For The Love Of Food: What To Do When You Over Salt Your Food

Who would cook without salt? Even many salad recipes call for a pinch of salt, it just always makes flavour so much better. Adding the right quantity of salt to food gets tricky at times. Sometimes we under-do it, other times we over-do it, but like my mother always says, with salt, better not enough than too much! What do you do when you tip too many grains of salt into your pot, do you tumble the whole dish in the trash or manage it like that? Well, here are some remedies that can save you from either of those options!

1. Add sweet potato chunks

Yes, sweet potato. This works well for stews and soups. peel some sweet potatoes and cut them into large chunks. Throw them into the pot and allow to simmer for a bit, you should turn down the heat if your dish is almost done already. When you get the desired taste, take out the potatoes.

2. Rinse with plenty of hot water

This works well with rice and yam. I usually let it sit in hot water for a while and rinse several times.

3. Add a bit of sugar or honey

The sweetness balance out the saltiness a bit. But do be very careful with this one, you don't want to end up having something that tastes amazingly indescribable (not in a good way!)

4. Add some veggies

You can add some leafy vegetables if the meal allows for it. For example, adding thinly sliced ugwu leaves to over salted yam pottage can really help readjust the flavour!

Warning: even with these methods of reducing saltiness, you might not get what you originally set out to cook, sometimes, these fixes only work up to a point. As the saying goes "you can add in the salt but you can't take it out, so taste as you cook!" Also, try not to get distracted when it's time to add salt and seasoning. Happy cooking. And eating *wink*.

Cover image via Healthyblackmen.com