Why does adding raw sliced potatoes to a soup that you accidentally over-salted fail to actually fix the dish balance?

Question

I was preparing a large pot of vegetable soup and poured way too much table salt by mistake. A traditional life hack says to drop a raw potato inside to absorb the excess salt. Why is this a scientific myth?

GourmetChef · Answer

Raw potatoes are porous and will absorb both liquid water and salt together like a sponge without actually changing the overall salt concentration percentage of the remaining broth volume. To truly salvage an over-salted soup you must physically dilute the liquid mass by adding extra unsalted water

Why does adding raw sliced potatoes to a soup that you accidentally over-salted fail to actually fix the dish balance?

1 Answer(s)

Your Answer