For as far back as it goes, my household has been heavily influenced by a flakey salt devotee. The pyramid structures of Maldon Salt might as well be the Pyramids of Egypt with the level of reverence they elicit in our kitchen. For a while, I worried this obsession might bankrupt us, but lately the seasons have been changing. Sea salt is in the air, and cracked salt has entered our dishes thanks to the Salt Cannon.
A sibling device to my much adored Pepper Cannon, the Salt Cannon is pretty much the same contraption but for salt. Just like the pep, ole Salty Boy here can smoothly crank out rock salt at a bunch of different sizes and textures. If you prefer a super fine dusting then you can have that, or if you’d rather munch on literal rocks of salt then you can do that too. However the device thrives at around the mid range where salt is ground down to a coarse powder that has some structural integrity while still distributing evenly across the dish. The second point is what made me so keen to try out the Salt Cannon. While flakey salt is both fancy, and delicious, it really is more of a finishing salt, and it is tricky to get a balanced flavour throughout a dish.
This weapon of a salt grinder easily solved this problem. With the same grinding power of Sydney’s Oxford Street during Mardi Gras, the Salt Cannon makes quick work of seasoning a dish. Even though I find myself cranking 10-20 cracks into one meal prep, we’re also going through less salt. In my time with the cannon I've had to refill it once, while we usually would have gone through at least 200g of flakey salt in that time.
The design and concept is similar between Mannkitchen’s two grinders, but where the Pepper Cannon primarily uses stainless steel the Salt Cannon uses titanium and ceramic parts instead. Ultimately this is for longevity. Salt and metal don’t mix, so to avoid corrosion the Salt Cannon utilises corrosion resistant materials, and anodises any aluminium in the build to irk some more life out of it. Any parts partial to damage are user replaceable too, so you should be able to bury the Salt Cannon with you if you so wish. These changes make the already pricey Pepper Cannon build even more expensive, but for now the Salt and Pepper Cannons still retail for the same $399 price.
I went into this at length in my review, but initially I was Pepper Cannon adverse - it is just a stupid expensive pepper grinder, I thought - but my positive experiences with it made me sodium-curious. Plus every time we bought a packet of Maldon salt for $11, I would find myself staring longingly at the $2 bag of rock salt and wondering what treasures I could leave behind for my dog with those extra $7. Of course weaning any addict off of their vice is hard, but I had an in with the Salt Cannon. My partner was the original Pepper Cannon advocate, and to this day the words “I love the Pepper Cannon” are still uttered every meal prep Sunday. Maybe, I mused, salt could join in on the love.
So I beg you, dear reader, to imagine my joy when we were standing in the kitchen - a record humming away in the background, punctuated by the sounds of a simmering pot - when my partner asked me to “crack some salt on these steaks”. Not “pop” or “sprinkle”, but “crack”. Naturally I obliged. In my head I played it cool. Never mentioned it, just allowed a little smile to flicker across my face and my eye to twinkle in an invisible camera. In reality though, I hastened to crack the salt as evenly and perfectly as I could, and proceeded to cradle the newly anointed Salt Cannon and squeal “you like it!?” He told me he did.
Flakey salt hasn’t been phased out of the household, and realistically the Salt Cannon will never entirely replace it, but the dependence is diminishing. While a $400 salt or pepper grinder will be excessive for most people, by my calculations it could actually save my household money in the long run. While we used to spend $11 every couple of weeks, we can now spend $2 every couple of months. By my calculations, the numbers even out after around a year.
I know it is ridiculous, but I find some solace in knowing that Mannkitchen finds the Salt Cannon equally silly. On the official website the brand admits that the Salt Cannon as a product doesn’t make much sense. Salt doesn’t work the same way pepper does, and there is little to be gained from overengineering a salt grinder like they did a pepper grinder. Still there was demand. The brand said it would only build the Salt Cannon if 300 people registered interest - they expected to get 72 - and well, here we are.
As I write this we’re rolling into the holiday season. There is plenty of salt to be had, and frivolous gifts to spend your money on, and the Salt Cannon fits perfectly into this cross section. If you’re looking for a gift for a foodie that has it all, or want to help your buddy with their obscene salt budget, the Salt Cannon is one for the Chrissie list.
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