Hydrogen sulfide is also one of the components (in trace amounts) of the odor of cooked eggs and cooked, pasteurized, or homogenized milk: its odor is amplified to unpleasant levels in rotten eggs. Although hydrogen sulfide is toxic in high concentrations, the amount present in kala namak used in food is small and thus its effects on health are negligible. The acidic bisulfates/bisulfites contribute a mildly sour taste. Sodium chloride provides kala namak with its salty taste, iron sulfide provides its dark violet hue, and all the sulfur compounds give kala namak its slight savory taste as well as a highly distinctive smell, with hydrogen sulfide being the most prominent contributor to the smell. Kala namak consists primarily of sodium chloride and trace impurities of sodium sulfate, sodium bisulfate, sodium bisulfite, sodium sulfide, iron sulfide and hydrogen sulfide. Reportedly, it is also possible to create similar products through reductive heat treatment of sodium chloride, 5–10% of sodium carbonate, sodium sulfate, and some sugar.
This is done through combining ordinary sodium chloride admixed with smaller quantities of sodium sulfate, sodium bisulfate and ferric sulfate, which is then chemically reduced with charcoal in a furnace. The salt crystals appear black and are usually ground to a fine powder that is purple.Īlthough the Kala Namak can be produced from natural salts with the required compounds, it is common to now manufacture it synthetically. Kala namak is prepared in this manner in northern India with production concentrated in Hisar district, Haryana. The fired salt melts, the chemical reaction occurs, and the salt is then cooled, stored, and aged prior to sale. This involves firing the raw salts in a kiln or furnace for 24 hours while sealed in a ceramic jar with charcoal along with small quantities of harad seeds, amla, bahera, babul bark, or natron. Traditionally, the salt was transformed from its relatively colourless raw natural forms into the dark coloured commercially sold kala namak through a reductive chemical process that transforms some of the naturally occurring sodium sulfate of the raw salt into pungent hydrogen sulfide and sodium sulfide. The raw material for producing Kala Namak was originally obtained from natural halite from mines in Northern India and Pakistan in certain locations of the Himalayas salt ranges, (Khewra Salt Mine/Punjab, Pakistan) or from salt harvested from the North Indian salt lakes of Sambhar or Didwana.
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