World Salt Awareness Week – 12 – 18 May 2025 aims to encourage the implementation of evidence-based interventions to reduce salt consumption in the population.
Salt tastes good, and it makes food taste good, which is why we’ve chosen it as our primary flavour enhancer. Our bodies even need small amounts of it to function. But salt comes with some jeopardy too.
Consume more than the 5g a day recommended for adults by the World Health Organization (WHO) and things quickly switch from “Salt of the Earth” to “Salt the Earth” territory!
High blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes are some of the more worrying effects of regular high sodium intake. And according to the UK’s Action on Salt, “high salt intake has [also] been shown to increase the amount of protein in the urine, which is a major risk factor for a decline in kidney function.”
South African guidelines are fully WHO aligned, with The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa stressing that the recommended upper limit of 5g per day “includes the salt already in foods, salt added during cooking, and salt added at the table.”
That’s quite an alarming reality if you’ve recently looked at the sodium levels of your favourite breads, tinned foods, ready meals and even breakfast cereals and biscuits.
The South African government takes the matter exceedingly seriously, and the country has, since 2016, been playing a leading role in salt reduction globally. It was, in fact, “the first country to include mandated maximum salt targets across a wide range of processed foods,” notes the South African Medical Journal.
Nonetheless,the amount of salt we consume on a daily basis is ultimately up to each of us,and we have to take personal responsibility.
One easy way to implement a salt-lowering strategy is to use umami-rich mushrooms as a substitute flavour enhancer in cooking. Upping your mushroom usage is a way to “wean” yourself off of salt, along with cooking most of your food from scratch, including stocks and spice pastes; giving those tinned foods in brine a pass; reducing the amount of salt you add to cooking water and hiding the salt cellar at dinner time!
Sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami are the basic tastes we experience, and amplifying one to reduce another is a recognised and sound approach to better health. “A key strategy for reducing sodium without losing cuisine enjoyment is via umami,”writes culinary nutritionist Jackie Newgent in the newsletter, NutritionNews About Mushrooms. “Foods rich in umami contain glutamate, which provides savouriness. Umami also counterbalances saltiness, enhances sweetness, reduces bitterness, and boosts satiety while creating appetite appeal.
Research suggests use of umami allows for up to a 50 percent salt reduction without compromising flavour.” The US Mushroom Council describes umami as “a savoury, brothy, rich or meaty taste sensation … it’s a satisfying sense of deep, complete flavour, balancing savoury flavours and full-bodied taste with distinctive qualities of aroma and mouthfeel.”
To get the maximum umami flavour out of your white button, Portabellini and Portabello mushrooms, the Council advises you to:
1. “Sear mushrooms for a more intense roasted, charred and smoky flavour and overall aroma.”
2. “Roast mushrooms to get more sweet, salty and umami tastes with caramelised,nutty and buttery flavours.”
3. “Create a mushroom base, ideal for burgers, meatballs and meatloaf [by] roastingor sautéing mushrooms ahead of time to intensify flavour and then finely chopping them up to add to ground meat dishes.”
An additional perk of using more mushrooms in your cooking in place of salt, according to WebMD, is that “mushrooms are a rich source of potassium, a nutrient known for reducing the negative impact that sodium can have on your body. “When sodium levels increase, potassium levels tend to decrease,” agrees TheCleveland Clinic. “Eating more potassium has the opposite effect of sodium.”
“Potassium lessens the tension in blood vessels, potentially helping to lower blood pressure,” notes WebMD. “Additionally, mushrooms have a low level of sodium, so using them in recipes that call for saltier ingredients can reduce your sodium intake, which in turn helps with blood pressure.”
Take your first foray into low-salt, high-flavour eating with a hearty dinner of BraisedPork with Mushrooms and Butter Beans
You’ll be asking for seconds and leaning into mushroom meals in no time!
MUSHROOM TACO CUPS
Equipment
- Muffin tin
Ingredients
- 500g beef mince
- 1 tbsp taco spice Mexican seasoning
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small jalepeño thinly sliced
- 500g Portabellini mushrooms sliced
- 1x400g tin tomatoes diced
- 1x 400g black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp taco spice Mexican seasoning
- 1 cup +- 160 frozen corn kernels
- handful fresh coriander leaves roughly chopped
- spring onions for garnish
- olive oil for cooking
- salt and pepper to taste
Tortilla cups: 8 medium flour tortillas
Instructions
For the Filling:
- Heat a drizzle of olive oil in large saucepan or Dutch oven.Add the beef and cook until turning brown and crisp on the edges.Season well with taco spice.Remove beef from the pan and set aside.
- Add a fresh drizzle of olive oil to the pan.Add onion and fry until tender.Add the garlic and jalapeño and cook for a minute until fragrant.
- Add the mushrooms and cook until golden brown and tender.Pour in the tinned tomatoes, black beans and seasoning.Return the mince to the dish.
- Bring to a simmer and cover.Cook for a few minutes allowing the flavours to meld and the tomato to thicken.Add the corn and cook until warmed through.
When ready to serve – finish with fresh coriander and stir through.
For the tortilla cups: Preheat oven to 200˚C with the fan on.
- Different brands will make various sizes of flour tortillas.Measure tortillas by pressing and folding one into the muffin tin to create a little cup and seeing how much excess there is.Trim tortillas if necessary so that once placed in the muffin tin there is a little lip over the edge for plenty of filling.
- Brush trimmed tortillas on both sides with a little olive oil.
- Place in the muffin tin.If you have a six cup muffin tin – do two rounds.Place a little oven safe ramekin or little metal dessert mould in the muffin cup to help hold the shape.
- Bake for ± 8 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and when cool enough to handle remove the tortilla cups and place them on a cooling rack. They will crisp up as they cool.
To Assemble:
- Spoon the warm filling into the baked tortilla cups. Garnish with spring onions, serve with lime wedges and enjoy!
