Salt vs Seasoning: What the Supermarket Isn't Telling You
Freundl Oluwole
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Walk down the spice aisle in any UK supermarket. Pick up a jar labelled "all-purpose seasoning". Look at the ingredients. Salt is usually first, second, AND fourth in the list (under different names).
That is not seasoning. That is salt wearing a hat.
The 50% rule
A real seasoning blend has salt under 50% by weight. Anything above is a salt product. The premium price you are paying covers the marketing, not the spice.
Costack All Purpose Seasoning sits at 38% salt. The other 62% is granulated garlic, granulated onion, paprika, thyme, pepper. That is what flavour costs.
How supermarkets game the label
Tricks to watch for:
"Sea salt" listed separately from "salt" so neither hits the top of the ingredients list. Both are salt.
"Yeast extract" listed at 5%. It tastes savoury because of glutamate. That is engineered umami covering for cheap herbs.
"Spice extracts" instead of named spices. Extracts are cheaper than ground spices. Less flavour per gram.
"Anti-caking agent (silicon dioxide)" above 2%. Means the herbs were ground too fine and need a stabiliser. Usually a sign of low-quality processing.
Why the 38% blend out-performs the 80% blend
In a 38% salt blend, every shake delivers spice. In an 80% salt blend, every shake delivers mostly salt. To get equivalent spice from the cheap blend, you have to use 3 times more, which means 3 times more salt. That is why supermarket blends taste flat AND make food too salty at the same time.
The fix
Read the ingredients list. Rank by:
Salt below 50%
Real spices listed by name (paprika, thyme, garlic, onion)
Anti-caking under 2%
No "yeast extract" or "natural flavour" hiding the gaps
What this means for your weekly shop
You are not paying more for a specialist UK blend. You are paying the same per dinner, because you use a quarter of the amount.
A £2.99 jar of Costack All Purpose Seasoning lasts 60-65 dinners. A £2.20 jar of supermarket "all purpose" lasts 25-30 because you have to use more for any flavour at all.
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