Alton Brown's tuna salad recipe isn't the same tuna salad that many people grew up with. Brown's recipe features imported tuna, butter lettuce, non-pareil capers, microgreens, minced shallots, and an ingredient that you may never have heard of, black lava sea salt.

Brown says the black lava sea salt is a special product that is usually only found at certain health food shops and gourmet food stores. The common idea that black lava sea salt is derived from actual lava from places like Hawaii and Cyprus is a myth. Many varieties of black lava salt on the market today are actually just sea salt combined with activated charcoal.

Although Brown says that if you can't find black lava sea salt then regular sea salt will do, there is a difference in flavor that black lava sea salt offers. The flavor is smoky and earthy and in addition to fish, it compliments vegetable and egg dishes well. But in case you can’t sample that, give a similar option like Himalayan black salt a try.