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Talking Heads ~ Salt: You Can't Live Without It, Can You Live With It?

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ginny:
Hah! The article online leaves off this info running down the right side, while including some interesting sub articles including one on there being so much fat in food it's like cocaine according to one doctor. I do think that eating foods high in fat produces a craving for more (or if I'm any judge)

But here's what's left out:

1948:  Lithium chloride is introduced as a salt substitute: the following year the FDA calls it a "dangerous poison."

1970's: Campbell's introduces a no salt added soup. It flops.

1978: The Center for Science in the Public Interest dubs salt "the deadly white powder you already snort."

1982: Some 40 percent of Americans report trying to cut back on salt.

2010: The New York  City-led National Salt Reduction Initiative launches a campaign to crack down on salt in restaurants and packaged food.

JoanK:
I don't use any salt in cooking or at the table, and buy low salt when easily available. But I eat enough commercial products and eat out enough, I probably get as muchsalt as I need and then some. When you first start eating food with no salt, it does taste bad -- flat. But once you're used to it it tastes better. I now can't eat some restaurant and commercial foods (especially soups: they taste like pure salt to me.

Yesterday, there was a local program about Death Valley. There was an unusual amount of rain this Spring, so the lowest point had become a lake. It was so salty, after wading in it, the hosts legs were white. And the hills had a "salt bloom": the rain had released te salt, which covered the hills. They were salt-white.

Frybabe:
That's interesting JoanK. I'm going to see if I can find any pix on the net. There are bound to be some.

Ginny, yes I did finish it. One of the many interesting items was the differences in chemical makeup (impurities) in salt from different areas and what they were used for. Some salts were considered condiments while others were considered medicinal, for instance. Avery Island, home of the famous Tabasco Sauce, rests on a salt dome. Very interesting Avery history here. Also, I never thought about Southern salt mines as strategic targets during the Civil War, but they were.

Frybabe:
http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca_dv.html

Here is something, Joan. This is the Desert Wildflower report for Death Valley. Pix and blogs. Someone has some rainfall stats for this year, and there is one picture of Lake Manly which they said was 8 inches deep on Feb. 10.  On March 3, someone reported kayakers on the lake, but an entry on March 12, said the lake is evaporating now.

nlhome:
Our salt shaker gets dusty, because we don't use it, just have it for guests. We use a lot of other flavorings, especially pepper, garlic and lemon. We also read labels in the grocery store - not an easy feat with the small print and aging eyes!

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