I would also advocate using lime as a salt-substitute.

I try to use very little salt (if any) and capers have always been within arms reach to add a salty bite. Hard cheeses such as Parmesan, Romano, Gouda, and cheddar also work to enhance flavor.. and lets not forget the power of fresh herbs! Mint, basil, parsley, sage, chives, and dill are a few of my favs. Other additions that could fill in the salt gap are garlic powder, balsamic vinegar, seaweed flakes, fresh cracked pepper, nutmeg, curry powder, and of course the tried and true lemon and lime.

Also, I failed to mention white distilled vinegar. White vinegar in moderation is mild enough that it will not overpower other flavors. I have used white vinegar many times to add that briny saltiness to dishes.

I agree with the above commenters about adding fresh, flavorful ingredients. Lemon really perks things up.

A friend recently introduced me to nutritional yeast, which is a savory seasoning with a nutty/salty almost parmesan flavor. She uses it on mac and cheese, eggs, and popcorn. I'm sure there are more uses out there. It's a nice change and adds protein!

I would try Bragg Liquid Aminos. It really adds a lot of flavor without the sodium content.

http://bragg.com/products/bragg-liquid-aminos-soy-alternative.html

I'm all for using 'little' salt, but going completely unsalted seems like a really bad idea - your body actually needs salt!

I don't know the reason behind you avoiding salt, but I just want to throw out there that processed salt SHOULD be avoided at all cost! This is what causes high blood pressure.

However, REAL unprocessed sea salt is essential for good health. Your body needs it to function. There are many trace minerals you get from sea salt you won't get anywhere else. Real salt also helps flush toxins from your body.

I actually take salt as a supplement and do not have high bp or gain water weight or get bloated!

Penzey's has some great salt free spice blends. Mural of Flavor comes to mind.

hey TheWholesomeHome, you do realize that sodium chloride is sodium chloride, right?
And that salt intake can EFFECT blood pressure and does not CAUSE high blood pressure. Salt is a an incredibly critical element to consume (not to mention iodine)...

It's bunk like this that causes people to take up strange causes....

May we ask why Martijn is moving to a salt-free diet?
Is it based on true doctors recommendations to move to a low salt, or due to the belief that this will somehow make them more healthy?

In the summer heat, going salt-free is a bad idea. As you sweat, you're losing salt and other minerals, and without replenishment your body will slowly shut down.

If you're doing this for health reasons, cut down on salt in moderation but not totally. But if you're doing this for some bunky pseudo-health reasons, stop. You'll only hurt yourself.

alllebasii, you do realize that the reason why capers and hard cheeses work to add flavor is BECAUSE of their high salt content, right?

I think acid (think citrus), herbs, and foods with natural depth of flavor (think mushrooms) are your best bets.

The reason is on medical advice. Salt contains natrium, which causes you to gain weight. With heart related conditions you'll have to switch to a natrium-free or less natrium diet. In our case we have a family member that completely needs to avoid natrium. Your body needs only a few milligrams per day, and you'll get that from natural products already.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm still wondering what nutritional yeast is, I wikipedia'd it but I have no clue on where to get that here in the netherlands.

In addition to kicking up the acidity, try adding complexity with bitter flavors such as fresh, dried and/or smoked chilis (including paprika, chipotle, etc.). There are lot of non-spicy varieties if you don't want the heat, too.

Yogurt (possibly drained) with some paprika or other chili powder and lemon or lime juice in it is an amazing sauce for lots of foods, fresh or raw.

Just about anything fermented is good, however many of these foods (cheeses, beans, etc.) come with a lot of salt.

So many snarky people on The Kitchn these days. The worst part is, when you view these individuals profiles, ALL you see is complaints and more snark. I guess places like this are expected to have the occasional Negative Nelly or two.

@ instantphoebe - I am aware that salt is added in certain types of cheese making and thought this post was more geared towards added salt... some salt is necessary to maintain human function, and as long as it isnt being poured on top of the food, a little hard cheese or capers seem fine to me. If Martijn cannot have any salt, even when naturally occurring in foods like beets, certain melons, and seafood... then he will have to weed out the bad suggestions. Thanks for taking on the role of comment moderator, we REALLY need people like you here!

They say that foods high in umami can add a savory complexity to dishes without lots of salt. Some foods that are high in umami are soy sauce and miso (you'd need to make sure you get the low-sodium varieties of both), tomatoes, parmesan and other hard cheeses (again, watch for salt), meat and vegetable stock, red and white wine, citrus zest and juice. Adding flavor with canned foods (like stocks and beans) can be dangerous, since they often add a lot of salt in the process. If you cook beans yourself, you can throw in a piece of kombu seaweed, which will add some savoriness without needing much (if any) salt. Kombu apparently also has the added benefit of minimizing the "gassy" factor of the beans. :-)

This is a wonderful question! I'm in a "post-obsessive-cooking show" kitchen learning period myself and have started to wonder if the "salt!lots of salt!" advice is so great. I'm excited to take these ideas into the kitchen.

