Salt is a source of sodium for the body. It needs sodium for the kidney’s “sodium pump”. But hey! ...not too much of it. There is a natural balance of the sodium in the body, eliminating the excess through perspiration and urine. Now, when there is a great consumption of Salt, the body can’t get rid of it at the same speed as it comes in and so, it accumulates, producing all kinds of trouble. The first to come to light is the blood pressure factor, which up to a certain age and in very warm weather might be good, since salt prevents dehydration and low blood pressure. However, those who have a tendency to have hypertension, might suffer a dangerous peak. Now, we don’t want to scare people around, just make them aware that good health is caused by a healthy mind and a healthy body. But not only that is important when it comes to using salt. In the olden days, further back than my memory can recall, salt was used to enhance the flavor of food. They discovered the effect of salt on the tongue’s taste buds and here we are, using it to this very day and even making abuse of it. My personal experience with salt was when not long ago I had a high blood pressure peak (I didn’t feel anything at all and I seemed to be fine!). The doctor recommended no salt at all for a time and periodic checking. I hated food without salt, like most people do, but I began to discover the flavor in the food. Even before I had my incident, I had taken to the custom of cooking without salt and adding only enough to enhance the flavor. Then came disaster: I started eating fermented cabbage, the famous German “chukrut” or the Russian “Salyenye”. It got my tongue accustomed to a lot of salt again and I began to add more and more, because I couldn’t taste the salt in other foods. The same thing happens to many people, that’s why I mention this. So, the final recommendation is to get accustomed to cooking without salt and sprinkling very little on the food when it reaches the table. If possible, use modified salt, with a percentage of sodium replaced by potassium, which is very good for various reasons and, whenever possible, use pure Potassium Chloride, an alternative for extreme cases of hypertension, but is also good for prevention. So, your palate and your blood pressure will be thankful.