Trending: Unrefined Salts
Salt is essential for life and an indelible part of our lives. Saltiness is one of our six basic tastes, and the mineral features in many of our favorite dishes and snacks. Naturally found in seawater and rock crystals, from where it is evaporated and mined, the humble sodium chloride compound has played a significant role in our lives for centuries.
It is the oldest and most widely found and used way of seasoning food, including when necessary to make unpalatable foodstuffs edible. It has also been used for preserving food through direct salting, brining (preserving in salty water), and pickling.
The first recorded use of processed salt as grains is around 6,000 BC. At this time, people in what’s now known as Romania extracted salt from spring water, while salt works were present in China. The white mineral was a valuable trade product, transported worldwide via salt roads and boats.
It has traditional significance in some cultures and is used in religious ceremonies and koshering. It has been used as a currency to raise tax revenues, and its scarcity has led to wars. Today, salt is also used in chemical production and manufacturing of paper pulp, plastics, polyvinyl chloride, and more.
An Essential Nutrient, But Not in Excess
Sodium is vital for human health. It’s an osmotic solute and electrolyte. While it’s good for you, overconsumption can lead to illness. It can result in conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and other serious concerns such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, and calcium loss. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adults should consume no more than five grams of salt daily1, with consumers increasingly aware of their salt intake.
At the same time, going without taste-enhancing saltiness is out of the question for most. Consumers are exploring beyond conventional table salt to try unrefined salt options. These include less processed, more colorful, and exotic-sounding Himalayan Pink, Black Hawaiian, Persian Blue, Danish Smoked, Celtic salt, Fleur de Sel, and sulphury-eggy flavored Kala Namak.
These types of salt are unique and trending, but do they offer more benefits than regular sea or table salt?
Does Unrefined Specialty Salt Offer More Health Benefits?
Beyond providing extra texture to dishes, minimally processed salt may be healthier than ground grains, usually retaining more of its nutritious minerals such as calcium, iron, and potassium. For example, Himalayan pink salt has 84 essential minerals and trace elements. However, all salts contain sodium, so none should be used excessively.
Salt is generally used for its flavor rather than its health benefits. So, to satisfy your taste buds while reducing sodium intake, exploring healthy salt substitutes is preferable.
Exploring Salt Substitutes
These include products replacing sodium with similar-tasting potassium chloride or using a combination. In contrast to salt, potassium chloride can help decrease blood pressure, so including the mineral is undoubtedly the healthier option for most, within limits.
You can also achieve the desired tangy and savory taste profile using other familiar products. Consider garlic, onion powder, nutritional yeast, paprika, black pepper, ginger, truffle oil, lemon juice, apple cider, red wine, or balsamic vinegar. Combine with complementary herbs and spices such as coriander, sage, dill, cinnamon, tarragon, and rosemary.
Most of the salt consumed among consumers is not added but included in the formulation of the population’s favorite snacks, fast foods, and dishes. Producers must rethink their recipes to meet users’ increasing demands for healthier ingredients.
Achieving a Less Processed Saltiness
If your flavor profile needs more than the acceptable amounts of sodium or potassium, consider natural salt or savory substitutes, or rely on pure, EU-certified taste and aroma extracts from Advanced Biotech.
Our extensive taste and odor ingredients collection includes versatile disodium succinate, pyrazines, thiazoles, oils, botanicals, and other extracts. Contact us today to order samples or place your order.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt