How do you use salt?
 

With the recent reports on the overuse of salt in our diet, I started thinking about how I use salt when I cook and eat.
I usually don't add much salt when I cook and I keep an eye on salt content when I use prepared products. I don't regularly by low sodium products.
At the table, I add salt only to eggs, corn, and spinach, and occasionally chicken soup. Otherwise, very rarely, and I always taste first.
How about everybody out there? Taste first? Add salt to everything? Nothiing?

PP

I very rarely add salt to dishes...only when necessary, and then only in small amounts. I have become very conscious of my salt intake over the past few years, as I have discovered that salt does some pretty bad stuff to my body. (ie: water retention, blood pressure increases).
Worst of all, frozen processed foods. The sodium amounts in that stuff are absolutely hideous. Also, beware of "fat free" or "low fat" foods. Reading the label you will find that often as the fat decreases, the amount of salt increases.

I've been lucky in that I've never liked salt added on food. I may use it with a mix of other seasonings as a coating to cook something, but other then popcorn, I don't add salt to much else.

An unexpectedly interesting book: http://www.amazon.com/Salt-World-His.../dp/0142001619

Post cooking: Hard boiled eggs and corn on the cob. Very sparingly while preparing any cooked dishes.

Shoot...now I want corn-on-the-cob with salt and butter.

You will easily cut down on your sodium intake by using Lite Salt:
http://www.mortonsalt.com/products/f.../lite_salt.htm

To enhance the natural flavor of the dish/ingredients. NEVER as a main flavor.

I try to never use any salt, as I prefer pepper, or other healthier ingredients. However, if I need to add salt to a meal, I pour a bit on a spoon and carefully add it to my food. I don't empty a whole container of salt on my food, unlike some people I see in hotel restaurants...

My name is braslvr, and I'm a salt-oholic.:cool: I've loved and craved the stuff since I was a little kid. Food cooked by my parents rarely required additional salt, and neither does food cooked at our house, but that's because it was added during cooking. At most restaurants I have to use a lot, especially on meat, potatoes, cooked veggies, and eggs. For whatever reason, airline meals usually require very little if any. At 52 my BP is still 125 over 72 or less, same as when I was a teen. Salt is not bad for everyone, and it would be devastating for me to have to adhere to a true low sodium regimen. [shudder]

I add salt when cooking the meal and taste constantly. I never have salt on the table, in fact I don't own a salt cellar.
I never understand it in restaurants when people drown their food in salt before they even take a bite.

The only foods I cook regularly which requires me to use plenty of salt are; dried pasta - I add a few tablespoons of cheap sea salt to the water I boil it in and then pour it off.
Japanese style pickles (or any time I use raw cucumber, I slice it, scatter it with salt, let osmosis occur and rinse and drain the slices)
Japanese rice balls (onigiri). I wet my hands and rub them with salt before pressing hot rice with them (I have an ume infused salt for this, smoked sea salt is also good)

Usually I have regular Maldon Sea Salt to hand which allows me to be sparing with how much I use. It's rare for me to use more than a teaspoon when making food for 2 or 3 people. I'm not a huge salt user and even prefer my butter unsalted. I've found it really easy to make saltless, flavourful, umami packed dishes our baby can eat with us, we've hardly needed to adapt our diets at all.

My favourite way of using good sea salt is sprinkled lightly on watermelon.

I don't usually add any.. but I would just sprinkle evenly on the food.

That's sounds absolutely disgusting.

Will try it some time to verify. :)

Maybe it's not as nasty as it sounds...

I don't keep any salt in the house. When cooking, I might use other ingredients or condiments (which themselves contain some salt). For example, when grilling steaks, I'll use a little Worcestershire sauce and some low-sodium soy sauce, garlic and pepper, but never any directly-added salt.