Salt

Salt is one of the oldest ingredients, and is used all over the world to season food. It brings out the flavour in food, but it is also used to preserve it. Salt is one of the five basic flavours that our tongue can taste.

Where does salt come from?

Salt, or sodium chloride, is a natural mineral that occurs in seawater or is extracted from salt mines. Coarse salt is called sea salt or rock salt. Table or kitchen salt is coarse salt that’s been treated or refined in a factory to make it finer, and has an anti-caking agent added to make it less prone to ‘caking’ or clumping.

HOW CAN I LOWER MY SALT INTAKE?

• Prepare food from scratch. That way, you’ll know exactly how much salt has gone into it. Why not try Jamie’s easy chicken stock instead of relying on the shop-bought kind, for instance?
• Avoid adding salt when using salty ingredients, such as bacon, anchovies, cheese, olives.
• Season with herbs, spices and citrus.
• Taste food before adding salt – you can always add more but you can’t take it away. Add sparingly and use a little bit less every time to allow your taste buds to adjust.
• Read the labels – salt is often hidden in foods you might not expect.
• Be wary of takeaways and fast foods – they’re often high in salt.

WHY SHOULD WE BE MINDFUL OF SALT INTAKE?

Although we need a small amount of salt in our diets to help regulate the amount of water in our bodies and aid other bodily functions, there is a strong link between consuming too much salt and bad health. Too much salt is associated with water retention and high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

The amount of salt we should consume varies depending on age and health. The recommended maximum daily intake of total salt in the UK is 6g (roughly 1 heaped teaspoon) for adults (11 years and older); 5g for children aged 7 to 10; 3g for children aged 4 to 6; and 2g for children aged 1 to 3.

To know whether a product or ingredient is high in salt, read the label and use the quantities here as a guide.

High salt = more than 1.5g of salt per 100g
Low salt = less than 0.3g of salt per 100g