Food Preservation: Preserving Food With Less Sodium

Whether by personal choice or due to special dietary needs, many people are looking for ways to reduce their sodium intake. Commercially prepared food suitable for special meal plans can be costly because low-sodium foods require slightly different production procedures. Preserving food at home can be a practical way to save money, even when reducing sodium, if fresh produce and the necessary equipment are available.

Options for Reducing Sodium

Freezing

Foods frozen at home typically have no salt added during preparation, making them an excellent choice for reduced-sodium dietary needs. Add salt, reduced-sodium salts, or salt substitutes at serving time, if desired.

Canning

Salt can be safely omitted from home-canned vegetables, meats, poultry, and fish. Use the same processing times as used for conventionally canned foods. In these foods, the amount of salt in the recipe (1–3 teaspoons per jar) is used to enhance flavor. This small amount of salt does not provide any preservative benefit.

If using a salt substitute, add it when serving the product. Salt substitutes often contain ingredients that may cause an unpleasant aftertaste if they are added before processing due to the high heat from the canning process.

Herbs and spices are often used to enhance flavor without using salt. It is recommended that you add these seasonings after opening the canned product, as the time and heat of the canning process may change the seasonings’ flavor.

Pickling

Salt concentrations should not be changed in pickle recipes. Reduced-sodium salts such as “Lite Salt™” may be used in quick-­process pickle recipes. However, the pickles may have a slightly different taste than expected. Never alter salt concentrations or use reduced-sodium salt when making fermented pickles or sauerkraut. Proper fermentation depends on the correct proportions of salt and other ingredients.

Reduced-Sodium Sliced Sweet Pickles

Brining Solution

4 pounds (3- to 4­inch) pickling cucumbers

1 quart distilled white vinegar (5%)

1 tablespoon canning or pickling salt

1 tablespoon mustard seed

½ cup sugar

Canning Solution

1⅔ cups distilled white vinegar (5%)

3 cups sugar

1 tablespoon whole allspice

2¼ teaspoon celery seed

Yield: 4–5 pints

1. Wash cucumbers. Cut a ¹/₁₆-inch slice off the blossom end and discard. Cut cucumbers into ¼-inch slices.
2. Combine all ingredients for the canning solution in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and keep the canning solution hot until used.
3. Mix ingredients in a large kettle to create the brining solution. Add the cut cucumbers, cover, and simmer until the cucumbers change color from bright to dull green (about 5–7 minutes). Drain the cucumber slices.
4. Fill pint jars with hot cucumber slices and cover with hot canning solution. Remove air bubbles, leaving ½ inch of headspace.
5. Adjust lids and process pint jars for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner (at altitudes of 1,001–6,000 feet, increase process time to 15 minutes).

Reduced-Sodium Sliced Dill Pickles

4 lb (3-­ to 5­-inch) pickling cucumbers

6 cups vinegar (5%)

6 cups sugar

2 tablespoons canning or pickling salt

1½ teaspoons celery seed

1½ teaspoons mustard seed

2 large onions, thinly sliced

8 heads of fresh dill

Yield: About 8 pints

1. Wash cucumbers. Cut a ¹/₁₆-inch slice off the blossom end and discard. Cut cucumbers into ¼-inch slices.
2. Combine vinegar, sugar, salt, celery, and mustard seeds in a large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and keep the pickling solution hot until used.
3. Place two slices of onion and ½ dill head on the bottom of each pint jar. Fill jars with cucumber slices, leaving ½ inch of headspace. Add one slice of onion and ½ dill head on top.
4. Pour hot pickling solution over cucumbers, leaving ¼ inch of headspace.
5. Adjust lids and process pint jars for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath canner (at altitudes of 1,001–6,000 feet, increase process time to 20 minutes).

Additional Resources

Download PDF of this fact sheet.

Note: This fact sheet uses language, recipes, procedures, and data from reliable sources such as the ones listed below. For the most part the original text has been preserved because safety around food preservation is especially important. For safe and healthy preserved foods, be sure to carefully follow directions.

• So Easy To Preserve, University of Georgia Extension 
  (extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=B989&title=so-easy-to-preserve)
• National Center for Home Food Preservation 
  (nchfp.uga.edu/resources/category/usda-guide) 

Originally authored by Marcia Jess, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, retired.

Updated 2008 by Christine Kendle, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences; Daniel Remley, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences; and Katharine Shumaker, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences.

Updated 2016 by Christine Kendle, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences; and Katharine Shumaker, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences.