If allowed only one - Salt or Pepper - What would you choose?
Even though pepper comes in several different varieties and offers numerous health benefits, I'd choose salt for it's unique abilities to flavor, preserve and excite the foods we eat.
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33 Comments:
@Boscompb - That is just plain wrong! BUT - I guess I would have to choose salt (be still my high blood pressure).
izatryt at 9:25PM on 06/19/08
Salt. Anyday, everyday.
Salt brings out the flavor in everything. Bam!
...
But seriously, it's like infinite times more versatile. Any food that's worth marching for stays, in my opinion ;)
jazzinx at 9:40PM on 06/19/08
That's an easy one - much as I love pepper, it's definitely salt.
Funny, this question reminded me of a fairy-tale my grandfather told me when I was little - about a king who asked his three daughters how much they loved him. The eldest one told him she loved him as much as loved gold, the middle one said, as much as she loved diamonds, and the youngest one proclaimed she loved him very, very much - as much as she loved salt. The king got all indignant and had his servants throw his youngest daughter out, along with all the salt he had in his palace (don't ask me how exactly this order was carried out and what the logic behind it was:-)). Sure enough, it didn't take long for the king to notice that any food he was served thereafter was bland and tasteless. He realised that his youngest daughter had a point (and that apparently, the salt was worth more than all the gold and the diamonds he had), found her and brought her back (together with the salt, of course. Oh, and I don't remember what happened to the two older daughters at that point:-)), and they all lived happily ever after.
brooke29 at 9:40PM on 06/19/08
What, no saffron?........LOL. I would definitely opt for pepper, since salt can be had naturally in so many ways.
Spicelord at 10:29PM on 06/19/08
I don't like adding salt once I've cooked something. I think pepper is better.
I'm a pepper, you're a pepper, he's a pepper, she's a pepper...wouldn't you like to be a pepper, too?
fatitalianbroad at 11:33PM on 06/19/08
salt
bessfour at 7:09AM on 06/20/08
Pepper. I don't use salt in my cooking at all. The salt in the fruits and vegetables is enough for me; otherwise, it is too salty for my palate.
Cassaendra at 7:35AM on 06/20/08
SALT!!!!!!!!
hammondcheese at 7:40AM on 06/20/08
Lately, I try not to add salt to anything. I would definitely choose pepper. I put it on everything--and put a lot of it on too. I love the spice and hotness.
luswim06 at 8:41AM on 06/20/08
This is a toughie.....I LOVE pepper, almost any kind of pepper. But I would literally be dead without salt as I have chronic low blood pressure, and without salty snacks I'd have passed out one too many times and died long ago. So I guess I'd have to choose salt.
Funny enough I use to hate the stuff, then I was told by my docs to salt everything as salt tablets make me very nauseous, and I came to understand how it can brighten the flavors of so many things. I also love the sweet, salty combo.
bobcatsteph3 at 8:53AM on 06/20/08
SALT. My father needs his own little shaker of salt next to his plate at the dinner table, and I think I inherited the salt-loving gene. I've tried to cut back a LOT though because sodium is silent death, but definitely, salt.
embolini9 at 9:29AM on 06/20/08
Team Salt!
Kerosena at 9:43AM on 06/20/08
Can I mix them & have both? lol
OK...if I had to choose one, I'd choose salt as well.
mepolo at 10:41AM on 06/20/08
Salt, salt, salt...peppery flavor can be had with fresh peppers and certain greens, but salt brings out so much in so many different applications...my new fave? Salted caramels.
rosezilla at 11:00AM on 06/20/08
this brings to mind an old folk tale about a king who asks his three daughters how much they love him. the two older ones predictably answer "more than diamonds and gold" but the youngest ones says she loves him more than she loves salt. she is banished from the kingdom for making such a prosaic response, and then the king is doomed to live without salt. after a couple of bland meals he quickly realizes how much his daughter loves him and summons her back.
salt for me. although i'm seriously into the umami of braggs aminos these days.
cybercita at 11:29AM on 06/20/08
read the other comments. brooke, you beat me to it!
cybercita at 11:33AM on 06/20/08
without a doubt salt.
megannesta at 12:51PM on 06/20/08
Salt! Can you imagine an un-seasoned piece of meat? Cookies and other sweets need the pinch of salt to really bring out and highlight the sweetness of the butter and sugar.
Also, bread (or pizza dough) without salt is ghastly!
bitchincamero at 12:56PM on 06/20/08
Definitely salt, be it iodized, Kosher, sea, grey, seasoned or any other variety. Mrs. Dash has its place, but give me salt anyday. When I end up in the hospital, I sneak in a little salt shaker. Those little paper packets just don't cut it, and if anything ever needed salt to make it palatable, it's hospital food!
Josdean at 1:29PM on 06/20/08
@cybercita - at least this way I know my grandfather didn't make it up:-)
brooke29 at 1:46PM on 06/20/08
Salt. I was going to say that I might be able to do without granular salt if I could still have things like soy sauce, but I think I'd get tired of working my way around substitutes in bread and in sweet applications.
I could easily give up black pepper and get my spice from other places.
dbcurrie at 7:25PM on 06/20/08
Without a doubt, salt. I love to put it on watermelon and cantelope. It just makes it taste so much sweeter. I may look more like my mother, but i am proud to have inherited my father's love of salt.
Schnauzer_Mama at 7:42PM on 06/20/08
Pepper................ salt is in my food I never use a salt shaker in fact I do not own one.
rabbitriddle at 7:49PM on 06/20/08
My favorite t-shirt proclaims:
I SALT MY SALT!!!
donnie at 9:02PM on 06/20/08
Ye are the salt of the earth.
Matthew 5:13 (I think?)
Me too! Salt all the way, baby. I'd miss pepper, but would find a substitution.
PerkyMac at 9:25PM on 06/20/08
I'm very sensitive to salt in my food, and i prefer pepper, garlic & wasabi powder anyway, so pepper, hands dosn.
GorillaBob at 2:11AM on 06/21/08
Salt! I love pepper to but, i can find ways around that. and Donnie I NEED that t shirt! where did you get it please let me know!
huneybumper at 9:49AM on 06/22/08
Salt.
I love pepper, but salt would win.
Brownie at 10:39AM on 06/22/08
Fresh ground pepper, or even processed pepper, lemon pepper ect. really adds a rich taste to a lot of dishes, but without salt it just tastes bland. MT 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?
weljwm at 3:49AM on 06/23/08
In my mind, this question doesn't work (no offense intended).
Salt is salt. It's role is to enhance the flavor of foods -- i.e., it really doesn't change the fundamental flavor of what it's added to.
Pepper falls into the flavoring category. It's a spice that actually has its own complex flavor and aroma profile. It doesn't just enhance the flavor of the main ingredient, it significantly changes the personality of the dish.
That said, for me it's salt, hands down. It's a critical food basic. I'd hate to live without spices and herbs, including pepper, but they're not essential like salt! Food without salt would just be depressing.
LoCo at 1:31PM on 06/23/08
Salt, yo!
But I put both salt and pepper in everything I cook.
But salt - well food without salt it's kinda like sex without foreplay - no fun!
And I don't think there is any real chef out there who cooks without salt.
Mischiefdish at 1:41PM on 06/23/08
I'd go with pepper! There is no way I could give up my hot sauces or spice in food. I'm just too much of an addict! And yea, I'll miss salt, but it'll turn up naturally in so much of what I eat anyway. Yay pepper.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 3:53PM on 06/23/08
Hands up, pepper.
pjracz10 at 1:32PM on 08/02/08