In the meantime, here are some nutritional yeast links (it s a vegan/vegetarian staple)....

To learn:

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/ingredients-pantry/ingredient-spotlight-nutritional-yeast-069369

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/344358

To Buy (with international shipping probably):

http://www.bobsredmill.com/nutritional-yeast.html

http://www.veganstore.com/index.html?stocknumber=235

good luck!

@instantphoebe - I was thinking the same thing. Suggesting highly salted foods as salt alternatives seems counter-intuitive to me. Foods cured or prepared with salt are quite different from foods with naturally-occurring salt content. Capers and anything pickled in brine are pretty strictly forbidden in most low-sodium diets.

To accommodate a family member's low-sodium diet we experiment with combos including mustard or cream of tartar. The citrus and spice suggestions are also right on. Maybe try making your own blends, like:
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp powdered lemon rind or dehydrated lemon juice

It depends on your family's tastes, of course, but I've found that experimenting with pre-mixed blends of spices and salt-free dehydrated herbs is better than just adding one thing or another.

Hi Martijn,
I think nutritional yeast flakes are 'gistvlokken'. I found them in a bio-shop in Belgium (Oostende), but not all the bio-shops sell them. I think the brand was De Hobbit, but I'm not sure. That said, I haven't used them yet.
Apart from the above advice, I would recommend adding toasted pine nuts or almonds, croutons, or good olive oil to your dishes.
Good luck!

Produce contains enough salt in it to sustain a human body, there is no need to worry about adding salt to your diet to stay alive. That being said, naturally harvested salt is much better for you than processed salt because naturally harvested salt contains trace minerals that you can benefit from.

balance is the secret, i use sweet,sour and salt in small amounts until the flavor of the food is bright...salt can be cut back quite a bit with this method

If you have only one low-salt family member you might also want to supplement salt for the other family members. My husband went on a low-salt diet for high blood pressure (he has the variety that is affected by salt) but I actually tend to have low-normal blood pressure and I don't want it to get lower than that. So what I do is cook low-salt and then sprinkle a little extra onto my own food.

I find dry dill weed to be a reasonable seasoning in place of some or all salt, and amping up the ground black pepper a bit. He's not salt-free so I do have more leeway; we mostly got his sodium intake down by moving entirely to cooking from scratch, even using homemade broths; we can season to my taste that way and he's still low-salt compared to how most people eat.

Martin, good luck with your cooking.

I am not sure it will solve your problem, but you all may want to consider cutting out processed foods.

I read some research recently that suggested that we adjust to higher levels of salt slowly overtime, so low/no sodium foods taste worse initially than they will as you adjust to you diet.

Processed foods, here in the states anyway, are notoriously high in sodium, so they may be hindering your sense of taste from adjusting.

That said, I grew up in a house that never ever ever used salt in anything, and I will agree that 'umami' oriented foods will help you adjust in the short term. Wild mushrooms, homemade broth, and meat that is browned well should help you through the adjustment.

Umami, if the term does not translate well, is the fifth taste our bodies can sense (along with the classics, sweet, salty, sour, and bitter). It is sometimes referred to as savoriness.

What about cooking technique? For instance, Indian food usually starts by frying spices in a bit of oil. From there, adding some acid (vinegar or lemon) and some sweet (through carmelization as well as sugar) might do a lot to enrich food flavors.

ummm Martin

Natrium is the Latin connotation for Sodium, thus the periodic table labels it as Na. You are either getting REALLY bad nutritional advice or seem to be blindly led or looking for an excuse to be salt free.

Sodium is a metallic element with a symbol Na (from Latin natrium or Arabic ناترون natrun; perhaps ultimately from Egyptian. (via Wikipedia)

You are spiting out so much trash and junk science its funny. You and people like you are the reason why constructive comments cannot be taken seriously. You bring nothing more than sorcery and witchcraft knowledge. Stop spreading ignorance as truth and try doing more research. You can wiki "nutritional yeast" but didn't even bother to wiki natrium,that right there lost all of my respect for you.

@staticfritz.. RIGHT ON!

You need salt in moderation. No one ever said bathe in it or eat it by the barrel. Your excuse for wanting to go salt free is laughable and you need to do more to educate yourself. Some one is selling/telling you bad info...seriously and you are going to hurt yourself and others if you keep it up. You are a danger to yourself and others... So please stop spreading misinfo.

