We do have sugar substitutes ( Canderel among others) that taste pretty much the same as the real McCoy,
why can’t I find anything similar for salt ?
Spices,herbs could be used instead of course but the taste would be different.
As someone who’s been on a low-sodium diet for a long time[sup]1[/sup], I can tell you that there is absolutely nothing that tastes like salt except…salt.
On the plus side, there are lots of other flavors that you can use instead of salt. The trick is to change your expectations of the way food tastes by changing the kinds of foods you eat altogether, rather than trying to make something familiar (and salty) taste good in a low-sodium version.
If you want tips, suggestions, etc. I’d be happy to help you out. My e-mail’s in my profile.
[sup]1[/sup]I don’t follow the diet as closely as I used to, because there’s not as much need for it now, as far as I can tell. But I’ve found that my tastes have changed. Unless I’m really craving salt, there are an awful lot of things I used to love eating that now taste far too salty for me!
Sugar is a fairly large molecule, allowing chemical variants that taste the same but don’t get digested (no calories) to be made using a similar structure. Table salt is an incredibly simple molecule: just two atoms, one sodium and one chlorine. Changing either one results in something fairly different, and therefore different taste. Mixes of spices are about as close as you can get, but I suspect those spices might have natural NaCl in them to help make them salty.
Honestly, I don’t find potassium chloride (No-Salt, in one brand name incarnation) to taste that much different from the real thing.
But you’ve got be careful with potassium chloride - the stuff is dangerous.
Well, true, but I’m not eating big chunks of it and I’m not taking any medications with it in.
Thanks to everyone who replied.
Scribble
looks like I just have to live with this.
I’m not much into cooking, but thanks for your concern.
Yes, but many people who use potassium chloride are unware of how small a lethal amount can be. It’s not an amount a person would be likely to consume but it certainly is an amount that is possible to consume.
how so? how much? why?
From Wikipedia:
(emphasis added by me)
So it looks like the LD50 (dosage at which 50% of the subjects die) is higher than you would be likely to consume, but that article doesn’t say at what dosage side-effects start to occur.
So calcium cloride should be banned like vegemite, because like it, you normaly eat small harmless amounts, but a highly abnormal amount can kill you.
I find that when I make a hamburger or the like that I don’t need to add salt. I’ve reduced the salt intake to minimum on foods over twenty years and I don’t like much salt any longer. I now order fries at all restraunts without salt, because I can’t stand to eat them with salt. I can not tolerate the taste of the substitute. blahk! pfft! yuck!
Waenara, thanks.
Does it build up in your system? I am guessing it is as readily excreted as regular salt.