Making Sense of Salt

Written on Mar 4, 2010 by Lia Huber

If you’ve been cooking our recipes here on Nourish Network, you’ve probably noticed that the vast majority of them have no measurement when it comes to salt; only ‘sea salt’ listed in the ingredients. The reason is two-fold. First, range of preference varies widely when it comes to how heavily to salt a dish. Second, I’m more interested in encouraging people to wisely discern how much salt suits both their taste and needs than dictate how much to use in a single dish.

salt-postI’ve heard it time and time and time again; someone reads this or that saying to cut down on sodium, so the reader throws the salt dish out with the brine. But judiciously seasoning whole foods with salt both during cooking and afterwards—almost as a garnish—is not what we need to be worrying about. Way back when, when there were no Doritos or Mac and Cheese and humans lived off vegetables and meats and fruit and grain, the average person consumed about a gram of sodium per day compared to today of 10-12 grams and even more. That’s not to say that salt was shunned by humans in the old days; quite the opposite in fact. Salt, which is made up primarily of sodium chloride, has been a prized ingredient for millenia, both for its ability to draw out the natural flavors of foods as well as its role in preserving them.

The issue with salt—and the hypertension and kidney problems associated with excessive sodium intake—lies more in processed food than in seasoning at the stove. One hot dog, for instance, has over 900 mg of sodium in it, whereas a quarter teaspoon of salt—a generous pinch that could easily season a dish for four—has only 500 mg.

Another element to using salt wisely is understanding what type to use for what application. A fine, crystallized sea salt works well as a cooking seasoning since it disperses evenly, but might very well overwhelm a finished dish. Salts with a coarser texture make excellent “finishing salts” to be used, almost as a garnish, at the table.

Still skeptical about salt? Here’s a breakdown of how a day’s meals can stack up sodium-wise with meals cooked from Nourish Network (using a 1/2 teaspoon sea salt in the tartines and 1/4 in the carbonara) versus processed and packaged foods.

Sodium Chart

Sodium Chart

If you’re salt sensitive or if you have a pre-disposition to hypertension, certainly you’ll want to watch your sodium intake. But the numbers above show–with processed foods coming in over 300% higher in sodium than those on Nourish Network–that if a pinch of salt is going to make whole foods more appealing to you, it’s probably worth it in the long run.

Categories : Sound Nutrition

Radish and Goat Cheese Baguettes

Everything about this sandwich makes me happy. The radishes–so vibrant and colorful–come straight from our backyard, the bread from our local bakery, and the cheese from grazing goats just a few miles away. Even the olive oil comes from a local producer.

radish-baguette-recipe 2 ounces soft goat cheese
1 baguette, halved horizontally
8 radishes, thinly sliced (about a half cup)
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt (like Maldon)
1 cup arugula
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Spread the goat cheese on the bottom half of the baguette and layer with radishes. Sprinkle with salt and top with arugula. Drizzle oil on the top half of the baguette and cover, pressing down firmly. Cut into four pieces and serve.

Serves 4

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  • http://nourishnetwork.com/members/alisoneats/ Alison Ashton

    One of the best things for home cooks can train themselves to do is taste and salt their food as they cook–it’s the best lesson they can learn from chefs.

    Also, the salt question remains a lively debate. Check out this commentary from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/science/23tier.html?scp=2&sq=salt&st=cse.

  • http://www.naturalsolutionsmag.com Katy

    I definitely agree that processed foods and humongous restaurant meals are the culprits when it comes to the massive amount of sodium in the American diet (3,436 mg daily, says the American Heart Association). Given the fact that New England Journal of Medicine research shows that lowering salt intake can reduce the risk of heart disease and heart attack to levels experienced by people who don’t smoke and who maintain a healthy weight, regulating sodium may not be a bad idea.

    Check out this discussion about whether the government should ban salt:
    http://www.naturalsolutionsmag.com/blog/index.php/2010/02/25/should-the-government-ban-salt/

  • http://nourishnetwork.com/members/liahuber/ Lia Huber

    And another perspective . . . from Chef’s reacting to the proposed legislation to ban the use of salt in NYC restaurants: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/03/11/chefs-proposed-new-york-salt-ban-absurd/.