How Much Salt .....

[Bob the Planner]

I usually salt the water that I cook my veg in. I was wondering how much salt goes into the veg and how much stays in the water ? I don't use salt after I've cooked the food and don't appear to taste the salt, however I can taste a difference if I don't use it.

Am I doing myself more harm than good ?

[Rob-C]

IMHO, yes. I went cold turkey with salt a few years ago. I found I soon lost the taste for it and now most processed foods taste revoltingly salty (which they are). The only food I add salt to now is chips, which I have less than once a month.

Likewise with sugar in tea. Once you lose the taste for the sugar, even a tiny amount tastes horrible; If someone stirs my tea with the same spoon they used to stir the sugar into their mug, I can taste the sugar in mine :yuk:

[i want an aero]

i only add salt to chips. as all veg are steamed now

[dougc]

No idea to be honest - not a huge fan of boiled veg. Steam, stirfry or roast is preferable.

I do use a lot of salt when cooking pasta though, especially dried.

Edited by dougc on Wednesday 21st November 22:18

[Olivero]

You shouldn't use any salt when boiling veg.
The main tricks with cooking veg in boiling water are -
Make sure your veg are super fresh.
Where possible are the same size. You don't need to be too OTT but for instance a smaller carrot will cook faster than a big one.
Use loads of water. The reason for this is that when you throw your carrots (or whatever) into the water the temperture drops and your veg take longer to cook.
Only add veg when the water is at a rolling boil - loads of bubbles.
Take out the veg just as (or just before) they are done and serve quickly.
If you want to add salt, pepper and/or butter now is the time to do it.

[biglepton]

The point of adding salt to the water you boil vegetables in is not to add salt to the vegetables, but to increase the temperature the water boils at, which cooks the veg better. If you can detect the salt in the veg after cooking, you've put too much in.

[smiller]

Apparently (according to the steering committee, bless her), switching to low sodium salt can be a good bet. No difference in taste, and lowers ones sodium intake.

Also, completely unrelated to sodium, if you're doing carrots, peas, or sweetcorn add a little sugar to the water rather than salt

[bint]

Bob the Planner said:

I usually salt the water that I cook my veg in. I was wondering how much salt goes into the veg and how much stays in the water ? I don't use salt after I've cooked the food and don't appear to taste the salt, however I can taste a difference if I don't use it.

Am I doing myself more harm than good ?

No - perfectly sensible, and reasonable and there IS a difference. The salt brings out the flavour of veg. I use a pinch for a saucepan of veg and that's sufficient for anyone - no need to add salt when served then.

Pasta is the same, I can tell when it's not been cooked with salt, again, a pinch is sufficient to bring out the flavour, nothing more. Also helps it from sticking to each other.

You do know all these stats about salt being bad for your heart etc are up there with recommended alcohol units per week? They plucked the figures from the air as they seemed like 'reasonable' amounts and they were asked to come up with something!

[Don]

I used to suffer from cramp really, really badly. Horrible rending pains in my calf muscles.

I started coating my food liberally in salt. Problem went away...

[Bob the Planner]

i want an aero said:

.... as all veg are steamed now

I always use a bit of salt in the water for steaming veg too, on the principle that it boils at a slightly higher temperature. I only use about half a tea spoon (1 pinch ?) but its still enough to add a bit of a flavour.

[Rob-C]

biglepton said:

The point of adding salt to the water you boil vegetables in is not to add salt to the vegetables, but to increase the temperature the water boils at, which cooks the veg better. If you can detect the salt in the veg after cooking, you've put too much in.

I'm not convinced about that.

(Graph of boiling point versus %age salt added)


So to raise the boiling point by about 2 degC you'd need 5% salt by weight, or 53grams of salt per litre of water, which is rather a lot.

[grumbledoak]

I wouldn't worry unless you can taste it, really. The general medical advice to eat less salt is beneficial to the ready-meal brigade, and possibly to the salt-everything generation(s). But if you cook your food yourself and don't add it at the table you are probably already on quite a low salt diet (in the scheme of things). A little in the water for veg or pasta isn't likely to be a problem.

The medical establishment seem to recommend 5-7 grams per day for a bloke. But a hospital inmates on a saline drip are getting 9 grams and that is part of the treatment (go figure!) Actual limits are pretty much unknown - your body is pretty good at processing it. One of the few solid facts about salt intake is that too little will kill you. Raised levels are associated with water retention and heart disease, but actual upper limits are unclear.

