You Should Be Salting Your Fruit: Here’s Why

Think your favorite fruit can’t get any sweeter? Think again, because all it takes is one pantry staple to completely transform berries, melons, and more. 

Videos by Sporked

Sure, fruit is naturally sweet, but there’s always a bit of variation. Out-of-season or underripe fruits aren’t as sweet as just-ripe ones, and sometimes flavor can weaken in a single basket of blueberries or a handful of blackberries. While you can sweeten fruit by adding a spoonful of sugar―a habit that absolutely blew my mind as a child when I saw my grandpa do it and one I loved after tasting the delicious result―that may not be the best approach.

Instead, reach for the opposite. It’s no practical joke: you should add a spoonful of your favorite kind of salt to your fruit for a sweeter, significantly improved taste.

Salting Your Fruit Is Simple, But Has A Big Payoff

Yes, it sounds totally counterintuitive. But trust me on this because a pinch of salt hits fruit in a way you might never normally expect. A little bit of this staple seasoning can go a long way for your taste buds. All you need is a finishing salt, like flaky sea salt, to boost the naturally sweet flavor of your fruit. Take a pinch, lightly dust a bowl of fruit with the salt, and you’re finished. There’s no mixing or dissolving required. 

Add a sprinkle of salt (seriously, you don’t need much at all) on top of fruit, and that salt can help fruit taste brighter, sweeter, and potentially even juicer. That’s because salt adds a contrast for fruit’s natural sweetness, which gives your mouth a different experience―a bit of a pop, if you will.

This trick is best used on fruit that’s relatively mild like cantaloupe, watermelon, or strawberries. You can also employ it to improve the sweetness of underripe fruits or or those slightly before or past their peak. Think too-early strawberries or softer, riper mangoes. 

Why Salt Boosts Sweetness

If you’re wondering why and how a little salt changes the sweetness of fruit, there’s some science behind it. But technically, the salt itself isn’t changing anything within or on the fruit. Instead, it’s a reaction that happens entirely inside your mouth.

According to research, scientists have found that salt amps up sweetness for already-sweet foods (and pairs so well with sweet items naturally) because of the receptor cells on our tongues’ taste buds. A special set of receptors, called T1R, typically pick up sweetness that comes from natural sugars (like those in fruit) and artificial sweeteners. But our bodies also sense sweetness via a protein called sodium-glucose cotransporter 1 (or, to put it simply, SGLT1).

SGLT1 uses sodium to carry glucose in our kidneys and intestines for energy. This protein has also been discovered to be in our sweet-responsive taste receptors―those T1R receptors, to be specific. And when sodium enters our mouths and is picked up by the receptors, it actually fires up our taste buds more than sweetness. 

So salt essentially supercharges our sweet-sensing taste buds, offering a more impactful experience when we’re snacking on something that’s salty and sweet. Give your favorite fruits a boost of salt, and odds are you’ll find them even more irresistible when a sweet craving strikes (though you can always give Kool-Aid a try, too).