Salt...more complicated than I first thought...

Salt, one of the four or for some five basic food taste sensations. Once I began researching salt I was amazed at some of the information I found. Salt really is an incredible resource with multiple chemical and physical properties making possible 14,000 known uses. It has been used since the day of the cave man and has enhanced the quality of our lives in more respects than our tastebuds. Once used by multiple civilizations as a currency, access to this common mineral has been the source of wars and revolutions.

Salt production globally was about 250 million tons in 2006 – only 5% foodgrade – with 6.78 billion people in the world that is an average of 5 g/person/day or 5000mg, frightening......given that the FDA recommends no more than 2400 mg with many other organizations advocating less than 1500 mg. Statistics show that average consumption by our neighbours to the south hovers about 4-6,000 mg/ day.

Contrary to popular opinion most of the salt you consume is not coming out of the shaker, or the grinder, it is part of many of the products we use on a day to day basis. Eating fast food is not the only way to OD although I was stunned to find that a Chicken Caesar salad from McDonalds packs over 1600mg of sodium more than double what you would get from a large fries.

I did a little hands on research in my pantry and there are some unlikely items that pack a nasty punch of sodium - for instance:
Organic chicken stock - 590mg per 1 cup
Organic Tomato Sauce - 280mg per 1/4 cup
Campbell's Chicken Noodle (not proud to have this in my pantry but yikes!)890mg per 1/2 cup
Dare Bear Paws - 2 cookies 240mg per 1pk of 2 cookies
Vector Cereal - 365mg per 1-1/4 cup serving

There are some options to tantalize your taste buds besides the run of the mill table salt. I have been using Sea Salt for years but have recently learned about Himalayan Salt. This salt prides itself on qualities including a high mineral content. Although it is touted for it's healing properties I could not find any substantiated claims to back that up as most sites with information are also selling the product. The claims include that the salt contains 84 trace elements and iron. I have heard that the taste is different and I am looking forward to trying it.

I do cook most of what my family eats from scratch, however I do often use canned veg and stocks. For now, I'll be checking the labels...









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