Lawry's Seasoned Salt

[andiesenji]

It has to be Lawry's on avocado, cottage cheese, and grilled chicken thighs. I'll have to try it on burgers, steak, etc.

And raw mushrooms, cauliflower, summer squash...

I use it to "pre-treat" cucumber slices before adding the onions and the dressing for gurkensalat.

[chezcherie]

The Seasoned Salt ingredients are as follows:

Salt, Sugar, Spices (including Paprika and Turmeric), Onion, Cornstarch, Garlic, Tricalcium Phosphate (prevents caking), Paprika Oleoresin (for color), Natural Flavor.

Please note that there is no MSG!

It's there. Under "Natural Flavor". They don't have to call it MSG.

i found this exchange very interesting. i taught cooking classes to the staff, back when lawry's was headquartered in monrovia. (a lovely bunch they all were, and i was sad to see them swallowed by unilever.)

i was thinkin' that there probably WAS MSG in there, as one of their other big products was Accent (practically pure MSG). and msg does hide under the "natural flavor" umbrella frequently. just went to my shelf, where my prized jar, labeled "Packaged especially for Cherie" rests. much to my surprise, it does indeed, state in red letters "contains no MSG". knock me over with a feather! doesn't even say "no ADDED msg", which is another frequent label, as of course, there is naturally occurring msg in all sorts of yummy foods--mushrooms, aged cheeses, meats...

i'm not ascared of no msg, but i would have bet money that there was a good amount in lawry's seasoned salt.

[rlummis]

A lot of web sites claim that "Natural Flavorings" is cover for MSG, but according to the USDA:

On March 1, 1990, FSIS published the final rule, Ingredients That May Be Designated as Natural Flavors, Natural Flavorings, Flavors, or Flavorings When Used in Meat or Poultry Products. The rule did the following:

Defined the ingredients, i.e., spices, spice extractives, and essential oils, that may be declared as "natural flavors" or "flavors" on meat and poultry labels.

Required more specific listing of certain ingredients. Substances such as dried beef stock, autolyzed yeast, and hydrolyzed proteins must be listed on the label by their common or usual names because their purpose is not just for flavor. They are flavor enhancers, emulsifiers, stabilizers, and binders.

Required that the specific source of hydrolyzed protein be indicated on the label, for example, "hydrolyzed soy protein" or "hydrolyzed whey protein."

With respect to "hydrolyzed protein," the USDA also points out: "Hydrolyzed proteins, used by the food industry to enhance flavor, are simply proteins that have been chemically broken apart into amino acids. The chemical breakdown of proteins may result in the formation of free glutamate that joins with free sodium to form MSG. In this case, the presence of MSG does not need to be disclosed on labeling. Labeling is required when MSG is added as a direct ingredient."

So it appears that Lawry's Salt is indeed free of MSG and of hydrolyzed proteins.

[slkinsey]

21 CFR § 101.22(3) says: "The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional. Natural flavors include the natural essence or extractives obtained from plants listed in §§ 182.10 [spices and other natural seasonings and flavorings], 182.20 [Essential oils, oleoresins (solvent-free), and natural extractives (including distillates)], 182.40 [Natural extractives (solvent-free) used in conjunction with spices, seasonings, and flavorings], and 182.50 [Certain other spices, seasonings, essential oils, oleoresins, and natural extracts] and part 184 [Direct food substances affirmed as generally recognized as safe] of this chapter, and the substances listed in § 172.510 [Natural flavoring substances and natural substances used in conjunction with flavors] of this chapter."

There is nothing in this definition that would seem to rule out substances added specifically to contribute lots of free glutamates. The only requirement is that the substance has to have a flavor, which rules out substances that have no flavor of their own and are merely "flavor enhancers."

[AmbrosiaFood]

My family has used Lawry's seasoning salt for generations until I found something I like immeasurably better.

Soul Food Seasoning has seasoning salt beat all to *ell. I gave away an enormous bottle of Lawry's after I decided I would never use it again.

http://www.annabellessoulfoodseasoning.com/