Iodized Salt, Pros and Cons

[Talat_kas]

For normal cooking i use iodized salt while if i cook something traditional in which iodized salt doesn't give good flavor, i use common/natural salt for example in making pickles and barbecue.

[TheFuzzy]

Better than that, you might prefer the US National Academy of Sciences reasoning. They set "Estimated Average Requirements" (from radioactive tracer studies) and then derive their RDA advice from that. (It seems that iodine throughput depends on metabolic level - 'energy' - and so to ensure that 98% of the population is covered, they set the recommendation 40% up on the average requirement, then round it off - getting the same 150 micrograms/day for adults.)

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Actually, it's even better than that according to the link. They had three studies which indicated three different ranges, and they took the highest set of figures of all of those ranges. So while their average was 97mcg, it seems more likely the real average is somewhat lower, like 60 to 70mcg. This would be more in keeping with the iodine you could get from a normal varied diet.

I also fail to see how the amount of iodine you can absorb is the amount of iodine you need, but I guess I'm just not a nutritionist.

[pastameshugana]

I get the basic reasoning behind iodized table salt.

 

I've never had a problem with it, really. Great for pasta water, or just kept in a dish for a quick salt addition when needed.

 

I've also really enjoyed other salts over the years. Different sea salts, and while I certainly don't have a 'golden palate' there have been times when I've tasted salt that was definitely 'better' or 'worse' than others.

 

However, recently, the iodized salt has started to really bother me, taste-wise. It's like I can suddenly taste 'it'. There's a distinct metallic tang that is really standing out to me that never has before. I've stopped using it when cooking almost universally, and on the table we've got sea salt in a grinder.

 

It's weird because it's really sudden and pronounced. The other day my wife made pasta, and used sea salt in the sauce but the iodized in the pasta water, and I could taste it on the noodles.

 

Has this ever happened to any of you? Am I becoming a salt snob? Am I destined to die of goiter because I can't stand the taste of iodized salt?

[rotuts]

@pastameshugana

 

''' Am I destined to die of goiter because I can't stand the taste of iodized salt? ''

 

if you've spent you entire life in the Chicago Area , probably .

 

if you live near the Coasts , probably not.

 

kidding aside  , the supplement in the salt is far more important 

 

for younger people , who live far away from the Sea. 

 

'''   Am I becoming a salt snob? '''

 

if you have to be a snob about something , Id make it Salt .

 

its a lot cheaper than being a Butter Snob .

 

French Cultured Butter , delivered fresh to your door , would be quite a bit costlier .

 

of course , an interesting solution would be to schedule your vacations 

 

to the Brittany Coast .   solves both problems :   a few deep breaths while hunting down

 

Gooseneck Barnacles 

 

https://brownetrading.com/products/percebes-gooseneck-barnacles?srsltid=AfmBOooc45O8U6woNOznqYMpDXOE77VrTdsqDS873VDXf119lQsnc2YD

 

and then dip them in a gallon of Brittany Cultured Butter !

[AlaMoi]

you may be particularly sensitive to certain tastes.

the most famous "sensitivity" is probably cilantro - to some it tastes like soap...  me included....

I have a similar issue with aluminum based baking powders.  that metallic twang comes right thru!

 

if you have an iodine deficiency - that takes a Dr. and some blood work - that needs to be addressed with supplements/diet.

lacking a known iodine deficiency you can switch to kosher salt / other sea salts - some of which will have trace iodine, but not to the additive level.

we haven't used iodized salt in 40+ years - we're pretty light on salt anyway - most resto food generally elicits a 'too salty' reaction.

[Shel_B]

I long ago switched from "table salt" to Diamond Crystal as my standard salt. I sometimes use other salts, such as Redmond (https://redmond.life/collections/real-salt) or Malden. But they are not for general cooking.  I could always taste something odd about table salt, and when I tried DC many years ago I never looked back.

 

There's no need for iodized salt for most people as there's so much of it in the prepared, frozen, and canned foods that most folks eat that adding it to your cooking and meals is not needed.

 

[Bernie]

Pretty sure adding iodine to salt is for areas where the soil is deficient in iodine.

The resultant crops (of lots of different species) are deficient in iodine.

Certainly, this was the case in SE Queensland. The easiest solution was to increase the iodine in salt because most people used to use it in cooking lots of different vegetables.

Also table salt was heavily refined so most minerals were removed or reduced so it was easiest just to add iodine.

 

So depends on where your table salt originates and more importantly where your vegetables originate whether you need to use iodized salt. Sea salt should have more iodine but it may not necessarily be so.

 

Your body will reject excess iodine taken in food anyway so there is no harm in using iodized salt.

 

If you can taste it, maybe there is too much iodine or it is actually a different iodine salt added to the salt.

 

Chemist needed here.,

 

 

 

[Maison Rustique]

Also, have you added any new medications lately? More often than people realize, a new medication can alter your tastes. My Mom had to  stop eating meat when she started taking a certain medication because it made me at taste metallic.

[Tropicalsenior]

Here it is impossible in the supermarkets to buy any salt without iodine. I'm not bothered At All by the taste of iodine but I make my own ham, corned beef, and pickles and I don't like to use iodized salt for preserving. I used to be able to buy kosher salt from a Jewish deli here but it went out of business so now the only place that I can buy it is in macrobiotics store. Right now my macrobiotic Guru is looking for some for me and he is even having trouble finding it.

[pastameshugana]

Thanks so much for all the input and thoughts.

 

@Maison Rustique - no new medications lately (thankfully!)

@Tropicalsenior - a shame!

 

Now I feel kind of silly, because after all the handwringing over this, and trying to figure this out, I realized that there might be a simpler answer. Our iodized 'table' salt has been stored in a metal container all this time... some googling suggests that this could likely be adding the pronounced metallic taste I've been experiencing.

 

This is good news for another reason: I despise that container and it's stupid-hard-to-open lid, so now I have a good excuse to buy a new one that I like!

 

Fingers crossed that this solves the issue.

[gfweb]

20 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Here it is impossible in the supermarkets to buy any salt without iodine. I'm not bothered At All by the taste of iodine but I make my own ham, corned beef, and pickles and I don't like to use iodized salt for preserving. I used to be able to buy kosher salt from a Jewish deli here but it went out of business so now the only place that I can buy it is in macrobiotics store. Right now my macrobiotic Guru is looking for some for me and he is even having trouble finding it.

amazon?

[paulraphael]

Has anyone done a proper triangle test to see if there's a real flavor difference? I'd bet against it. Iodized salt is less than 1 part in 22,000 iodine. And the remaining parts are salt—which has a pretty overwhelming flavor. 

 

You want to control for both bias and texture. Which means making something like a 2% solution in pure water. 

 

Everyone who tries the test gets three cups ... 2 with one kind of salt, one with the other. Their only job is to identify which one is different. 

 

I believe the old standard is that 9 out of 15 participants need to get it right to show a statistically significant difference. If anyone here is a math wiz, please correct this. 

 

It doesn't matter how strongly you think you can taste a difference in an uncontrolled test. Human minds (yours and mine included) are too wily to be trusted unless tricked into objectivity. 

[Tropicalsenior]

I found this salt in our supermarket this week. I'm going to give it a try.

The interesting thing is the ingredients.

Yodo is iodine. Costa Rica seems to have the lowest requirement of all the central American countries.

 

[gulfporter]

@Tropicalsenior No natural sea salt in Costa Rica with all your coastlines?  Here in Jalisco we get natural salt from small producers on the west coast, often from the state of Colima (just to our south).  Sold at local stores and even our Walmart, and Amazon Mexico.  Cheap, no added iodine or fluoride.