We must all know by now that too much salt is bad for us. We can reduce the risk of heart attack, strokes and some cancers if we cut down our intake. We probably all eat more salt than we even realise so some good advice is welcome.
Christine Bailey is well placed to give that good advice. She is a chef, food and health writer, and cookery teacher. She regularly contributes to Natural Health and Beauty, Pregnancy, Lighter Life, Natural Lifestyle and others. Christine also works with a number of charities including the World Cancer Research Fund UK.
Duncan Baird publishes some lovely books on health and nutrition. This is one of several in a series of chunky, spiral-bound volumes that are easy to use and full of information. Each recipe has symbols which indicate if it’s suitable for vegetarians, contains dairy, eggs, gluten, etc.
Much of the salt we eat comes hidden in the form of processed goods. Foods don’t need to taste salty to contain salt. It’s a flavour enhancer and is found in, amongst other things, bread, cheese and breakfast cereals. It might be a surprise to you to know that even sweet-tasting foods contain quite a bit of salt. Shop-bought biscuits, cakes and puds are also guilty.
Don’t despair! You know the foods to avoid and Christine offers a whole book devoted to dishes that are low-salt but tasty. If the food isn’t flavourful then you won’t want to cook it and you’ll drift back to the processed foods and ready meals. This, on the other hand, is good food that you will enjoy and it just happens to do you good. Nothing bland here.
Roast Garlic and Tomato Soup has a sweet taste and a rich texture which comes from a can of borlotti beans. Nice to know that you can use cans but make sure to buy the “no added salt or sugar” varieties. There are lots of healthier processed foods available but read the labels.
Top 100 Low-Salt Recipes has some exotic dishes including Roasted Vegetables with Dukkah. It’s inspired by traditional Egyptian dishes which use the spice blend dukkah as a substitute for salt. Most food needs less salt if you use spices which fool the taste buds.
We could all benefit from being better informed about nutrition. Top 100 Low-Salt Recipes should be welcomed by anyone with salt-related health issues. It’s better to avoid a problem than solve it, so we should all take Christine’s advice now, before we need to.
Top 100 Low-Salt Recipes
Author: Christine Bailey
Published by: Duncan Baird
Price: £5.99
ISBN 978-1-84483-756-4
Cookbook review by Chrissie Walker © 2018