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I have high-ish blood pressure and the doctor said keep the salt under control. It is easy to ration controlled amounts of salt when cooking large amounts of stews and similar foods and you add salt by teaspoon. But I don't really make stews that much, most of my cooking are single or double servings that I just salt with a sprinkler. I do have a nice salt sprinkler, about 8 oz, however, it is very difficult to gauge a proper amount of salt approximately so I often either over- or under-salt.

Is there a device that will accurately measure portions of a teaspoon and at the same time allow me to sprinkle them evenly? Because, if I measure maybe a quarter of a teaspoon, sprinkling it between fingers doesn't distribute salt as evenly as using my sprinkler, which is, like I said above, prone to inaccuracy. Is there any way (a device of some sort) to reap the best of both approaches?

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    Do you know where your salt intake is coming from? For most people, salt you're adding to food you're cooking is a very minor concern compared to the amount of salt (and other sodium) in prepared/packaged foods.
    – Dan C
    Aug 7, 2015 at 20:10
  • Indeed, most sodium is already there in prepared food, not salt you add at table, unless you add a huge amount of salt. Stop adding salt to your food, and avoid high-sodium processed foods. After a week or two of "bland" your taste buds will start to recover from the overload, and you won't "need" salt to taste anything. But it does not work if you keep eating high-sodium foods, which virtually all processed foods are (including many "low sodium" processed foods, which are only low compared to "regular" processed foods.) Then you can add a bit to things that really need it.
    – Ecnerwal
    Aug 8, 2015 at 0:47
  • Had the doctor tell me the same thing several years ago. It took me a couple of months to find out that not buying prepared stuff, as @DanC mentioned, did a lot more than controlling my own salting. The amount of salt in ready made stuff is insane. I just use a teaspoon to measure out salt (I keep it in a jar, so easy to scoop), and don't be afraid about it: 1/2 instead of 1/3rd teaspoon is not going to be bad. It's the unnecessary intake in most processed foods that's the main culprit. Aug 8, 2015 at 7:52

2 Answers 2

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You may need to practice sprinkling salt --

  • Get a large piece of paper or plastic, that's preferably not white.
  • Sprinkle some salt on it. Try from different heights. You might also try different types of salt (I find coarser salts easier to control)
  • Roll up the paper (or plastic), so you can pour the salt back into a small dish to try again.

Once you're comfortable with sprinkling salt :

  • Measure out the salt.
  • Pour the salt into your off hand.
  • Use your good hand to take pinches of the salt & sprinkle it on the food.

If you're really wedded to a shaker -- you might consider a grinder and coarser salt. If you know how many grinds it takes to get a teaspoon, you could roughly estimate how much salt is going in by counting grinds.

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    Per another answer here a salt grinder (mill) may also get you more salt flavor for the same amount of salt (or use less to get what you want.) Here it is: cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/3720/…
    – Ecnerwal
    Aug 8, 2015 at 0:50
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    @Ecnerwal : If it's for wet foods and such where the salt has time to dissolve into the food, the size of the crystals would have minimal effect, if any. Size mostly matters when salting just before serving or at the table. (and you'd have to check the grind size, but popcorn salt might be even smaller). Of course, if we're going for solutions other than precision of measurement, I'd actually look at salt alternatives (eg. NoSalt), herb blends (eg. Mrs. Dash) or salt/herb mixes (Za'atar blend) for at the table.
    – Joe
    Aug 8, 2015 at 12:55
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Stock solutions and eye droppers work for this. a solution at 25 grams salt in 100 ml water (well within solubility limits) Will give you 0.25 gram salt or about 0.1 gram sodium (salt is 39% sodium). Every standard eye dropper I've ever tested yielded remarkably close to 1 ml per squeeze.

A teaspoon of the liquid would deliver about 0.5 gram sodium, while a tablespoon would deliver about 1.48 gram sodium.

You shouldn't have trouble with growies in a salt stock solution at that concentrated, although the mix may grow a bit cloudy as 1) salt you buy in the grocery store is not pure and 2) the manufacturers add anti-caking agents which are usually not soluble.

Keep the jar sealed between uses, and you should be good for months.

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