newbie here

Hello,
My name is Pat and i have been cooking for a long time (40 yrs).
My cooking came to a complete change when my husband found out he has a kidney problem. The Dr. said NO SALT! So I have to eliminate as much salt as possible. I think I am doing a pretty good job. And I am also benefiting from it too. I got myself a few low-sodium/no sodium cookbooks to start and it has gone pretty good.
I work part time with my husband in his business. He is an electrical contractor.
Hope to hear from some of you .
have a great day,
Pat

Hello Pat and welcome to spice place. My husband had high blood pressure and I am also always trying to cut the salt in recipes. He isn't to the point that he has been banned salt but knowing he has this tendancy I figure an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. His blood pressure is normal now.

Some things to think about when cooking with less or no salt is what the purpose of salt is in food. Salt it's self has no flavor. What salt does is to act as a conductor of flavors. It acts on your tongue to make it more receptive to the flavors in food. The good news is that there are other ingredients you can use which will do the same thing to varying degrees. The first of these is acid. This means lemon juice, wine, vinegar etc. These ingredients liven foods up and allow you to enjoy flavors more fully.

Other things which will help are ingredients with Umame. Many of these unfortunately contain a lot of salt such as parmesan cheese and anchovies but others like low sodium tomato paste work very well.

Lastly on my list of suggestions are spices. appropriate suggestion for this site don't you think? But if you add more herbs, spices or other aromatics such as onions and garlic than usual you can up the flavor in foods with out extra salt.

I try to employ all of these techniques when I'm cooking. This will give you a depth of flavor with out extra salt.

I hope that helps and I hope you will come back often to participate.

your suggestions

Thanks for all those suggestions. It's funny because after 2 weeks with not adding salt or using no salt-low salt ingredients food tasted much better to me. things like Chicken soup, and mashed potatoes were a little harder, but I managed it. I keep lemon juice on hand, vinegars, and lots of herbs and spices.
thanks,
Pat

I think you are right! I notice the same thing. You start to be able to taste things again when you don't have all that salt. It takes a while for your palate to adjust but in the end all that salt really isn't necessary.

nice thread. I so agree about the acids. I personally love lime juice, squeezed on proteins, fish of course, but also grilled beef and chicken. Lemon more on salads and veggies. Enjoy all vinegars, but eat a lot of grain, bean and legume dishes and for those cider vinegar seems a good match.
Must confess, a sort of bad thing, a few years ago started experimenting with French Gray Sea Salt, well, down the evil road! I now have about seven different finishing salts on hand. I don't have a salt problem, just never cared for it much. But these are a treat and it only takes a smidgen. I use my morter and pestle instead of a salt mill, so I can be careful. Hello, my name is Nan & I use finishing salts.
Take Care,
Nan

Nice to meet you cooking diva look forward to your recipes and posts~ here is some helpful information for you

Here is an interesting article about salt

Some tips to reduce sodium consumption, from the National Institutes of Health and American Public Health Association:

# Use spices instead of salt when cooking. Lemon juice, cayenne pepper and salt-free seasoning blends are alternatives.

# Eliminating salt during cooking in favor of sprinkling a smidgen at the table can cut sodium, as can using coarser salts that tickle the tongue more than fine grains.

# Buy fresh or plain frozen vegetables — those frozen with sauces add sodium. Or choose canned versions labeled “no salt added.”

# Choose “reduced sodium” versions of convenience products when available, and check nutrition labels to compare sodium contents of competing brands. Cut back on frozen dinners and packaged mixes that typically contain lots of sodium.

# Limit foods that are cured, such as bacon, or pickled, and sodium-packed condiments such as MSG, soy sauce and catsup.

# Rinsing certain canned foods, such as tuna, removes some sodium.

# Watch for salt code words on food labels and recipes: 1 teaspoon of baking soda equals 1,000 milligrams of sodium; MSG is a common sodium-containing ingredient.

# In restaurants, look for low-sodium foods on menus, and watch for terms that indicate lots of sodium: pickled, cured, broth, soy sauce.

# When ordering, request that your dish be prepared without salt. The National Restaurant Association says most restaurants will try to accommodate that request.

# The NIH advises healthy people to get no more than 2,400 milligrams of sodium a day; 1,500 mg for those with high blood pressure

Also some sweets have salt/sodium too

Here is are websites for no salt recipes

No-Salt / Low-Sodium Recipes

Cooks.com - Recipes - Salt Free

Nutrition and Food Web Archive - Special Diet Recipe Websites: Low Salt Recipes

Hello Pat and welcome to the forum.

Howdy Pat,

...and Welcome! We're a fine bunch of cooks and we always enjoy meeting new folks and making new friends! C'mon in, help yourself to the coffee-pot, and pulluppa chair- we're glad you're here! smiles- kevin (chubbyalalskagriz)

Welcome to the SpicePlace forum family, I love it here, have met some truly terrific folks, get tons of terrific meal ideas & recipes and learn so much! I hope you will love it too And we always welcome new additions to our little "growing" family

Happy Holidays, CCCathy

Hello everyone,
thanks for inviting me in. so far I have gotten many good tips and websites for low-sodium/no sodium tips, recipes, etc. all of it helps. Sometimes I am using one idea and then someone will tell me about another way. So it is good to have different ways.
thanks
Pat

RE: Cooking Diva's "So it is good to have different ways."

I've eaten w/ passionate gusto all my life (as most of us have!) and I also cooked professionally for 25 years... and one of the best things I love about kitchens and food is that there is nearly always a better way.

I cannot count the times that I saw someone else doing something far better, faster, or more efficiently than I had done it for years! And one can learn these better ways from SO many types of folks. Strangely, some of the best things I've ever learned came from folks who had cooked far less than I... in fact, one can learn from someone who doesn't even cook- or who has cooked for less than a month!- Ha! And that's kinda cool, if ya ask me!

How wonderful to have a hobby- or be in a career field where one can truly never know it all! Oh, to be able to learn nearly every day... how wonderfully inspiring is that?