The FastDay Forum

Rock salt, sea salt, posh Himalayan pink salt, table salt, it all really does the same jobs - taste and preserving.

We have cut down on its use dramatically.
I rarely add it whilst cooking, except to rice and pasta, then it's table salt. Mum use to add a good heaped palm full of the stuff and add it any boiling vegetables.

For use at the table, we only use Halen Mon (Anglesey sea salt). They have produced a Great taste award winning umami salt, which is stunning!

It's the hidden salt I worry about and check any bought produce for high salt content, as I suffer with high blood pressure.

What do you think about the white stuff?

[Debs]

Rarely touch it, but can't be beaten on roast potatoes, hot chips. Has to be a really good flaked salt like Maldon or Pink Murray River.
We really notice it in processed food and can't eat a lot of precessed stuff because of the high salt content.

Love it. A guilty pleasure. But I'm careful. Sea salt with Mediterranean herbs my absolute favourite and a lazy way to perk up a grilled chicken breast. I like posh pink for the mineral content and Maldon too. Never add to veg, although tomatoes MUST have them.. I suppose soy has a lot of sodium and fish sauce. Can't resist these .

Hi Pend,love the taste but try to avoid as much as poss..

I agree with Debs..it's totally necessary on chips and roasties!
Love the sound of salt with Med herbs karen,think will look out for that!
Somebody bought me some Himalayan salt ..a pretty pink colour x

I think with salt is like with butter or saturated fat. It's being demonised. Like with everything the key is in the dosage. I add salt to whatever I'm cooking TO TASTE so that the meal gives me pleasure and satisfaction. I'm trying to use natural salts like rock salt or sea salts. Those should have more minerals in them apart from the usual NaCl. Besides, we need those Na+ and Cl- particles to transport energy units in our cells and to make gastric acid in the stomach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%2B/K%2B-ATPase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_acid

[Moogie]

I've never been one to add salt to food on my plate, although I do add it to rice, pasta & veg when cooking as well as to dishes which require seasoning. Even if I have a chippie I have minimal salt on the chips, I prefer vinegar. I always mock hubs as he piles it on like snow and ends up with so much left on his plate after. If I pinch a leftover chip from him (leftover chip? I know! What sort of freak leaves chips?!! ) I have to brush off the salt first!

Coming from a family with circulation problems we didn't have salt when I was growing up. If a recipe lists salt, I just miss it out.

Love it, add it to cooking and at the table, and I don't worry about it at. I remember Phil gave the link to this study which suggests for most people salt is not a problem http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-1797.2011.01550.x/abstract

I also think salt in the diet is a good way to keep up thirst levels, ensuring I drink enough.

We use it here, I add it to the cooking water and leave it up to individuals whether they add it to their dinner plate. i also agree with gorba that salt has been demonised. Yes salt is bad for you if you have high blood pressure, but to then state that no salt is good for you when you have normal blood pressure is a step too far.

Generally in this household where low blood pressure is a problem, salt could be seen as a good thing.

I use it in cooking but dislike extra on my food. I hate it when places serve pre salted chips-it seems to be a 'trendy' thing to do nowadays

[carorees]

Low carbing and fasting both cause salt to be flushed out of the system, carbs cause it to be retained so don't try to avoid it too much when you are fasting or low carbing. Also, as noted above, only some people are salt sensitive.

I use iodised salt as I've inherited a touch of the slow thyroid, but it's used mindfully :0)