Products to replace salt

Our gastronomic culture would not be the same without salt. East mineral has been used for centuries in cooking to enhance flavor of any food and in the elaboration of preserves since the salt helps to eliminate the water molecules in the food, limiting the growth of microorganisms and achieving its conservation.

However, excess salt can be harmful to our health, especially if we suffer from high blood pressure, kidney problems or risk of osteoporosis. The World Health Organization (recommends consuming, a day, a maximum of 5 grams of salt or 2 grams of sodium (including sodium present in food).

Products and spices to replace salt

There are different ways of dressing our dishes that do not involve the use of salt and that can help us decrease our sodium intake total in our day to day.

Among these dressings we must highlight the role of the spices to enhance the flavor of food and avoid falling into monotony.

Garlic and onion

Garlic and onion are very versatile since we can use them fresh or ground dry in a multitude of dishes (stews, homemade sauces, vinaigrettes ...). In the case of garlic, we can chop it together with parsley to use it as a final dressing on grilled meat, fish and seafood or even to use it dry in the same way that we would use salt.

Black pepper and sweet or hot paprika

Although they are the most classic spices, we must not forget that they are of great help when it comes to replacing salt. They can be seasoned from a meat or fish stew, such as cooked vegetables, legumes, gazpachos or creams. Another idea to use them is mix them in breadcrumbs together with garlic and onion powder to make batters.

Oregano and thyme

It can be used in homemade tomato sauces to be used later in pastas or pizzas, or added to vegetables such as potatoes and carrots cooked in the oven or in vegetable creams. In addition, the oregano It is very suitable for use in salads (such as tomato and mozzarella).

Basil and coriander

These two can be used fresh to make olive oil dressings and chopping them together with some nuts (for example, basil with hazelnuts) that we can use to dress salads or pasta dishes. In addition, the cilantro It is very refreshing and suitable for dishes such as guacamole or to add to legumes or vegetable creams (such as pumpkin cream with coriander)

Cumin, ginger and turmeric

These species widely used in Lebanese and Moroccan cuisine can be a good substitute for salt since we can use them in meat, fish or legume stews. In addition, its properties include its digestive and anti-inflammatory effect, as is the case with the.

Homemade vinaigrettes

Homemade sauces will allow us to substitute commercial ones and, therefore, avoid the sodium they contain. To make them, we simply add to an olive oil base (which will represent 50% of the mixture) other elements in the proportions that we want and to taste: vinegar, mustard, lemon, garlic powder, pepper, coriander, cayenne (if we want it spicy). It is about combining and emulsifying this mixture to add it to a salad, cooked vegetables, meats, etc.

In short, if our goal is to reduce salt consumption, we can choose to add it in a moderate amount at the end of cooking and dare to use this multitude of spices to prepare more exotic dishes without reducing the taste of food or the pleasure of eating. .

Tips to reduce the salt we eat

First of all, you have to pay special attention to those whose preparation already contains salt. To know its content, we simply have to look at, in which case it will take salt or sodium chloride in the ingredients in addition to indicating the amount (usually in milligrams) of sodium per 100 g of product or per serving. Taking into account these data and knowing that the recommended total sodium is 2 g per day, we should not consume foods that contain more than 140 mg of sodium per serving.

High sodium products

Among the products that contain a large amount of sodium we find:

• Canned fish (a small can of tuna can contain up to 750 milligrams of sodium)
• Appetizers and potato chips
• Sausages
• Cheeses
• Sauces
• Pizzas and lasagna
• Croquettes
• Bakery products.

On the other hand, once we have limited the consumption of these products, we must limiting table salt intake using some of the products that we have shown you before.

• • Excess salt can harm our health, especially if we suffer from high blood pressure, kidney problems or risk of osteoporosis.
  • There are different ways of dressing our dishes that do not involve the use of salt, such as spices.
  • It is not recommended to consume products that contain more than 14o mg of sodium per serving.

Judith Torrell Diploma in Human Nutrition - Clinical Nutrition Specialist