54.54 pinches

I love when my son is cooking in the kitchen and how he seasons his food. It's very normal for him to grab a pinch of salt out of this beautiful olive wood covered bowl and sprinkle some over his meal with a chef-y flourish. Having said that, salt is one of those controversial issues that is troubling for some. Yesterday, Anne Marie and I were chatting about the blog, and it prompted me to look up some facts and figures.

Apparently on a physiological level, people NEED 500 mg of sodium a day. The "guideline" for sodium consumption is 2400 mg of sodium a day. So far so good.

SO? What did this mean for our chef-y pinches of salt over a great steak, over some fresh tomatoes, basil and bocconcini cheese, over some freshly steamed asparagus and lemon zest? Just how much sodium was I pumping into the veins of those I feed, not to mention my own (sometimes stressed-out) self? Was I elevating my blood pressure? Was I harming my young son? Was I putting my love at risk for a stroke?

They're good questions although my gut instinct said NO - as long as our heathy eating habits were in place. If they were out of whack with junk/factory/over-processed foods, then probably, yes.

I use a local Windsor Kosher salt which I switched to when I started watching "The 100 mile challenge". It has 1760 mg of sodium per teaspoon. I took out my salt, and pinched. Then I put it on a dinner plate as if I was normally seasoning it. I did this five times. Then I dumped it in my measuring spoons - 1/8 tsp. I just repeated it again before writing this.

(My math teacher in high school would be proud of this...) 1/8 tsp salt has 5 pinches. That means 12.5% of a tsp is one eighth. 12.5% divided by 5 pinches is 2.5% of a teaspoon per pinch. 1760 mg of sodium multiplied by 2.5% is 44.
So - the pinches of salt (44 mg) aren't the problem for a daily allotment.

I am really happy to say that I had to look for a while to find something prepared in the house to get a sodium read on. Triscuits have 115 mg for 4 crackers. 1 tbsp of soy sauce has 450 mg. My beloved Frank's Red Hot has 180mg per tsp. The worst offender in my house, cream of mushroom soup that my son loves, has 850 for one bowl! I'm going to keep my pulse on the sodium content on my meals this week, just to be sure.

Prepared stuff is LOADED with it to keep it from going bad. This is logical, since salt is a preservative which has been used for centuries. It's a pickler!

BUT - and here's the (salt)rub - if it makes what you eat from scratch taste better (and it absolutely does) you might just eat more of the good stuff. Eat more of those green, red, yellow and purple veggies you might otherwise pass on? Enjoy a fresh steaming hot new potato? Devour half a roasted butternut squash? Taste the ocean while biting into a flaky poached fish? Dive into a creamy avocado with some lime juice?

So, after a bit of research, a bit of experimenting, and a but of math, I'm going to take one last pinch of salt, throw it over my shoulder for good luck, and relax!