Can salt substitutes be used to make pickles for people on a low sodium diet?
It all depends on the product and what you’re making per se. I am on a low-salt diet, but love the taste of pickled products. With this dilemma, I have of course pondered your very question for quite sometime. Through trial and error, I have safely make pickled products using certain salt-substitutes. (Morton, NuSalt, NoSalt). Again, though it all depends on what you’re making. With that, I must concur in part and dissent in part from the first answer to your question. Certain things such as REFRIGERATOR PICKLES which MUST be refrigerated in order to make the product, are completely safe, and you still get that delicious salty-briny bite. Something such as SAUERKRAUT, which is not kept cold and must be salted in order to kill bacteria, is not acceptable. Pickled products which do not mandate refrigeration, require the use of (kosher salt, table salt, etc. in order to completely kill of potentially dangerous and very harmful bacteria. Onions, pickles, and other vegetables which can be pickled in your refrigerator are entirely safe to use a sodium free salt-substitute on in place of regular kosher or table salt.
Fermented (brined) pickles and sauerkraut cannot safely be made with a salt substitute or reduced amounts of salt since these products depend on salt for proper fermentation and production of acid to occur. Salt substitutes have a tendency to become bitter when heated, so we do not recommend using them in pickled products. Recipes for reduced-sodium sliced dill and sliced sweet pickles, along with a number of other pickled products containing reduced amounts of sodium, are in the “Complete Guide to Home Canning,” Ag. Information Bulletin No. 539, which can be found on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website. Caution: The salt used in making fermented and brined pickle products is vital to safety as well as texture. Do not attempt to reduce or eliminate salt in these recipes.
