Salt has unique properties in how it interacts with the taste buds. While it has its own "flavor" it also has the ability to enhance some flavors while blocking your ability to experience others.
While I could go on, all I would be doing is repeating much of what I learned watching
The Food Network's Alton Brown. He goes in depth for the episode "The Ballad of Salty and Sweet" which is available on from the Food Network.
There are (of course) other resources, but AB does a really great job of teaching in this episode.
Masi,
Given that I'm a severe allergy and migraine sufferer, I was surprised by your assertion that canned foods in general contain large amounts of histamine. As far as I can find from internet search, they do not. The canned/jarred foods which specifically have been measured to contain histamine are:
- canned fish, especially tuna
- canned tomatoes
- fermented vegetables, especially saurkraut
- fermented soy products, especially soy sauce and tofu
- red wine and red wine vinegar (and anything pickled in wine vinegar)
The answer is simply: don't eat the above if your sensitive to histamine. You can avoid them. Also, the histamine in the above foods already exists in the can or jar before you buy them, and will not be reduced using salt or chilling.
I am quite puzzled by the inclusion of canned tomatoes on that list, but several sites reference it.
Part of your confusion is clear with this statement:
Histamine is created as a result of fermentation so can-food has
significant amounts of histamine compared to non-can-food. Assume we
have food in a can. It ferments all the time little although it is in
a salt liquid.
Um, actually, no. If your can of corn is fermenting, it's bad. Throw it away before the can explodes. Canned and jarred fermented foods are fermented before they are put in the can or jar. Cans of non-fermented foods are not going to ferment on you; they are heat-treated to destroy all microorganisms which would cause fermenting.
Further, histamine is only created as the by-product of the fermentation of certain proteins or fibers, so not even all fermented foods have it. There is a larger list, though, of foods which stimulate histamine production than which contain histamines.
References on which I base the above statements:
One thing which is interesting and irritating is that while there have been numerous studies showing that canned fish can contain deadly levels of histamine (because of the decomposition of the fish before canning), several nutritional information sources have apparently taken to restricting all canned foods "to be safe", presumably since they don't think their readers can differentiate between tuna and green beans. This is presumably the source of Masi's confusion. I spent some time searching for any studies indicating the presence of histamines in canned vegetables or fruits, with no results.
If an actual nutritionist or biochemist is reading this question (I am neither), please add to what I have above or correct me. Thanks!
Best Answer
There's a reason so many recipes say "salt to taste": there's no single answer. Most of the time, we use close to 0.5% salt by weight (so 1kg food has 5g or 1 teaspoon of salt), but "close to" leaves plenty of wiggle room about what exactly is best.
Different people have different tastes. What's perfectly salted for one person may be oversalted or undersalted for another.
Different dishes need different ratios too. Some things are supposed to taste a bit salty, while some just need a hint to amplify other flavors. Some ingredients need more salt to balance them than others.
Sure, you can get approximate starting points, e.g. bread might be around 1% salt by weight, cookie dough might be about 0.5%, soups and stews might be something like 0.5% (with tons of variation - that's a couple random recipes). So very roughly, 1kg of food often comes with 5 grams of salt (1 teaspoon) with exceptions ranging up to 10 grams (2 teaspoons).
But your best bet is always going to be to find a good recipe for the specific dish you're making, and possibly adjust it if you know your preferences lean one way or another. Failing that, when cooking something improvised or new, or using one of the many recipes that just says "salt to taste", letting you do what suits you, trust the instincts that you've developed for your own tastes.
If you're cooking for others, with possibly varying tastes, it gets trickier. For things where salt can be added after the fact, you can use less salt and let everyone individually salt to taste. For things you can't mix after cooking, you pretty much have to compromise somewhere in the middle and hope it works for everyone.
Beyond that, if you can't decide what the right amount of salt is, don't worry about it. There's surely a range that works for you, so if two different amounts both taste good, there you are. And if you find yourself disagreeing with someone about what amount of salt results in the best flavor, stop. You probably just have different tastes from the person you're arguing with.