These products are not the salt of the earth!

Sonja Bulkin

That they are expensive, generally ranging from close to R200 up to more than R500 a kilo, is a fact, but I guess they’re a luxury. Be that as it may, one expects them to be of quality equal to the price.  

In recent times I have noticed, whenever eating one of these products, that they taste extremely salty. We buy different brands, either from the supermarket or deli/butchery and no matter which, the taste is the same – hence my letter to the SAJR and not just to a particular purveyor.

After eating a slice of veal and turkey cold meat today, I decided to look at the list of ingredients – no wonder, not only is salt listed third, but “salt preservative” (sodium nitrite) comes lower down on the label, followed by sodium carbonate and MSG! Any surprise it tasted like what it was – just pure salt!

I do not have much knowledge about nutritional or health matters, but one cannot read a newspaper today without reading warnings about the dangers of excessive sodium intake.

I have been joking that they must have been given the recipes by an anti-Semite, but seriously, this is a matter of some concern. And these once-favourites no longer have the delicious flavours we remember from years ago.

Highlands North, Johannesburg