Whenever I make homemade soup I keep adding the salt until it tastes right, but it always seem like a unhealthy amount. Just made a litre of leak and potato and it took a a good few large handfuls.

How much does everyone else add?

None. Salt is one ingredient I rarely use in the kitchen.

None for me either. Thats why I make my own in the first place, to get away from added salt.

Yup, none for me either.
I don’t like taste of it.

Other than what is already in the stock (cubes & bouillon) salt has no place in my soup making.

Pepper on the other hand…..

I use a tablespoon of bouillon, which is super-salty anyway.

Made gazpacho today, couple of grinds of salt.

Pity the weather is more Granton than Grenada

None though I do usually use a bit of worcestershire or fish sauce, both of which are of course salty. Most commercial pre-made food is terribly salty, and many restaurants too.

Depends on your soup recipes really.

Potatoes tend to absorb a lot of seasoning. So if you’re worried about your salt intake…. don’t put potatoes in stuff.

Similarly dairy is a real flavour killer and adding butter/milk/cream to anything tends mean then having to add quite a lot of seasoning to try and get any taste back from the other ingredients.

The problem is our tastes are all too used to being on the salty side. Nowt wrong with a few grinds of salt – it enhances flavour and is good for you (depending upon your overall salt intake of course), but the amounts of salt most of us are probably used to has tainted our sense of taste and is no longer healthy.

Everything in moderation – salt is good for you in the right amounts, as is sugar, saturated fat and unsaturated fat. In nature animals will risk life and limb to access natural salt sources so its definitely a mineral the body needs, but it depends on how much you have in the rest of your diet. Unfortunately unless you make absolutely everything you consume you can’t possibly know how much salt you’re consuming. The chances are you’re having too much.

Use a decent quality salt such as sea salt and my favourite is Himalayan that has the minerals. Don’t use processed table salt.

I use stock cubes in Leek & Potato (five green OXO cubes to a litre of soup). Extra salt on top of those is just unnecessary (and if you’re putting it in in handfuls then either you’re doing something wrong or need to see a doctor). I can post my recipe if you care.

The other thing I’d say is, if you do add salt, do it right at the end. The taste of soup usually changes A Lot as you cook, so you can’t really tell accurately until it’s almost done.

Also try some herbs and spices to add flavour in lieu of salt,experiment a bit, you might surprise yourself!

Use a decent quality salt such as sea salt and my favourite is Himalayan that has the minerals

? Many seas in those hills?

I’m not much of a soup maker but generally in cooking salt is very valuable as a flavour enhancer – it doesn’t create flavour, it just helps humans to detect other flavours. The more actual flavour in there, the less salt you’ll need. Think about adding pepper, vinegar, chilli, herbs, sauces, spices, stock, thus adding sweet, sour, hot, depth, fragrance, body, etc.

Leak and potato soup is good with whole grain mustard I think.

? Many seas in those hills?

Sorry, my rubbish language skills. 😳

If you’re starting with, for example, chicken stock made from the carcass you will need salt. It will be terribly bland otherwise. Like cinnamon_girl I would recommend a good quality salt (I use Malden). It tastes cleaner and saltier than cheap table salt, so you don’t use as much. I reserve table salt for adding to cooking water for veg or pasta.

Plenty of pepper will help to reduce the amount of salt you feel the need for.

? Many seas in those hills?

Much of the Himalayas was under sea way back in the past..the mountain range was built by collision of continents, so yes there are salt deposits. 😉

Also salt is salt..some may have additional minerals due to where it comes from, but the salt content is the same old sodium chloride compound, there are not different types of NaCL, it is what it is.

Indeed. It all tastes of bloody salt.

Much of the Himalayas was under sea way back in the past..the mountain range was built by collision of continents, so yes there are salt deposits.

The Himalayan orogeny caused oceanic sediments to be scraped off the top of the subducting plate, forming an accretionary prism; meaning you find them high up in the mountains.

Nom.

Mmmm noodle soup. I mean soup!

Secret to leek and potato soup, is to actually swap out at least 1 leek (dependent on portion size, obviously) for an onion, to get a greater intensity of flavour.

But frankly, the stock cubes you add to make the bulk of the soup, once you sweated down the leeks and onion, should contain most of the salt you need.

You might like to think about salt reduction generally, right across the diet. Do you have a smoking or drinking habit which might impair reception of flavour in the mouth?

Cougar – Moderator

Indeed. It all tastes of bloody salt.

Have you been licking the road salt from my wounded knees?
Pervert.

Mm, knees.

The dog got there first.

None here either. We don’t add salt to anything.

I use stock cubes in Leek & Potato (five green OXO cubes to a litre of soup). Extra salt on top of those is just unnecessary (and if you’re putting it in in handfuls then either you’re doing something wrong or

5 stock cubes?

No added salt needed.
Cheesus.

I use stock cubes in Leek & Potato (five green OXO cubes to a litre of soup).

That’s gravy not soup.

Thanks for the feedback.

Strange thing is I often find food in restaurants too salty and generally don’t put salt on any other food, so don’t think I’m particularly prone to liking loads of salt.

Maybe it is the combination of potato and cream as maccruiskeen mentions that necessitates extra salt?

I only use 1 stock cube by the way, 5 seems excessive!

Stock cubes? Ugh. Marigold Bouillon powder surely?

Well yeah, but then “a few good large handfuls” of salt in a litre of soup? That must be like eating seawater.

Like my salt. Good quality stuff enhances soup and stews. Find your own level I guess.

Soupersaturated?

Don’t add any salt to any cooking

Chuffing loads.

If someone gave me a bowl of salt to eat I’d probably add salt to it.
Bad, bad, bad 😐

Best thing i did was buy a really crap grinder from TK Maxx. Its too much effort to get loads out! Do like salty things though (no, not that 😕 )

That’s gravy not soup.

The directions on the cubes say one cube per 200ml of stock. It really doesn’t come out like gravy (unless you’re used to piss poor gravy).