Sel de bambou (also known as bamboo salt) is delicious and versatile, with various uses that range from seasoning food to warding off sickness. Below, we’ll dive into the origins, uses, and benefits of this high-quality salt and explain how you can try it for yourself.

What is Sel De Bambou?

Sel de bambou is the French term for bamboo salt (or Jugyeom), a mineral-rich type of natural sea salt. It has many uses, including cooking, oral hygiene, skin care, and disease treatment and prevention. 

Sel de bambou is a healthier alternative to standard table salt, which is often processed and full of additives. Also, table salt is refined to remove impurities, whereas sel de bambou contains many essential minerals, including:  

• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Iron
• Sodium
• Phosphorus
• Zinc

How Bamboo Salt Is Made

Buddhist monks have been making this high-quality salt for around 1,000 years, and today’s bamboo salt producers follow the same traditions and processes that have been used for the past millennium. Here’s a quick overview of how it works: 

• Natural sea salt is hand-harvested from South Korea’s Western coast before sitting out to dry in the sun. 
• The dried salt is stuffed into bamboo pillars, which are sealed with local clay.
• The pillars are put into an iron kiln and roasted at extremely high temperatures for up to 15 hours. During this process, oil from the bamboo seeps into the salt and infuses it with minerals and flavor.
• At the end of the roasting session, a white salt pillar forms.
• The salt can be placed into new bamboo pillars and roasted up to nine times in total. Each additional firing session increases its alkalinity, mineral content, sulfur flavor, and health benefits.

Health Benefits of Sel de Bambou (Bamboo Salt)

Sel de bambou offers many benefits for human health, partially because of its rich mineral makeup. In fact, nine times roasted bamboo salt (the purest type available) contains 70+ minerals, which work together to detoxify your body, replenish electrolytes, excrete excess sodium, and restore balance to your bodily fluids. It may also be useful in improving immunity and treating digestive problems, such as diarrhea and indigestion.

Bamboo salt is highly alkaline, with the purest forms having a pH of 11.5. This means that bamboo support can neutralize acidic food in the body and, as a result, reduce the risk of disease and help restore normal organ functions.

Plus, since bamboo salt is a natural antioxidant, consuming it may help prevent cellular damage caused by free radicals. Medical studies also suggest that bamboo salt has antibacterial and antimicrobial qualities, which may help fight off various illnesses.

Other research shows that bamboo salt may have anti-cancer properties, including an anti-tumor effect on sarcoma cells, preventative effects against buccal mucosa cancer, and therapeutic effects against melanoma skin cancer.

Where to Find Bamboo Salt