Season with reason
Although we do need a certain amount of salt in our diet, according to a new study conducted by Knorr we are consuming more salt than is good for us. In fact, the report revealed that most of us are consuming roughly twice the 5g daily intake recommended by WHO.
However, the good news is that our attachment to salt appears to be more of a bad habit than a reluctance to give it up. Knorr’s study of more than 6,000 adults across six different European countries showed that 77% of respondents wanted to explore different ways to flavour their food and 61% would love to prepare flavour-rich dishes without all the salt.
The problem is they didn’t seem to know how.
Challenging the zero salt, zero flavour mindset
In a move that is set to revolutionise the category, this first of its kind Stock Cubes Range is set to dispel the perception that salt free meals aren’t as tasty and, in the process, help the nation to make healthier food choices.
Featuring some of the brand’s most popular variants, Vegetable, Chicken and Beef, the new range allows consumers to add full-on-flavour to home-cooked dishes, with zero salt, but no compromise on taste. What’s more, the ingredients used in the Zero Salt range are made using responsibly sourced meat and sustainably farmed vegetables – in line with our recent ‘Future Foods’ ambition to not only help people transition towards healthier diets, but reduce the environmental impact of the global food chain too.
The new Knorr Zero Salt stock cube is one of many steps we are taking to help our consumers achieve this goal.
Made from a unique blend of vegetables, herbs and spices such as rosemary, nutmeg, lovage and turmeric, the cubes help build up a rich flavour in food, leaving cooks to decide, after tasting, how much, if any, salt is needed.
Fikerte Woldegiorgis, Foods Marketing Director, Unilever UK & Ireland commented: “More than ever, shoppers are looking for ways to create delicious home cooked meals that are better for them and their families. We understand it can sometimes be hard to balance taste and health. With our new Knorr Zero Salt range brimming with rich flavour, we’re here to show shoppers that they don’t have to make the impossible choice.
“With this category first innovation we are taking the stocks market in a direction that no other brand has done before, offering shoppers a simple and delicious swap in their everyday cooking that will help them reduce their salt intake.”
Now for the science
It seems like a simple solution. However, creating a salt-free stock cube has been a complicated process, requiring our food researchers at the Hive, our Global Foods Innovation Centre to literally go back to basics.
“That’s because salt normally has two important roles in stock cubes. It strengthens other flavours and forms the structure of the cube, with salt crystals holding all the other ingredients together,” explains Gunabalan Raju, Technical Project Leader, The Hive, Wageningen.
“We found the right balance by extracting vegetables, herbs and spices – and meat for the chicken and beef stock,” Gunabalan continues. “And then we combined them with some fat and ingredients that can create crystals so that the cube held its structure – all with zero salt.”
Setting the standard for salt-free stock
Completely free from artificial colours and added MSG, and made with high-quality ingredients including free-range chicken, beef from organic farming and sustainably grown vegetables, the new cubes are setting new standards for healthier stock cubes.
1 Nielsen, GB Total Coverage including Discounters, Value (in £), MAT (end 26-DEC-20)