Cut the Salt, Up the Umami

Our house loves salt. We love its different grains, trace minerals, and brilliant colors. It seasons everything and I often forget that salt was originally for the rich. Herbs were a poor man's substitute, but both persisted side by side.

I salt my lettuce liberally when making salads (learned this tip from a caterer and friend). I prefer to buy unsalted peanut butter, then top it with coarse sea salt to elevate the feel and flavor. Buying low sodium products (e.g. beans with no added salt), means that meals can be salted to taste and recipes do not need to be adapted for salty ingredients.

Tied closely with the saltiness of a dish is its savoriness. In Japan, this characteristic flavor is called umami and comes from rich concentrations of glutamate, inosinate, and guanylate. When cooked, these ingredients build layers of flavor without adding more salt to the dish. Learn more about umami at this link.

Sources of umami include broccoli, mushrooms, cheese (like that Parmesan rind you remembered to save in the freezer, right?), meat, seaweed, and sardines. Cabbages also have high umami, so this flavor might be more familiar than you think.

Try swapping umami foods for salt. If you keep a bag of vegetable scraps in the freezer, keep the umami together and use it to make broth in a slow cooker. Salt lighter than usual in the beginning of any recipe with umami, and wait until flavor begins to develop to salt again.

Salt and umami complement one another, more supplementary than interchangeable. Experimenting with your own preferences will help you find a good balance and your sodium intake may decrease in turn.

This recipe for One-Pot Creamy Cabbage pasta should help show you just what I mean.