Cooking a low sodium recipe with MSG: If you are on a strict reduced-sodium diet, you'll need to have your dietitian look at the recipe and calculate the sodium content to see if it fits into your diet. If you're just trying to cut back on sodium in your diet, MSG can definitely help add flavour to your food while keeping sodium levels in check. How? By cutting back on the amount of table salt used in a recipe, and adding a little MSG, you can boost the flavour of the dish with very little sodium. Getting the dish to taste exactly as you like may take some experimentation, but it's not difficult. Here's an example of how to do it. If a soup recipe that yields 6 servings calls for 1 teaspoon of salt, cut it back to 1/2 teaspoon and add 1/2 teaspoon of MSG to it. This change would result in a "savings" of 900 mg of sodium, or 150 mg of sodium per serving. Modifying recipes in this way is an easy way to lower your sodium intake without giving up taste. Try it! When to add MSG to a dish: Generally, MSG is added to foods before or during cooking and not at the table. For steaks or other meats, sprinkle it on before cooking at the same time you season the meat with salt, pepper, etc. For casseroles, soup or vegetable dishes, you'd add MSG during the cooking process. Monosodium glutamate is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. As University of Tokyo chemistry professor Kikunae Ikeda discovered in 1908, MSG is the most stable salt formed from glutamic acid, and one that best delivers the sought-after ‘umami’ taste. Glutamate is the magic ingredient in MSG. It’s a common amino acid that occurs naturally in a large range of foods including tomatoes, parmesan cheese, dried mushrooms, soy sauce, a host of fruits and vegetables, and human breast milk.

MSG.