Spanish gourmet chef Ferran Adria, who revolutionised haute cuisine with the iconic El Bulli restaurant, once said, “Salt is the only product that transforms gastronomy.” In Tamil, there’s a proverb ‘uppilla pandam kuppayile’, meaning, ‘a dish without salt is rubbish’. As all seasoned cooks know, sodium chloride, or common salt, skews overall flavour. This is why coffee aficionados add an undetectable pinch to their grounds before brewing. Salt makes food sharper, suppressing bitterness, enhancing sweet and savoury, turning up the volume on aromas. Indians are addicted to it: we keep mixing shovelfuls of it in our chutneys, pickles, papads, churans, juices, instant noodles, pastas, biscuits, ready-to-eat cereals, bottled ketchups....