@ tcleaves

Maybe you should have read Martijn's comment more thoroughly. He states that he is from the Netherlands, and in Dutch (and German, my language) Natrium is the name of the chemical element that is called sodium in English. Since he is not a native English speaker, he should be forgiven to use the dutch word for the element he is referring to, don't you think?

There really is no need to attack people who come to this site looking for help! Nowhere, neither in the original question nor in the comment is he "spreading ignorance as truth", he is only asking how to cook without salt and never trying to persuade other people to do so. (All he does is ask a question, how can he be "spreading misinfo" by doing this???)
So why do you get so angry about it?

my husband has high blood pressure and has to be careful with salt content of food. when preparing foods that i once used salt in, i now use True Lime (http://www.truelemon.com/products/true-lime/shaker.html?phpMyAdmin=yqi-BV9pM%2CKRpu3Gg6H%2C5cbpw8b&phpMyAdmin=82c4bf54c1ft102163be&phpMyAdmin=26c4bf9e23et2b81d20e
It dramatically decreases the amount of salt that we perceive is needed in our food.

Even if he's used to a different language, saying "salt contains sodium" is a very strange thing to say. Of course it does. That's what salt IS, it's not like it's a hidden ingredient.

Besides, blaming any significant weight gain on sodium is dodgy at best. People with heart conditions are told to avoid salt for the sake of their blood pressure, not weight loss. sodium is only barely tied to weight, and even then, most evidence points to it only possibly effect water retention.

Now, if you avoid processed foods to avoid the salt you will most likely lose weight, but that's because you'll also be consuming less fat, sugar, and overly refined ingredients too!

Martin,

My 30-year-old husband has recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure, so we are struggling, too, with ways to cut down on the salt. In addition to the suggestions made above, a drop or two of Worcestershire sauce, which is much lower in sodium than the equivalent amount of table salt, really adds a depth of flavor and umami to sauteed veggies. It's not totally salt-free, however.

We recently discovered that fresh mozzerella has very little sodium--looking forward to a summer of that with tomatoes, basil, and balsamic vinegar.

Good luck!

Ok I'll add a real cooking tip since this is a cooking site! Lemons, limes, and balsamic vinegar are great salt subs as well as seasoning your food with herbs and spices.

If anyone wants to read more on why processed table salt is bad for your health read http://ezinearticles.com/?Natural-Sea-Salt-Versus-Table-Salt,-the-Good,-the-Bad-and-the-Ugly&id=502186

All those harsh comments, let's just ignore them :). Thanks for your help. Indeed I'm not asking or pursueing anyone to switch to a low-sodium diet. I see my explaination wasn't clear, I'll try again.

Sodium/salt makes your body retain liquids (don't really know how to translate this). These liquids are bad, because in my family member's case he has "liquid" behind his heart pump. This is how I understand it, if this is somehow incorrect, then I've probably either misunderstood or got wrong information, but so far this has worked for us. So either way, this was professional advice which seems to work out for us. So think of it as you want.

"Gistvlokken" seems to be the proper translation, and I the biological store in town occassionally has them, so they told me on the phone. Going to pick up a batch to try, seems like a good spicemaker for pasta's.

Good to hear that fresh mozzerella has little sodium, I'll look into this, could be brand specific.

Great suggestion, thanks again.

Garlic. Garlic is magic.

And I second sauteeing your spices - it really makes them pop! Just be careful if one your spices is, say, cayenne pepper.

I'd also suggest looking around for heirloom foods or friends'-garden foods; they tend to be more flavorful than standard supermarket fare.

Martijn,

This website - from Rutgers University - has some helpful tips, and lists multiple low-sodium herbs to enhance flavors.

http://health.rutgers.edu/factsheets/sodium.htm

It also lists a bunch of foods and seasonings that are naturally high in sodium (like pickled foods, which are soaked in brine). I hope this helps!

And for those of you pooh-poohing Martijn's concerns, it also gives a brief overview of how sodium intake can be harmful to those with high blood pressure, and even covers the difficulty Martijn pointed out with fluid-retention.

I'm happy to be the bearer of good news here. Everything you eat has some small amount of sodium in it. Even if you're on a vegan diet, you will get enough sodium (500 mg is all you need) by eating food alone.

I was reading this great book, The Scent of Desire, recently about the sense of smell that also discussed the issue of taste. It turns out that you actually have to learn to like the large amount of salt that is in most people's diets. So, if you cut back your sodium intake, you'll actually enjoy the flavor of less salty foods.

