The Salt Conundrum! Delicious Celery Salt

Celery—it’s bountiful with natural sodium in a form that the body can utilize, and it’s so easy to transform the green stalks into a powdery salt substitute that tastes delicious. Recently, after sprinkling the green powder on nori rolls, we both remarked that they’d never tasted so good! It adds a richness of flavor to whatever veggies, sauces, soups, or raw breads we’re eating. Simply chop, dehydrate, and blend to a powder.

Ingredients:
Makes approximately 1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on size of celery heads and how finely it’s ground
2 heads celery, chopped

Directions:
Trim tops if needed, and cut off bottom of celery heads. Retain the mineral rich leaves.
Rinse individual stalks to clean. (I give a final rinse with filtered water.)
Chop and put into a food processor and run until celery is minced. If you don’t have a food processor, chop finely for speedy drying.
Spread evenly on dehydrator trays (you’ll probably need four), using the Teflex sheet with the mesh sheet under it.
Set the temperature to 105 degrees.
Dehydrate for about six hours until completely dry.
Transfer to a blender and grind until powdery.
Store in a glass jar with lid. Put some in a shaker for table use.

The Little Story: The Salt Conundrum!

I haven’t eaten salt, be it Himalayan, Celtic, Sea Salt, Real Salt, or other, for the last four years—it just doesn’t agree with me. My mouth and eyes get seriously dry at night, and it sometimes makes me cough and I’ll taste salt. So I’ve been avoiding it. Even though I’ve adjusted to the taste of food without salt, there are certain times when I’d really love to have it. Celery salt has come to the rescue! I can now enjoy a salty taste without any of the negative effects.

There are those that say we need salt. There are those that say fresh fruits and veggies naturally contain the right balance of salt and we don’t need to add additional salt. There are those who say we shouldn’t eat any salt at all. Some say the minerals in salt are good for us, while others say those minerals are inorganic and the body can’t process them—that it puts a strain on the kidneys, and that this can actually lead to salt cravings because the body isn’t being given a form of sodium that it needs. Also, it’s not something that’s added to baby food.

Honestly, Rex and I couldn’t tell another person to eat or not eat salt. All we know is how it makes us feel, and that it causes Rex’s hair to fall out! Our reactions to salt are rather severe, ones to really pay attention to. However, the bottom line is how does it make you feel? Recipes in The Healing Feast use very little or no salt, and if a recipe calls for Himalayan salt, from now on we’ll be changing it to celery salt.

We’re excited because celery comes packed with so many good things. It’s high level of magnesium makes it calming to the nerves. It aids digestion, is an antiinflammatory, and helps the body become more alkaline. Other greens that are high in natural sodium are chard, beet tops, and collard greens. Collard greens smell strong in the early stage of dehydrating, but become pleasing when they’re dry. Taking a bite of the super crunchy leaves, there’s a definite salty taste and rich flavor. We’ll happily be adding in collards and other greens to make an all natural salt blend, and benefiting from it every day!

We hope our struggle to find a solution for salt will help any of you who are also challenged with the salt issue. All the best, and a healthy, happy new year to you all!