The five rules of strategic salting for optimal health
Posted On: 07/20/2016 - Viewed: 36448
We would like to introduce to you five rules of strategic salting for your optimal health
1. Eat all the salt you want, as long as you are the one doing salting
2. Skew the use of salt toward the end of food preparation
3. Use only natural, unrefined salts
4. Make salting a deliberate act
5. Use the right salt at the right time
Strategic Salting Rule #1
Eat all the salt you want, as long as you are the one doing salting
Admittedly, this first rule may sound crazy. It might sound more reasonable to just say, “eat less salt.” But that is the inevitable result of salting your food at will. Whole foods are naturally very low in salt, which is why we developed a taste and traditions for salting. When you are the one adding the salt, you are allowing your own sensibilities to find the balance of flavor that’s appropriate to your taste.
We’ve spent so many thousands of years alert to the allure of salt that we’re almost certainly predisposed to salting without even thinking about it, driven by an instinct that says, if salt is available, let’s taste it. The industries built around our busy lives take full advantage of this instinct. Salting is an easy way to create a powerful flavor impact, which is why many restaurants tend to use a lot of salt, as do most packaged food manufacturers.
If we took out all the salt put into food by food chemists and chefs, our salt consumption would drop radically; 75% of the salt we eat comes from processed or prepared foods. Only 10% of our dietary salt comes naturally in the foods we eat (and far less if you are vegetarian), and typically only 15% from salt we add ourselves. If you follow all of the tenets of strategic salting, your discretionary salting will likely drop even further. Following Rule #1 can reduce your salt consumption dramatically.
The two main benefits of salting your food yourself are better nutrition and better flavor. With your own hand adding the salt, you will instinctively rely on the natural calculations made by your mind and body about your nutritional needs and you will get the most desirable taste sensations and impact from whichever salts you use.
Strategic Salting Rule #2
Skew the use of salt toward the end of food preparation
This is not to say you shouldn’t cook with salt. The culinary arts rely dearly on salt for both cooking and seasoning, but more often than not you need less than you might think. When you add salt near the end of cooking or right before eating, it is incorporated into the food less homogenously and provides more layered flavor; often more of salt that enters your mouth is un-dissolved, giving your palate the stimulation of salt crystals frisking about.
Strategic Salting Rule #3
Use only natural, unrefined salts
Unrefined salts, especially those produced by small manufacturers that are not governed by the economics of industrial-scale manufacturing, contain larger quantities of minerals and more carefully crafted crystal profiles. This gives you better flavor and greater nutritional value. And using natural salts in your kitchen sets the bar for all the foods you use: once you get hooked on the beauty of natural salts, it is nearly impossible to sacrifice that beauty on substandard ingredients.
Strategic Salting Rule #4
Make salting a deliberate act
Challenge your salting habits. Think of salting as an opportunity rather than routine. You are enlisting the help of one of the most potent forces in cooking, and doing it thoughtfully establishes a new relationship between food and salt and enhances your skill and awareness as a cook. Never salt by rote. Aim to make whatever you are cooking better than the last time. Try something new once in a while.
Strategic Salting Rule #5
Use the right salt at the right time
Salting is about two things: how salt chemically and physically modifies food, and how the interplay of salt and food affects the senses. The ionic properties of salt cause chemical changes to take place in food as it is prepared, whether you are roasting, curing, boiling, or baking. Finishing with salt is less about the chemical connections between salt and food and more about sensuous interplay between the salt and you. It allows the salt to project its crystalline character, which interacts with the textures and flavors of the food and the moisture and physiology of the mouth. The powers of salt in cooking and finishing are not discrete and exclusive. There is plenty of overlap: finishing with salt alerts the surface of ingredients chemically; and salt added during cooking affects the flavor of food and stimulates taste buds.
We have the purest unrefined salt available on https://himalayansaltusa.com/gourmet-salt
Salted- A Manifesto on the world’s most essential mineral with recipes- Mark Bitterman (Page 196-198)
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