What is the rest of your diet like ?

[bint]

grumbledoak said:

I wouldn't worry unless you can taste it, really. The general medical advice to eat less salt is beneficial to the ready-meal brigade, and possibly to the salt-everything generation(s). But if you cook your food yourself and don't add it at the table you are probably already on quite a low salt diet (in the scheme of things). A little in the water for veg or pasta isn't likely to be a problem.

The medical establishment seem to recommend 5-7 grams per day for a bloke. But a hospital inmates on a saline drip are getting 9 grams and that is part of the treatment (go figure!) Actual limits are pretty much unknown - your body is pretty good at processing it. One of the few solid facts about salt intake is that too little will kill you. Raised levels are associated with water retention and heart disease, but actual upper limits are unclear.

What is the rest of your diet like ?

I failed miserably to get that across in my post - thank you for writing what I was trying to say when I ended up flat on my face.

(I'd use the excuse that I was too busy at work, more likely is that I couldn't find the facts in time and was going off 'what some bloke said')

[biglepton]

Rob-C said:

I'm not convinced about that.

You should be convinced as what I said is perfectly correct - the main reason people add salt to boiling water when cooking is to raise the temperature at which the water boils. If you ask most chefs why they do it, that is the answer they will give. You were however quite right to question how effective this action is. You have to add a hell of a lot of salt to even raise the boiling point a little - even sea water only boils at 100.6 degrees centigrade, but nonetheless that is why most cooks do it. Likewise you have to add a huge amount of salt to a pan of boiling water to have any appreciable seasoning effect on the veg in it, but people still do!

[LathamJohnP]

Many chefs know f'all about science. So don't expect logical explanations from them.

I'm no scientist myself, but I would have thought that you add salt to the water to reduce the osmotic pressure (difference in concentrations) between veg and water.

Osmosis will cause the the veg to take on water, and flavour and goodness to leach out.

Personally, I prefer my veg cooked confit (often with butter). Carrots are sublime this way. Saturated fat isn't great for you, but statins are cheap and very good at halting and even partially reversing the arterial plaque, I believe.

If you must cook veg in water, the important thing is to put into simmering (not cold) water, and if you can be bothered, plunge into an ice bath afterwards. This is what decent chefs do, and it keeps (green veg particularly) from degrading too much while heating/cooling.

John

Edited by LathamJohnP on Friday 23 November 15:38

[robbo3112]

Seems like most of the contributors know f`all also!!! The inviolate rule is that any veg grown BELOW the ground, Carrots, Turnip, Swede, Potatoes etc are started from cold water in order to soften the fibres & leech out some of the stronger flavours - the only exception being new potatoes which are started from boiling water. All vegetables grown above the ground eg the Brassicas, french beans, asparagus etc shuold be plunged into RAPIDLY boiling salted water to set the colour & shorten the cooking time to preserve the crispness (incidentally this tenet also applies to all frozen veg which should be cooked from frozen) & yes the veg can be cooled under running cold water then re heated when needed in a microwave or plunged back into boiling water - this is accepted "trade" practise. Speaking as an "illogical" chef (quote!!!) I always thought that water boiled @ 100deg C - I don`t believe the odd nth degree would make a ha`porth of difference!!

LathamJohnP said:

Many chefs know f'all about science. So don't expect logical explanations from them.

I'm no scientist myself, but I would have thought that you add salt to the water to reduce the osmotic pressure (difference in concentrations) between veg and water.

Osmosis will cause the the veg to take on water, and flavour and goodness to leach out.

Personally, I prefer my veg cooked confit (often with butter). Carrots are sublime this way. Saturated fat isn't great for you, but statins are cheap and very good at halting and even partially reversing the arterial plaque, I believe.

If you must cook veg in water, the important thing is to put into simmering (not cold) water, and if you can be bothered, plunge into an ice bath afterwards. This is what decent chefs do, and it keeps (green veg particularly) from degrading too much while heating/cooling.

John

Edited by LathamJohnP on Friday 23 November 15:38

[missdiane]

I always learn something new reading stuff like this, I never salt my veg, I salt it to taste afterwards (always salt pasta else it tastes like cardboard)
I think the only veg that needs salting is chips and mashed potato (IMO)