Hear us out – there’s a case to be made for a sprinkle in your drink.
Last summer was a scorcher in New York, and when it’s hot in the city, you can succumb to the sweat and delirium or you can get creative. Bartenders and restaurateurs in the Big Apple chose the latter. The hunt was on for something refreshing (must be cold), thirst-quenching (a tall drink works better than a short one), and tasty as all hell (sorry plain water, you’re out). Salted sodas or hard salted sodas (the ones with alcohol), were all over Manhattan menus.
Adding salt to your drink is nothing new. It’s the secret to India’s Nimbu soda, a savoury and sweet traditional street-food drink, drunk to stay cool and hydrated in the sultry Indian air. It’s often flavoured with limes, ginger, black pepper, or even chilli pepper, but the hero ingredient is always black salt. Now, before you say it, hard salted sodas, or a Nimbu soda, don’t taste like a mouth full of sea water. That’s not why they do it.
A microdose of salt is great at enhancing other flavours. The exact effect it has depends on what it’s combined with, but we know that our palates can detect five flavours: salt, sour, sweet, bitter and umami. Adding salt to a drink messes with the flavour balance, amplifying some and muting others. Sodium ions tend to block bitterness – which is why a block of Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt tastes sweeter than the one without – and decreases water activity, which can lead to more concentrated flavours. A glass of prosecco can become sharper, a Moscow Mule brighter, an Amaretto Sour more aromatic, a hard salted soda (citrus, spirit, soda and salt) more refreshing.
Having historical roots is essential to any hot new trend, and indeed, salted drinks have been popping up on bar menus and TikTok feeds alike. The Texan favourite Ranch Water advises a pinch, a Cantarito (the Paloma’s zesty hermana) requests two, but there is so much more you can do with a sprinkle of sodium. If you think about food, adding a little salt makes the ingredients really pop and almost masks flavours you don’t want. It’s the same for drinks. In a stirred drink, like a Dirty Martini, salt helps the molecules lift into the air to make it more fragrant and the flavour more defined. It does the same in a shaken cocktail but also enhances the prominence of sweet or sour flavours. It adds structure to drinks with an egg white, so you get a little more foam, and in wine, all the flavours are clearer, like putting on a pair of reading glasses.
Despite salt’s ability to all this and more, there are a few drinks it shouldn’t be added to. Firstly, that goes for anything you actually want to taste bitter. From a Campari and soda to a Lemon Lime and Bitters, keep the salt away. However, if your BFF still can’t get around an Aperol Spritz, they might find it more enjoyable with a gentle salty sprinkle. The biggest area of error when it comes to salting your drinks is a heavy hand. The tiniest amount is required. If you’re experimenting, do it on an almost granular level. You can always add more, but you can’t take it out. If you can taste the salt in your riesling, you’ve gone too far.
So, next time it’s humid, hot and you’re mixing a vodka soda, G&T, or tequila, juice and soda, or any alcohol-free versions, add a little salt. If you’re making a batch of Sours to round out your dinner party, salt it up. And whenever you're out to dinner and your drink tastes a bit meh, put that table salt to good use.
