It's Alive with Brad Season 2 Episode 8 Brad Makes Salt From Scratch

Brad Leone, the charismatic host of the Bon Appétit YouTube series "It's Alive," is back with another season of fermenting and pickling madness. In season 2, episode 8, titled "Brad Makes Salt From Scratch," Brad takes viewers on a journey to create his own salt from scratch.

The episode starts with Brad standing on the ocean shore, an essential element for his salt-making process. Brad begins by explaining the history of salt-making, using an antique book. He points out the differences between artisanal sea salt, and the industrial table salt most Americans use today, highlighting the risks associated with an over consumption of salt, such as high blood pressure and heart disease.

To make his artisanal sea-salt, Brad must carry large buckets of salty seawater and bring it back to his workspace on the beach. He uses a piece of driftwood as an improvised stirrer, demonstrating how to agitate the water to separate the salt content from the water itself.

After visualizing his technique, Brad returns to his makeshift station where he has already rigged some clever water filtration equipment. He pours the salty water into a large vat and lets the sand settle at the bottom before pumping the clear water to a smaller pot, set over a campfire. Humorously, Brad can't help but play with his food, encouraging viewers to do the same with each ingredient as he goes through the steps of boiling the brine, skimming, and straining his salt water.

As the water slowly evaporates, the salt begins to form on the sides of the pot. Brad describes the different chemicals at work in this process, such as calcium and magnesium. As the water gets lower, the salt crystals become more concentrated, and Bradley becomes giddy with excitement as he anticipates the outcome.

Finally, after boiling for several hours, Brad takes a dish from the campfire and starts scraping his first deliciously fresh batch of artisanal salt. He proceeds to share the joy of eating freshly roasted potatoes, shucked oysters and various vegetables coated with his salt made by hand.

Throughout the episode, Bradley displays his quirky, humorous and informative relationship with food, history and chemistry, encouraging viewers to share in his excitement for sustainable and better food.

In summary, "Brad Makes Salt From Scratch" is an informative and entertaining episode of "It's Alive" that takes viewers along on an educational journey that's fun even for the non-science nerds. Bradley's passion for cooking and food science is contagious, and viewers are left with a deeper appreciation for salt and its role in the kitchen.