Saltsale

The sodium-packed table flavoring we all take for granted has far more uses than adding taste to food and (in excess) causing hypertension.  You may not have given much mind to a bag of salt outside of adding some punch to a dry chicken, but salt has much more to offer than an afterthought to bad cooking. Lot’s poor wife probably didn’t appreciate it quite so much, but a big bag of salt goes a long way through the house. 

1. In the Garden
As it turns out, most ugly garden beasties don’t care much for salt. Get rid of poison ivy by spraying leaves and roots with salty water.  You can also keep fleas away from the doghouse by washing it with it.  The next time you get a bee sting, rinse it with water and cover it with salt to soothe away the pinch.  Use salt and hot water to kill grass and weeds growing in between the concrete on your sidewalk or driveway.   

2. In the Kitchen
Sure salt, as vinegar, can cover a multitude of cooking sins, but did you know it can also put out a fire?  Keep a bag nearby while cooking to serve as an extinguisher to grease fires.  Not sure about those expired eggs? Add two teaspoons of salt to some water and crack an egg in the bowl.  An edible egg will sink whereas a bad egg floats.  When your food boils over, there’s no need to dread cleaning it afterward.  Sprinkle some salt on the stovetop and it will be a breeze to wipe down after cooling. 

3. As a Preservative
One of the most ancient uses of salt was to keep meats edible over a long period of time.  It prevents the growth of bacteria, which causes food spoilage.  But did you also know you can prevent browned cut potatoes and apples by soaking them in cold salt water?  Make sure you buy Kosher salt or pickling salt when you use it as a preservative.   

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There was a time when salt was worth its weight in gold – literally. And quite right too. Without salt, life would cease. Your muscles would not function, your ability to think would be impaired, your memory would fail and your heart would stop beating. And yet today salt is the demon of the diet world.

As with so many of our ridiculous diet fads, the finger of blame is pointing in entirely the wrong direction, and much depends on how we define ‘salt’.

There are three basic types of salt most of us can buy – standard table salt, sea salt and rock salt –and within these three categories there are numerous variations in terms of source and chemical make-up.

It may be helpful to think of salt in the same way you think of sugar. Refined sugar contains none of the trace elements (very low levels of both essential and non-essential minerals) and cofactors necessary for health that unrefined sugar does. These trace elements and cofactors are also useful in helping the body metabolise sugar better. Without them sugar is just calories.

Salt is much the same way. Unrefined salts, whether mined from the earth or harvested from the sea, contain a broad spectrum of trace elements, often in the same balance as are found in human blood. These include magnesium and potassium, necessary for health and which help the body metabolise the sodium better. Indeed, potassium and magnesium work synergistically with sodium to regulate water balance and nerve and muscle impulses. The more sodium you eat, the more potassium and magnesium you need to maintain balance. Few of us get enough of these elements in our diets, yet we eat high amounts of sodium in salt… Full article here

Sodium chloride is the spice of life. It’s the one common condiment in everyday use across cultures, cuisines and continents. Yet it can be harmful if you have too much. Then again, it’s an essential nutrient, and too little of it can be dangerous too.

Salt’s humble image has undergone a sea change since the days of the Dandi march . Now it comes in an assortment of amped-up “healthier” variants. Iodized or not, low-sodium or normal…the confusion this simple and essential (even this is now being debated) food ingredient seems to churn up is bewildering, to say the least. So what’s the truth? Is salt good or bad for you? The truth, as is often the case, lies somewhere in between.

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