It is said, that the water you use to cook pasta should be as salty as ocean water. So can I simply use ocean water to cook my pasta without adding salt to it?
Pasta – use ocean water to cook the pasta
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Here is a report entitled "Change in sodium content of potato, pasta and rice with different cooking methods".
So the "scientific answer" is:
- The sodium content in pasta cooked with different levels of salt increased approximately linearly with the amount of salt added to the cooking water. Pasta cooked in 4g salt/100g raw took up on average 28 mg Na/100g whereas when cooked in 40g/100g raw this increased approximately 10 fold to 230 mg Na/100g.
HTH!
PS: This may help you forget the Na intake temporally
Since cooking the pasta in salted water is essential, and switching to fresh water or whatever is a PITA, I'd just use less water and thicken with something else.
The standard ratio for salting pasta water is 1:10:100 - 1 litre of water for 10g salt and 100g pasta - perhaps you're over-salting the water?
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Best Answer
You certainly can. There are a few things to consider before popping down to the beach and grabbing a bucket.
Some areas of the sea are highly contaminated with toxins. Look for some sort of signage to give you a hint, OR look for fishermen. If they feel safe with the fish they are catching I'd be inclined to think the water was also fine.
Sea water is, as you know, very VERY salty. On average around 35g per Liter. So you may benefit from using half tap and half sea water.
Be sure to boil the water for a few minutes before adding any food, just to be sure any harmful "biological organisms that might contaminate the water".
Another consideration, you may be interested in, would be harvesting your own salt from the sea water. That way you have more control over the amount penetrating your food/blood stream.