Burts Salt-Free Kids Crisps

Burts have brought out a selection of salt-free crisps for kids. Even better, some of the profits go towards Great Ormond Street Hospital. Available in plain, cheese, honey, ketchup and (likely to be a hit in our house) vinegar.

Update: I got a multipack bag of these, which contained plain, vinegar and ketchup. The first two sorts were great, but we are not keen on the ketchup version, which have a real taste of the 1970s to me.

Low Sodium Table Salts

A little list of low sodium "table salts"...for when you really need salt on your chips...

LoSalt - contains one third of the sodium of common salt. Just comes as a fine grain version.

SOLO - an Icelandic product, which contains 40% of the sodium of normal table salt. The rest is magnesium salts. Has a coarse, sea-salt version, and a fine grain version. Has more sodium than LoSalt, but I quite like the idea of the coarse, crystalline version, as I find I use less salt when it's like that (it seems to taste more salty).

AlsoSalt - this is sodium-free.

Waitrose Low Alcohol Cider

A quick mention of the delicious Waitrose Low Alcohol Cider, which we have enjoyed several times over the summer. It's actually a blend of cider and apple juice, and is virtually alcohol-free so you can swig it at lunchtime without feeling naughty.

The Evidence Builds in Favour of Chocolate...

The evidence that eating a little dark chocolate every day reduces blood pressure continues to mount.

At this rate I may start a campaign to get chocolate available on prescription.

Know Your Numbers - Free Blood Pressure Checks

Next week (8th-14th September) is the Blood Pressure Association's "Know Your Numbers" week.



They are setting up 3000 blood pressure measurement stations around the country, where you can get your BP measured quickly and for free. Click here to find your nearest station.

A thought - I wonder if having your BP measured in this sort of non-clinical setting would mean you would be less likely to experience white coat syndrome?

Oh dear.

West Norfolk Council are sending salt shakers with fewer holes to chippies in the hope that it will reduce the salt intake of the customers. And no, this isn't an urban myth, it's on the BBC website, complete with a quote from the Council.

Low Salt Soup Recipes

Thanks to cap10xb1s for the pic

It's alarmingly early in the year for my thoughts to be turning to soup, but what with the miserable weather and a bit of a cold coming on, here I am.

The high levels of sodium in soup come largely from the stock that's used to make it. I'm going to look into levels in shop-bought soup in the next few weeks to try to find some low sodium options, but wanted to be good and look into making some myself this weekend.

So here are my top tips for making low sodium soup at home:

- Use low salt stock cubes (or of course, always best, home made stock)

- Go for something with a bit of a kick to it so you won't notice the lack of salt, like this spicy parsnip soup, or corn chowder.

- I've been surprised to find that there are plenty of recipes which don't call for stock. Here's a small selection:
roasted tomato soup
fish soup
Oriental soup with crab dumplings
spiced split pea soup

My favourite quick soup recipe has always been pea soup (frozen peas, a bit of potato, veg stock, mint, simmer and then zap with a hand blender). However my first effort is going to be this Delia recipe for french onion soup - with low salt beef stock cubes, and emmental instead of gruyere.

Well, it's either that or put the central heating on...