If you’re wondering what whey proteins have to do with low-sodium formulation, the technologists at Grande Custom Ingredients Group, Lomira, WI, can tell you. Their Grande Gusto natural flavor enhancer is a dairyderived ingredient captured from the whey stream that “contains relatively low levels of sodium”— 2.89% to 3.00%, depending on the specific ingredient—“but has a very salty perception,” says Michelle Ludtke, senior food technologist at the company. “Grande Gusto does a nice job of enhancing the salt flavors that are already in the food system,” without introducing any of potassium chloride’s bitterness, she says. “It also offers a very clean label. It can be labeled as a ‘Natural flavor. Contains milk.’ It can also be used in a wide variety of food applications.” Being a liquid, it’s not suited for topical applications unless spray-dried as a slurry. But dips, dressings, sauces, soups and baked goods are all solid candidates for use.
Food Chemical Codex standards specify the purity level of salt. Nonetheless, low-sodium salts give formulators another option for cutting sodium levels. “Low-sodium salts may be blends of salt with other ingredients; less-pure forms of salt; or low-bulk-density salts that, by volume, yield lower sodium levels,” Lutz says. And, while low-sodium blends have fallen short in the past for the bitterness of their potassium component, processors are getting savvier at formulating them.
Wixon, Inc., St. Francis, WI, makes a product called KClean Salt, a 50%-lower-sodium blend made of equal parts sodium and potassium chloride. What improves it over its predecessors is the inclusion of “a proprietary taste modifier technology to mask the objectionable bitter aftertaste of potassium chloride, consequently allowing for a clean salt taste that consumers like,” says Mariano Gascon, flavor laboratory director, Wixon. Unlike other sodium replacements, “it is not a blend of powders and crystals that lead to stratification,” he says. Rather, it’s a “homogenous crystalline product that looks, behaves and tastes like salt.” Appropriate for topical application, “it can be heated, frozen, boiled and packaged in virtually any application where you need salt.”
Low-bulk-density salt, another low-sodium alternative, is standard sodium chloride with less sodium by volume. Cargill’s Alberger brand is one such example, with “a unique hollowed-out pyramidal structure that delivers dramatically different taste perceptions,” Lutz says. “Its irregular surface and low bulk density provide a maximum flavor burst to potato chips, and its rapid solubility avoids the gritty aftertaste on crackers and breadsticks.” And its utility transcends topical applications. “Rapid solubility also ensures good mixing and dispersion in blended meats and aids in the formation of rich, creamy emulsions,” he says.
With naturally evaporated sea salts growing in popularity, it’s no surprise that this premium category would also respond to requests for low-sodium options. “We have gotten so many calls for a low-sodium sea salt,” says Novotny, whose company supplies imported and domestic specialty salts. They’re actually road testing one right now. Although not technically a sea salt, “it is an all-natural, solar-evaporated salt” that naturally crystallizes as a blend of sodium and potassium chlorides, with associated trace minerals. “When you taste it, it’s very salty,” she says. “It doesn’t have that bite that salts with potassium added to them have. And the potassium is all part of the crystal, so you don’t get that chalky part” that plagues manufactured sodium-potassium blends, she says. At about 30% to 40% less sodium, she thinks it has potential. What’s more, “you use less of it because it has a much more rounded taste,” and the trace mineral content, she claims, “helps your body regulate the sodium better.”
“I believe that people buy flavor,” says Reid Wilkerson, president, McClancy Seasonings, Fort Mill, SC. “The American palate is changing to where they’re definitely interested in looking at more flavorful foods.” On the surface, this wouldn’t seem to jibe with sodium reduction. However, he thinks “your best ally in replacing sodium” may be turning robust flavors to your advantage. He’s bullish on the ability of heat the trigeminal response from substances like piperine in black pepper, gingerol in ginger, isothiocyanates in mustard, and of course, capsaicinoids in chiles to distract the palate from diminished saltiness. “As you increase the amount of heat in different profiles, I’ve noticed that the need for more sodium in that profile is reduced,” he says. Garlic helps, too. “You can do a roast garlic profile with almost no salt. It’s a very satiating flavor.”
Looking further down the pike, biotechnology may soon serve up sodium solutions of its own. Salemme says that some biotech companies are trying to develop salt-replacement technologies by acting on salt receptors “to amplify the actual signal from the receptor that’s responsible for creating the sensation in the first place,” he says. The possibility of reducing sodium without having to add anything in its place is alluring.
Until that happens, we can satisfy ourselves— and our consumers—with the improving lot of technologies on offer now. “Initially, all that you could do was create a 10%, 15% reduction,” Eckert says. “The trend is clearly more toward 33% now, and in some applications, there are even requests for more than 50% reduction.” The better the sodium-reduction system, the lower we’ll be able to go.
But in the end, as Lutz says, “Nothing can beat the true taste of salt.”
Kimberly J. Decker, a California-based technical writer, has a B.S. in Consumer Food Science with a minor in English from the University of California, Davis. She lives in the San Francisco bay area, where she enjoys eating and writing about food. You can reach her at kim@decker.net.
Salt: First in Functionality
Salt didn’t wind up everywhere just because it’s so fun to dump into the hopper. It was probably mankind’s first functional ingredient, aiding food production since prehistory, primarily as a preservative. By altering the osmotic pressure in foods, it renders them inhospitable environments for most bacteria, which lose moisture to the briny surrounding solution and eventually shrivel up and die. This protects food from spoilage in the case of putrefying bacteria, and it protects us from illness in the case of pathogens.
But this is only the most obvious example of salt’s functions. For instance, have you ever tried making bread without it? If so, you probably didn’t like the results. “Salt acts as a texture aid, strengthening the gluten in bread dough,” says George Lutz, technical services manager, quality assurance, Cargill Salt, St. Clair, MI. Without it, you don’t achieve the proper rise or consistent crumb grain you’d expect in the finished loaf.
By helping proteins bind water, salt is also indispensable in developing the firm, smooth texture that characterizes processed meats, while also holding water within these products so it doesn’t weep off during cooking. Salt increases the solubility of muscle proteins, allowing them to cohere and form a stable emulsion with dispersed particles of fat, creating the tightly bound meat-fat-water gel that we recognize as sausage or formed meat.
Salt controls fermentation in breads, pickles, cheese, sauerkraut, fermented sausages and other fermented foods, too. “Salt also draws out foods’ true flavors and juices through techniques such as brining,” Lutz adds. And one of the biggest drawbacks to nitrate- or nitrite-free ham, bacon or hot dogs is the absence of that characteristic pink hue—a color that develops only when those nitrates interact with sugar and, yes, salt.