What if we told you there was an easy trick to making your favorite fruit taste even more delicious?
The magical ingredient required for this is, surprisingly…salt!
While we tend to think of salt as something more suited to savory foods, it can actually have quite an interesting effect on our sweets as well. (You’ve surely noticed that even recipes for your favorite baked goods often include a pinch of salt too!)
When added in larger doses to savory foods, this mineral will suppress sweeter tones in food and bring out umami, otherwise known as savory flavors. However, in small doses, it actually enhances sweetness, as well as some sour and savory tastes (but not too much), and reduces bitterness. (Some coffee connoisseurs even add it to their espresso for this reason!)
That means that it will bring out all the best qualities in your favorite fruits! And because it tames bitter tastes, it can even help make unripened fruit taste good.
Here are the best fruits to try this trick on:
- Pineapple: The sweets, the sours, everything you like best about this fruit – salt helps you taste them even more.
- Peaches: You might think a fresh, ripe peach is as good as it’s ever going to get, but that’s just because you’ve never tried them with a hint of salt.
- Green Apples: Sure, they’re often snubbed for their richer counterparts like Granny Smith or Honey Crisp, but add a bit of kosher salt to a granny smith and you’ll appreciate this variety like never before.
- Watermelon: There’s no such thing as “too much” of the delicious, tropical flavor of this fruit.
- Tomato: Yes, they’re called vegetables in the culinary world, but in the botanical world they really are fruits. And they taste delicious with salt!
- Strawberries: With a bit of the bitter tang subdued, strawberries become even more amazing.
- Grapefruit: These fruits really don’t get enough credit. Try them this way and you’ll realize just how delicious they can be!
- Cantaloupe: Not always the most flavorful of fruits, but even a slightly unripe cantaloupe becomes a treat with a little help.
