Don't underestimate these everyday seasonings. A little bit each day satisfies your cravings, and it's important to let them become helpers for your health rather than a hazard.
Salty
Saltiness is the basic taste for most complex flavors, earning it the title "king of all tastes." Salt has been known and consumed since around 5000 years ago, during the time of the Yellow Emperor.
Seasoning effect: Not only is saltiness indispensable for most dishes, but even flavors like sweet and sour, or hot and sour, require a moderate amount of salt to make them rich and palatable. Soy Sauce
Function: Primarily salty, it also has a savory and fragrant quality. It enhances the flavor, freshness, aroma, and color of dishes, and can also supplement nutrients. The amino acids in soy sauce are a major nutrient for the human body, especially some essential amino acids that the body cannot synthesize and must be obtained from food. Additionally, for minor burns on a part of the body, applying soy sauce can relieve pain and neutralize "fire toxins"; for swollen and painful fingers, immersing them in a mixture of warmed soy sauce and honey can relieve pain and reduce swelling.
Precautions: Some soy sauces cannot be consumed directly, as this can easily lead to food poisoning. This is because raw soy sauce contains a salt-loving bacterium that can survive in high-salt environments. With a salt content of 15% to 20%, soy sauce provides a suitable environment for these bacteria to survive for a long time. When consumed, food containing these bacteria can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. In severe cases, it can lead to dehydration, shock, and even death. When taking medications for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases such as Eunonyl and Pargyline, soy sauce should not be consumed simultaneously, as it can cause side effects like nausea and vomiting.
Types: Can be categorized by flavor into dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, etc.
How to choose: Look for soy sauce with a reddish-brown color, bright transparency, a rich aroma, and a delicious, mellow taste. Salt
Function: Enhances umami, cuts through greasiness, and has antibacterial and preservative properties. The main component of salt is sodium chloride. A certain amount of salt must be consumed daily to maintain metabolism, regulate the acid-base balance between body fluids and cells, and promote human growth and development. Additionally, iodized salt is beneficial for the thyroid. Gargling with light salt water not only treats and prevents oral diseases like sore throats and swollen gums but also prevents colds. For acute localized dermatitis and itching, washing and applying with salt water can relieve itching. Persisting in washing the eyes with light salt water can effectively treat trachoma. Washing hair with salt water can reduce hair loss. Drinking a glass of salt water in the morning can relieve constipation.
Precautions: Excessive salt intake can lead to a high concentration of sodium chloride in the body, and an increase in sodium ions can suppress the immune function of respiratory cells, making one more susceptible to colds. Salt can also inhibit the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs, diuretics, and adrenaline, so intake should be reduced when taking these medications.
Types: Can be categorized by origin into sea salt, well salt, lake salt, rock salt, etc., and by processing degree into coarse salt and refined salt.
How to choose: High-quality refined salt should be white in color, have fine crystals, be loose and not clumpy, and have no bitter or astringent taste. Sweet
In ancient times, the sweet taste was called "gan." In Chinese cuisine, sweet flavors are used more frequently in the south, with Wuxi cuisine being the most famous for its sweetness, described as "sweet at the beginning, balanced in the middle, with rich, dark soy sauce."
Seasoning effect: In cooking, it can be used alone to make sweet dishes or as part of various complex flavors to make food delicious. It can also be used to correct flavors, remove bitterness and gaminess, and has a certain effect of cutting through greasiness. Sugar
Function: It makes dishes sweet, increases nutritional value, gives the surface a smooth finish, and turns a golden or brown color when heated. During exercise, it is necessary to supplement an appropriate amount of sugar, which can increase blood sugar levels, supply energy, save muscle glycogen, reduce the proportion of energy supplied by proteins and fatty acids, and delay the onset of fatigue. Rock sugar water can also stimulate the stomach and aid digestion.
Precautions: Excessive sugar intake can lead to cavities and cause obesity, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and may even promote cancers such as breast cancer. Diabetics and patients with hepatitis should minimize their intake.
Types: Mainly includes granulated sugar, powdered sugar, rock sugar, brown sugar, etc.
How to choose: The best choice is one with a proper color, sweet taste, no impurities, and no strange odors. Sour
It is widely used in cooking but is generally not used alone.
Seasoning effect: It can remove fishy odors, cut through greasiness, enhance flavor and freshness, create aroma and color, whet the appetite, and increase the desire to eat. It also has astringent and binding effects that can aid digestion. Vinegar
Function: Its main role is to add sourness, aroma, and umami, as well as harmonize flavors, cut through greasiness, and remove fishy and other off-flavors. Vinegar can promote metabolism, and consuming it is one effective way to prevent arteriosclerosis and high blood pressure. Vinegar can also stimulate the appetite and promote the secretion of digestive fluids, while having strong antibacterial properties. It can kill various bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli within 30 minutes. Eating more vinegar can maintain the acidity of the intestines, achieving the effect of removing harmful bacteria. Boiling vinegar and fumigating a room can help prevent colds; when running a high fever, applying a towel soaked in diluted vinegar to the skin can lower body temperature; gargling with vinegar water can treat mild pharyngitis. For burns, rinsing with vinegar can relieve pain and swelling, prevent blistering, and leave no scars after healing.
Precautions: Vinegar should not be consumed in large quantities, especially by patients with stomach ulcers, who should avoid it to prevent harm to the body. It is also not advisable to eat vinegar with mutton, as this can weaken the medicinal effects of both and produce substances harmful to the human body. Because vinegar is acidic, it should be avoided when taking medications such as erythromycin and sulfonamides.
Types: Categorized by production process