Six Functions Of Salt In Food

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

Salt is perhaps best known as a food preservative and flavoring agent. It has been used to store food for many thousands of years and is the most common spice.

But salt also plays other, lesser known roles in the food we eat, as an essential nutrient that provides flavor and texture and improves color. For these reasons, salt is used in food production.

1. Food preservative

Salting meat and other products is one of the oldest methods of preserving food and is used long before it can be stored in the refrigerator. Microbes that can spoil food need moisture to grow. Salt acts as a preservative by extracting moisture from food. Many pathogenic microbes also simply cannot grow in the presence of salt. When salt is mixed with water, it is called brine. The food is soaked in highly salted water, which preserves and aromatizes the food. Marinating, for example, is a form of brine.

2. Texture enhancer

Most people don't realize that salt plays a big role in creating texture in food. When making yeast bread, for example, the amount of salt significantly affects the rate of yeast fermentation and gluten formation, both of which will significantly affect the final texture of the bread. Salt also has a profound effect on the gelatinization of proteins, which is found in cheese production and in many processed meats such as sausage and ham. In processed meat products, salt helps retain moisture and therefore less saturated fat is needed.

3. Taste enhancer

Salt works in many ways to improve the taste of food. Not only does it create a "salty" taste, one of people's most desirable tastes, but it can also affect other flavors, such as sweet and bitter.

In small amounts, salt will enhance the sweetness, so it is sometimes sprinkled on fresh fruit or added to pastries, especially with caramel. Salt can also counteract the bitter tastes in food - it is often used to "eat" cruciferous vegetables (such as broccoli) and olives.

Salt will also help separate certain molecules in the food by removing some of the flavors of the ingredients and making the food more fragrant.

4. Source of nutrients

Pure table salt consists of approximately 40% sodium and 60% chloride. Although consuming too much sodium is not good, it is a nutrient that is essential for our survival. Sodium is needed to help relax and contract muscles, to conduct nerve impulses and to maintain the right balance of minerals and water in the body.

5. Solder

Because salt promotes the formation of protein gels, it can be used as a binder. When salt is added to foods such as sausages or other processed meats, it results in the gelatinization of proteins, which then keep the product whole.

6. Color enhancer

The color of many processed meats, such as ham or hot dogs, is due in part to salt. The presence of salt helps to promote and maintain the color and prevents it from turning gray or muddy. Salt also increases the caramelization in the crust of the bread, thus helping to obtain this golden color.