Season with care
Looking to cut sodium from your diet? No-salt salts may not be the healthiest — or tastiest — choice, writes KAREN TURNER.
They’re dubbed salternatives and their purpose is simple: To fool your palate into thinking you’re eating salt when you really aren’t.
Sadly, we are a nation of saltaholics. According to Health Canada, most Canadians eat a whopping 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day — double what we should.
To help us fight the good fight, most grocery stores and specialty food shops carry low- to no-salt alternatives that provide the salty taste we crave, but without containing potentially harmful sodium.
Not to be confused with “flavour enhancers” — blends of herbs and spices such as Mrs. Dash, Accent and Spike Gourmet Seasoning that bring out the flavour in foods — these salt impostors contain potassium chloride, touted as a healthier choice to sodium, which if eaten in excess, can lead to high blood pressure and the risk of stroke or heart disease.
But how does the fake salt taste? According to Maclean’s, not great.
In January 2011, the magazine shared the findings of a taste-test of four salt substitutes — No Salt, Lo Salt, Biosalt and Lite Salt — by a dozen Boston chefs.
The panel dissolved the phoney salts in water, cooked them in rice and sprinkled them on popcorn to determine how they measure up to the real thing.
The results: “None of them were preferred over salt.”
Why? The potassium chloride actually gives the fake salt a bitter taste that one tester described as “repulsive” and “acrid.”
And here’s irony for you: According to Toronto dietitian Cara Rosenbloom, no-salt salts may be bad for you.
As the magazine points out, “The ironic reason why salt substitutes might be a bad idea: too much potassium chloride is unhealthy for people with heart or kidney problems or who are on certain.”
Health Canada offers more practical advice to salt-loving fans: “Learn how to reduce sodium in your diet by making healthy food choices at the grocery store, at home and when eating out.”