Growing up, my parents always served watermelon with tiny dish of salt on the side. At the time, this practice boggled me–why in the world would you want to put salt on something that was meant to be sweet? Still, I mustered the courage to test this myself, and, to my surprise, found that a sprinkle of salt made the watermelon sweeter.
A few skeptical friends have dismissed my “salt on watermelon” habit as just another one of my weird eating rituals. Well, I recently came across a bag of Watermelon and Salt Kit Kats at my local Japanese market. Looks like this trend seems to be popular enough to be incorporated into Kit Kat flavors!
While I don’t completely understand the science behind how salt makes watermelon sweeter, I’ve noticed it’s a common practice in South East Asian countries to serve salt with tropical fruits, such as sprinkling salt on pineapple, or salty/sour plum powder on guava.
Next time you eat watermelon, try the salt sweetener trick!
