownish pink to purple in color when whole.

Ground Himalayan black salt is pale pink or purple in color, not black at all. The salt is mined in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, combined with charcoal and various herbs, heated and aged to produce its characteristic pungent fragrance and flavor. It is possible to manufacture raw Himalayan black salt synthetically and this is a common practice today.

Cooking with Himalayan Black Salt

Kala Namak is a popular seasoning for Southern Asian cuisine and is used by vegans to give an egg-like flavor to egg substitutes.

Healing with Himalayan Black Salt

In Ayurvedic medicine, it is considered a cooling spice and is used for digestive problems, including heartburn, constipation, and flatulence.