Salt — we all use it. As a key ingredient in almost every dish, salt is essential not only for infusing flavor but also for keeping us alive by maintaining our cell functionality.

What’s more, good salt makes all the difference in the food we eat. To learn how salt is harvested, we met some of the minds behind SalterieOne, an artisan salt company that sources pristine sea water from Duxbury Bay, Massachusetts, to produce high-quality, domestically made, handcrafted sea salt.

We dig into the variety of salts available in the market today to learn about different types and their uses. If you don’t know the difference between table and kosher salt, let’s start there. And what’s the deal with pink specialty salt? We’ll also offer a primer on brining — and more important, how it can improve your meat’s flavor and texture.

Ready to introduce a higher-quality, American-made salt to your dishes? We’ve got a list of a few of our favorites, plus four recipes from Stephen Bukoff, executive chef of The Langham, Boston, that put salt’s flavor and functionality on full display.