Salt

Here’s the scoop on salt. It is essential to the human body but too much can kill you. As a matter of fact, in ancient China,  the nobility committed suicide by eating too much.

Modern dieticians say you can safely consume between .9 and 2.3 grams per day (2300 milligrams). That’s about one teaspoonful . . . A DAY!

And here’s the catch. It’s in everything! Well . . . almost everything . . .  because it makes our food taste good. It’s in canned soups, dried soups, canned vegetables, stuff you buy at the drive thru window, Chinese food, Mexican food, Costco baked chickens, tomato sauce, bread, cake, boiled shrimp, olives, TV Dinners, and any processed eatables. And if you eat out a lot . . . well . . . you know.

How are you supposed to monitor your salt intake? You can buy fresh food or you can check labels. For example, my box of Mac and Cheese label says there are 470mg of sodium [their word for salt] per serving.

If you don’t buy it fresh and make it yourself, it probably has salt in it. Nutritionist Patrick Holford says “the more sodium you eat, the more potassium and magnesium you need. Few of us eat enough of these, yet we eat high amounts of sodium in salt. This leads to potassium and magnesium deficiency, where muscles become tight, nerves become over stimulated, and you feel more anxious.”

Here are a couple of all natural recipes you might try.

Rabbit Stew

Take one rabbit, one onion, three potatoes, pepper, and celery seeds. Cut the rabbit into small pieces and put in a kettle with about 2 qts. of water brought to a low boil. Simmer until tender. Add the vegetables and any other fresh ones you have lying around and cook till meat falls off the bones.

With fall comes persimmons so here’s a Persimmon Pudding recipe from Nove McNew.

• 1 qt. raw persimmons rubbed through colander
• 4 t baking powder
• 1 t nutmeg
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1 qt milk
• 2 ½ c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 4 c flour

Combine dry ingredients. Add milk to beaten eggs. Stir both mixtures together with the persimmons. Bake an hour on low heat.

Both recipes are from Cy Littlebee’s Guide to Cooking Fish and Game.

Finally, an old Kashmiri proverb intones, Giving advice to a stupid man is like giving salt to a squirrel.