Sugar as a Salt Substitute

Q. For those who are restricted from eating salt, is it permissible to “salt” meat using sugar instead of salt?

A. Sefer Halachos Ketanos (1:218) discusses whether sugar can be used to “salt” korbanos. There is an obligation to place salt on every korban before it is burnt on the mizbei’ach (altar), and he argues that one can accomplish this mitzvah with sugar as well. Although there is a prohibition to offer honey or anything sweet on the mizbei’ach, and this should negate the possibility of using sugar for korbanos, still he suggests that if salt is not available, the mitzvah to salt a korban would override the prohibition of using sugar. It should be noted that he was not discussing using sugar to draw out and remove the blood, but rather the mitzvah to place salt on a korban before it is placed on the altar. Sefer Ikrei Ha’dat (OC 14:36) considered extending the ruling of the Halachos Ketanos to include using sugar in place of salt for the purpose of removing blood. However, most poskim strongly disagreed with this idea. The Divrei Chaim (YD 25) writes that even the Halachos Ketanos only meant to permit sugar as a salt substitute for Korbanos, since sugar can also act as a preservative just like salt. However, it cannot be used for the removal of blood, as salt has unique properties which are not shared by sugar. The Arugos Ha’bosem, Yad Yehudah (69:end), and Tzitz Eliezer (9:35, 13:79) as well strongly reject any leniency regarding using sugar to “salt” meat.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.