As far as I know, the jury is still out on the salt debate – whether it’s a devil or an angel, that is. I have just, for example, randomly searched Google for ‘salt nutrition’ and the very first article is one from the British Nutrition Foundation, which says ‘Overall, the relationship between sodium intake and raised blood pressure is weak.’ However, it seems this agency is actually a food industry lobby group so forgive me for being a tad suspicious of their motives. On the other hand, even the Government’s food standards agency is a bit vague on the subject despite a fairly high-profile campaign to reduce the salt intake of the population.

I can see there is no doubt that unchecked high blood pressure leads to nasty things – heart attack and stroke to name but two and I can also see the link between high salt intake and high blood pressure but I do believe that high salt intake may have been mistaken as the catalyst – I’m not sure we can extricate salt from all of the other things that are consumed with salt.

This assertion notwithstanding, for donkey’s years now, we’ve (I say we but I really mean I) have not used salt in cooking other than in the bread-making process. It took me yonks to realise that salt is an essential part of the bread-making process, but now I know that to be true. I do add it to cooked eggs (boiled or poached) and I think that chips without salt are just not right. Other than that, it doesn’t come out of the cupboard much.

The main thing that my own low use of salt has done for me is make me realise how much is out there being used in food and drinks production as well as in domestic cooking. I notice that I get more and more thirsty from drinking beer, for example – salt is used in the production process and a cynic might say that the thirst-inducement means higher consumption of product…. On the once-in-a-blue-moon encounter with a ready-meal (usually as a result of being in Epsom and wanting something to eat that’s not a sandwich), I notice a raging thirst after eating it. Likewise any encounter whatsoever with Chinese food – and this is often accompanied by the 5am ‘ping’ of a monosodium glutamate rush. So, on the whole I’d say I have a fairly sensitive palate to the stuff.

As we’ve both been and had mini-medicals when we moved here as a requirement from our new GP practice, we know that our blood pressure is low although personally I suspect this has a lot more to do with not eating meat than with how much salt we do or don’t consume.

Recently though, I HAVE noticed that a pinch of salt on tomatoes does ‘lift’ them in a way that I’d never noticed we were missing…….maybe salt’s not the arch-enemy in moderation.

Today, I echo last year's thought - I'm glad I wasn't at the footie!