Why to love sea salt. Enhancing your dishes and 15 + 1 health reasons!

By Salt Odyssey

Enhancing the flavour of any dish

"Saltiness” is one of the five primary basic tastes the human tongue can detect.  Those 5 tastes are: salt, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami (in case you don't know this word, it is from glutamic acid, which is contained in many foods, particularly some kind of meats. It is the basis of the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate, also known as MSG).

The salt that we add to food has other effects, except making it saltier.  Adding salt to food, helps some molecules contained in those foods to be released to the air, helping the aroma of the food to be richer, which is important in our perception of taste. When we add salt to sweet or sour food, will help balance out the taste by making the perceived flavour, for instance of sugary candies or lemons, less one dimensional.

Salt also has been shown to help suppress the bitter taste.  So adding a bit of salt to bitter food (i.e grapefruit) won’t just increase your salty taste perception, but will also decrease your bitter taste perception in any given food.

Health Benefits

1. Stabilises irregular heartbeat and regulates blood pressure – in conjunction with water.
2. Extracts excess acidity from the cells in the body, particularly the brain cells.
3. Balances sugar levels in the blood, which is particularly important for diabetics.
4. Is essential for the generation of hydroelectric energy in the cells of the body.
5. Is vital for the absorption of nutrient components through the intestinal tract.
6. Is needed to clear the lungs of mucus and sticky phlegm, particularly in those suffering from asthma and cystic fibrosis.
7. Clears up catarrh and congestion in the sinuses.
8. Is a strong natural antihistamine.
9. Can prevent muscle cramps.
10. Helps prevent excess saliva production; saliva that is flowing out of the mouth during sleep may indicate salt deficiency.
11. Makes bones firm; 27 percent of the body’s salt content is located in the bones; salt deficiency and/or eating refined salt versus real salt are major causes of osteoporosis.
12. Regulates sleep; acts as a natural hypnotic.
13. Helps prevent gout and gouty arthritis.
14. Is vital for maintaining sexuality and libido.
15. Can prevent varicose veins and spider veins on the legs and thighs.
16. Supplies the body with over 80 essential mineral elements; refined salt, such as the common table salt, has been stripped of all but two of these elements. In addition, refined, commercial salt contains harmful additives, including aluminum silicate, a primary cause of Alzheimer’s disease.