Part 6: What are the lowest sodium choices in the product range?

8 June 2016 By Clemency Nicolson

Because of the small serve size of the product an individual will eat per plated serve AND the concentrated nature of Latasha’s Kitchen Concentrated products, their use results in dishes with a low sodium content only unless you choose to add high sodium ingredients yourself, such as salt and soy sauce for example.

For those people trying to minimise sodium intake I have shown below the products with negligible, low and low-moderate sodium content per serve as eaten* when prepared without higher salt additions.

*As eaten means for a dressing or chutney/relish means content per tablespoon which in many cases will exceed what is consumed. For a cooking sauce or paste this is the amount per ½ tablespoon as usually two tablespoons of paste serves four people.

Obviously the total sodium content of a dish will depend on the added ingredients. In general if these are fresh vegetables and protein-rich foods (red and white meats/ fish, rinsed tinned legumes, tofu, unsalted nuts and seeds) and minimally processed carbohydrate-rich foods (potato, sweet potato, sweet corn and grains such as rice, barley etc) the sodium content will remain low. There will be more sodium in the meal if you choose to add bread or wraps as you carbohydrate-rich foods as they contain salt in higher amounts.

Remember that any additional added salt or salty ingredient you add will increase the sodium content of your meal. The ingredients with the most sodium include salt (any type), fish sauce, soy sauce and some other Asian sauces (even reduced salt varieties). Many sauces that are added on the side such as Tomato sauce/BBQ sauce (even reduced salt varieties) have a high sodium content as do  stock cubes and stock powders (even reduced salt varieties), cheese, cured meats.

Many of the recipes I include do not have these ingredients added. Where thay may be included in a recipe individuals requiring a particularly tight dietary sodium restriction can reduce the volume of these additions and add a little extra Latasha’s Kitchen pastes/Sauces. In addition low sodium flavours can be added with extra kaffir lime leaves, basil, coriander, chilli, lime juice, tomatoes, lemongrass and ginger with the South-East Asian range. For the Indian range a flavour boost with extra tomatoes, onions, curry leaves, chilli, garlic and ginger work well. Coconut milk is also low sodium

Products with a negligible (<30mg) sodium content per serve as eaten*

• Latasha’s Kitchen Caramelised Balsamic Vinegar
• Latasha’s Kitchen Caramelised Apple Cider Vinegar
• Latasha’s Kitchen Chilli Oil
• Latasha’s Kitchen Jalapeno Onion Relish
• Latasha’s Kitchen Red Chilli Onion Relish
• Latasha’s Kitchen Cherry Chocolate

Products with a very low (<90 mg) sodium content per serve as eaten*

• Latasha’s Kitchen Butter Chicken Sauce
• Latasha’s Kitchen Thai Green Paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Thai Red Paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Thai Massaman Curry Paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Singapore Curry Laksa
• Latasha’s Kitchen Madras Curry Paste

Products with a low (< 180mg) sodium content per serve as eaten*

• Latasha’s Kitchen Coriander Curry Paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Homestyle Seafood Curry paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Indonesian Turmeric Curry Paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Malaysian Satay Paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Rendang Terlagi Lagi Paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Biriyani Masala Paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Karauma Masala Paste
• Latasha’s Kitchen Orange, Chiumichurri and Jalapeno
• Latasha’s Kitchen Green Chimichurri Sauce
• Latasha’s Kitchen Green Coriander Sauce
• Latasha’s Kitchen Eggplant Kasaundi Chutney
• Latasha’s Kitchen Zingy Tomato Chutney
• Latasha’s Kitchen Beetroot and Horseradish Relish

Want to find out more about Latasha’s products and nutrition? Check out my foundation blog series.