I’ve been thinking about potassium chloride. Except for price (availability) and tradition are there any other reasons why it is not more widely used in food preparation?
Because it tastes nasty and can kill you if you overdo it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_chloride#Biological_and_medical_properties
Because it tastes like ass?
Yeah, but other than that.
This theory gets my vote. I’ve tasted straight potassium chloride, and don’t want to do it again. My mother used to have to take liquid potassium supplement, and let me taste it. It tastes worse than ass.
I recently learned that there are some people in this world with high potassium levels and that if your doctor learns you are one it can cause great concern and one of those worried-voice discussions with you. Those with elevated potassium levels must avoid excess potassium, and failure to do so can result in severe problems or death.
So… perhaps, in addition to it tasting “like ass”, there is concern that the cook does not inadvertently kill the diner.
My husband’s trying to reduce his sodium chloride intake. The best one we’ve found so far is NoSalt, and even then, its uses seem limited. You pretty much can’t sprinkle it over a drier food, or else you get the nasty flavor. It does help to mix it into soup or something like that.
Doctors sometime recommend potassium salt because sodium can contribute to the killing of the patient. Furthermore, potassium chloride is sold at the supermarket so it cannot be too hazardous so lets toss that explanation as not being a deterrent to *widespread *use.
Taste is subjective.
So, to restate the original question: other than cost and a subjective reaction to taste are there any other reasons why it is not more widely used in food preparation?
Yes, because the vast majority of people who buy seasoning agents prefer sodium chloride.
Of course they probably prefer sodium chloride because it costs less and because they find the taste more palatable.
Seriously, why would you discount taste as a reason why people prefer one type of seasoning to another?
No, those are the reasons.
However, too much potassium is as bad, or worse, than too much sodium.
And I’m NOT going to use a an ingredient if it makes the food taste worse than it does without that ingredient. I’d prefer to eat something without salt, rather than put potassium chloride on it. My grandmother and mother both needed to take potassium supplements, and used a mix of potassium chloride and sodium chloride to flavor their food. I’m well aware of both the health benefits and hazards of too little or too much potassium, and I’m well aquainted with the taste of potassium chloride.
Yes, potassium is something that humans need. But we have to be careful not to get too much of it. Most of us don’t need to take potassium supplements, we’re well able to get enough potassium from a normal diet. And frankly, it just doesn’t taste good to me as a seasoning, so I’ll get my potassium from bananas and potatoes, both of which are tasty and nutritious, thankyouverymuch.
I think that taste is a major factor in the reason why people don’t use potassium chloride, and do use table salt, as a flavoring. In fact, I think that people mostly use table salt for the flavor. Sometimes it’s used for other purposes, but my WAG is that 99.99% of salt that is consumed was put in the food to flavor it.
I’ve found that it makes a tasty topping for french fries. Oddly enough the chemically taste, when it’s pure, only enhances the salty taste and make it seem like the fries are extra-salty.
Also in foods where you don’t really taste the salt I sometimes use it, but then again I use less salt than normal in those recipes anyway. If I used the recommended amount of salt but in potassium chloride instead it would probably taste nasty.
No it’s pretty hazardous all right. Its LD50 is around 2500 mg/kg (which means that a dosage of 2500 mg per one kilogram of bodyweight would cause death in 50% of the people who took a dosage that size). This LD50 is comparable to sodium chloride but KCl’s lethality has a much more variable range than NaCl’s. The LDLo (lowest lethal dosage) is an astonishing 40 mg/kg - that means that a person weighing 150 lbs could be killed by a dosage as small as one tenth of an ounce.
I was at the supermarket an hour ago and the mixed salt sodium chloride and potassium chloride had a warning, for normal healthy persons only, others should consult a physician etc.
The potassium chloride only, with iodine and desiccants, and the sodium chloride only, with iodine and desiccants, had no warnings.
I’m rather with Ludovic up-thread. I rather like the taste when added to some foods.
Vote #3 that KCl tastes just fine to me. I started using it because I’ve had crazy high blood pressure (now medicated), and now I use it all the time. I do notice a subtle bitter taste if I taste it alone, but on food I can’t tell the difference from NaCl.
Looking through thi site a couple pf days ago I read an account about potassium chloride being dangerous, even lethal I can’t find the post again. but it stated that a woman killed herself with it. That does not makeit dangerous, anything can kill you if you take enough. The claim was that very small amounts can kill; the amount mentioned being 160gm. Now if you look ate the recomended daily dosage it is generaly around 3500mg. So the lady took 180 times the recommende dosage: not surprising that shes dead.I think that it’s fear of misuse that prompts doctors to warn against it. Anyway, even water or air can be lethal if taken in too great a quantity. Cheers, Toby
You mean, other than the two main reason why it isn’t used, why isn’t it used?
Other than the fact that he’s dead, why can’t Abraham Lincoln run for president in 2012? Other than the fact that he’s too young, why can’t Justin Bieber? Other than the fact that he’s not a natural born American citizen, why can’t Arnold Schwarzenegger?
As a nurse, I really wish all those potassium ‘salts’ were pulled out of the supermarket. They are not useful - and can even be dangerous for - the folks most likely to want to use them.
Most people who have been told told to limit their sodium intake for medical reasons are also likely to be on potassium-sparing blood pressure medications and/or diuretics. This means the body does not eliminate excess potassium. Combine one of these medications with a potassium salt substitute, even used in ‘safe’ quantities, and you have a very potentially dangerous and unhealthy situation indeed.
I advise the patients I talk to to avoid potassium salt substitutes entirely, to throw out the ones they may already have bought, and to try Mrs. Dash instead.
That was the case with a patient of mine - K+ sparing diuretic, lots of Mrs. Dash (which may be free of potassium) mixed with other salt substitutes, and she ate at least one banana every day. She was, ahem, not excited about the Kayexalate.
And then I had to physically remove the banana and salt substitute off her dietary tray!!! 
My SO is on HBP meds and limits sodium and we have some NoSalt. I would actually lick an ass to get the taste out of my mouth. I try to use a pinch of it and a pinch of salt to flavor a large amount of food and be done with it.
ETA - missed the part where you said that about Mrs. Dash. Good to know. I haven’t bought any in a long time but will get some soon!
I was wondering if this was about the Jack Kevorkian “suicide machine” that used potassium chloride to stop the heart. I’m definitely not considering it for table use after it’s been in the news in that sense.