A substitution shouldn't cause any safety issues, but it will make the brine cloudy.
~ Tracy

Al , I'm not familiar with the pickling you want to do but I do have lots of experience with canning.

Canning salt/Coarse salt/Pickling Salt is very different than sea salt or Kosher salt. It doesn't have iodine or any anti caking agents which can affect the clarity of pickle brine.

If it calls for canning salt, that's what I would use, In Canada it is most always labeled Coarse Salt. I use Windsor brand. It's available in any grocery store.

I agree, canning salt is much different than sea salt and kosher salt, even the measurement is not the same.

And, if you're using it in a pickle, as both Chase and Sally mentioned, you could get a cloudy brine from the additives, if there are any.

Annie

Thanks everyone for your answers. Guess I will wait until I have a chance to go get some pickling salt. :-) Al

All of the pickling and canning salt that I have ever bought, packaged as such, has been EXTREMELY finely grained, finer than standard table salt.

My Mother has always said that the reason for that is so that it dissolves quickly in cool liquids.

Coarse salt, like kosher salt, is for applications where you don't want the salt to dissolve too quickly, like when koshering meat (drawing the blood out).

Kframe, I think we had this conversation before. Runs in my mind Annie said her pickling salt was fine textured too but
the canning/pickling salt we get here in Canada is labeled Coarse salt. Al is from Canada.

It is definitely not Kosher salt but neither is it a fine salt. The texture is closer to Kosher than table salt but it has no additives and dissolves beautifully.

I have used Windsor Canning / Pickling Coarse Salt for 40 years and I make damn fine pickles if I do say so myself! LOL

It's interesting that the salt you use for pickling/canning isn't fine ground. I always assumed when I saw a recipe that called for salt by a measurement of volume that one needed to use the same salt as the recipe called for in terms of grain size.

The weight of a tablespoon of coarse salt will be less than a tablespoon of fine ground salt.

If a recipe calls for coarse ground salt and fine ground is used I would think that in many cases the result would be excessively salty.

In your case I would think the opposite would hold true. If you used a recipe assuming canning/pickling salt and used a salt with a coarse grain you may end up with not enough salt for the application.

Is this a normal difference between the US and Canadian markets (the coarseness of pickling/canning salt)?

Justaguy, I really can't explain it.

Most of my recipes call for "pickling salt" and do not stipulate the grain size, some older ones call for "coarse salt".

I don't ever recall seeing any canning/pickling salt other than the one I pictured above and it is definitely not fine.

I think the most important factor for canning must be the absence of additives.

Here is a link that might be useful: Windsor Salt

Here's an interesting salt guide from Mortons.

They list their pickling and canning salt as fine grained.

http://www.mortonsalt.com/salt_guide/index.html

Kframe, there is no dispute in this matter. In the US canning salt is of a fine grind, in Canada it's coarse. Both have no additives, both make great pickles.

No idea why the difference but what's really interesting is the Morton's in the US, and Windsor Salt (Canadian Salt Company, in Canada are both owned by the same company!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: History of Mortons

Thanks Chase! Now I know what I am looking for. I will go to the Superstore tomorrow to get some. Can't wait to start pickling! Al

Chase, not saying there's a dispute. I didn't realize the OP was in Canada. And yes, since someone mentioned it, I now remember having this discussion about a year ago.