You can't. You need SOME salt in food to make it taste good. Salt makes food taste more like itself. While there are health benefits of lowering your salt intake, going salt-free is idiotic and impossible.

SODIUM DOES NOT CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN.

Stop being such a freaking idiot.

uhm, can we all calm down? Avoiding salt in processed foods is a good idea...because it causes you to avoid processed foods which are often full of preservatives and other ick. Avoiding ALL salt just isn't going to happen unless you go on a complete distilled water fast. We went through this at my house when my dad started having HBP years ago, then again recently with my husband. Cooking foods from scratch with lots of garlic, ginger, black pepper, lemon, lime and such helped. Eating mostly raw veggies for two days to readjust our pallettes helped even more. Our favorite seasoning has dried or dehydrated: rosemary, garlic, onion, black pepper, red and green bell peppers, carrots, lemon peel. We had to special order some of these off the internet, but it's an amazing mixture that I love sincerely. It makes everything taste more savory...which helps with the mouth's desire for salt. Hope this helps and bravo for working so hard to reduce blood pressure safely!

My father has been on the same type of diet for many years and we have had to find lots of ways to be creative.

Things we've use as flavor for his low-sodium diet:
- Fresh herbs. cilantro, basil, dill, rosemary, you name it.
- Good quality vegetables and produce - you won't have to season it as much if the quality of the food is already there.
- Lots of citrus. A squeeze of lemon or lime can make a dish seem perfectly fine even though it doesn't have salt.
- Tahini/sesame paste - makes for great Asian noodle sauces (mix sesame paste, chili oil, green onions, cilantro, canola oil, sesame oil, and white pepper. Toss with cooked noodles.
- Sun dried tomato packed in oil (make dressings for pasta, etc)
- Make quick pickled vegetables using white wine vinegar, sugar, and pepper corns.
- wasabi/horseradish is great to flavor seafood
- Use fresh and dried fruit as well as nuts in salads as flavor toppings.
- Good quality olive oil also has a lot of flavor on its own. - Many different kinds of flavored vinegars to use as flavor agents as well.

You'd be surprised at what you can make when you have to. One of the things my dad missed most was sausage. So we made an Italian style sausage patties using ground turkey, onions, garlic, fennel seeds, italian herbs. It was actually pretty tasty.

A lot of foods can be adapted without adding more salt.

We started a family blog with home style recipes, some of them low-sodium:
http://our-family-kitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/low%20sodium

To the commenters who say you need salt in your diet - yes, that is true. I think my dad's diet avoids sodium taht we add to foods - most foods we eat naturally have sodium. What he avoids is adding salt to foods, and this means he avoids foods like miso, soy sauce, bottled sauces and dressing, cheese, and some bread. We read the sodium content level on every package of food that we buy.

Often, people with heart failure do need to be on an extremely sodium-restricted diet. Excess sodium causes water retention, and for someone with heart failure, the heart cannot pump very well with this extra fluid in the body. The fluid then builds up in the tissues (causing swelling of the legs) and can build up other places too, like the lungs (causing difficulty breathing). It's called congestive heart failure.

Martijn, good luck! I hope you and your family find some tasty alternatives.

* Dulse flakes * which can be purchased at local health food store/Whole Foods, etc.

_Nutritional Powerhouse_
Dulse contains high levels of iodine, as well as calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, potassium and zinc. It has vitamins A, C, E, and most of the B vitamins, including B6 and B12. A quarter-ounce of dulse provides about 30 percent of the recommended dietary allowance of iron, while a gram of dulse provides 50 mcg of iodine.

Read more: What Are Dulse Flakes? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_5799671_dulse-flakes_.html#ixzz0rnUT9lmi

@Kaete: Actually, he's chemically correct in saying that salt contains sodium. Salt does not equal sodium because salt and contains chlorine. To say that salt is sodium is like saying that water is hydrogen, as water is hydrogen AND oxygen.

Hi Martijn,

I just wanted to say that while garlic, as it has been mentioned here, is a good additive to a low-sodium diet, you should also take into consideration any medications that you or your family member is taking before eating garlic. Especially any blood thinners.

When my dad was on a restricted diet, he was recommended against eating foods high in garlic because it is apparently a natural blood thinner, and he was taking blood thinning medications. According to my dad's cardiologist at the time, the combination of garlic with his blood thinning medications would cause for a very, very bad interaction and make his blood too thin, which, if he were to cut himself could cause an increase in blood loss and/or inability for the blood to clot properly.

I only say this as a word for concern because sometimes foods can interact with different medications, so double check to see if any foods can have an adverse reaction with the medications -- if you or your family member are currently taking any.

Good luck to you and your family on the low/no sodium diet!