Bay 12 Games Forum

Finally... => General Discussion => Topic started by: noodle0117 on August 22, 2011, 07:31:15 am

Title: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: noodle0117 on August 22, 2011, 07:31:15 am
Today my dad (who used to live in taiwan) told me about how his favorite childhood snack was watermelon with a dash of salt. I of course was rather hesitant about believing this, but he said the salt brings out the sweetness in the watermelon.
Has anyone else ever tried or heard about salted watermelon?
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: olemars on August 22, 2011, 07:32:48 am
I've had plenty of melon with cured ham. It does indeed work well in combination.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Max White on August 22, 2011, 07:35:21 am
Watermelon and ham, yes, it is a rather popular snack on a summers day! Never with just salt though...
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: optimumtact on August 22, 2011, 07:36:08 am
I can't say I've ever salted mine, but I wouldn't be adverse to trying it the next time I have watermelon.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: RedKing on August 22, 2011, 07:40:31 am
That's between me and my watermelon.

Oh. You're talking about an actual watermelon, not a strange euphemism for...nevermind. I don't actually eat watermelon.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Angel Of Death on August 22, 2011, 08:04:06 am
I might try it next time I have some watermelon ready to eat. It sounds nice.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: sluissa on August 22, 2011, 08:16:04 am
I have tried it. I wasn't fond of it at all. It wasn't inedible, I just much prefer it without the salt. Of course, I might be a bit weird. I also think watermelon tastes better as a large chunk cut straight from the melon rather than in bite size pieces (yes, even if they're straight from the melon too) just something about eating it that way and getting juice all over my face makes it better.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Patchouli on August 22, 2011, 08:18:53 am
I have tried it. I wasn't fond of it at all. It wasn't inedible, I just much prefer it without the salt. Of course, I might be a bit weird. I also think watermelon tastes better as a large chunk cut straight from the melon rather than in bite size pieces (yes, even if they're straight from the melon too) just something about eating it that way and getting juice all over my face makes it better.
I just cut the watermelon in half and eat it directly with a spoon.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: GlyphGryph on August 22, 2011, 08:56:37 am
Oddly enough, when eating raw corn I think its better without salt.

Like the others, I suppose I'll give this a go next time I've got watermelon, but my hopes aren't high.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: olemars on August 22, 2011, 08:57:16 am
I assume it works like salted corn does, with bringing out the flavor.

I think you should expand on this hypothesis and try buttering your watermelon as well.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: counting on August 22, 2011, 09:31:20 am
As living in a sub-tropical island and we eat watermelon every summer, the answer is YES, you can sprinkle a little salt on the sliced watermelon to make it tastes sweeter. Just sprinkle some on the surface, but not too much. Like this. (You'll have to let it settle and let the salt seep into the fresh)

(http://pic.pimg.tw/moongene/1308355077-0347487c4d7485b275d5ba57ebd01e8f.jpg)

It's not necessary though, it's just for adding the taste mostly. If the quality of the watermelon is good and already very sweet, you don't have to do that.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: nenjin on August 22, 2011, 09:43:17 am
I feel like this thread deserves some mood music. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0I6mhZ5wMw)
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: TheBronzePickle on August 22, 2011, 09:49:47 am
Salt is an interesting chemical. It draws out water in food, allowing flavor to be more concentrated. It also causes the taste buds to go into overdrive. Along with it's natural flavor, it's almost magical if not overused.

I've had watermelon with a small sprinkle of salt before, it was pretty good. I've also seen chocolates that have small amounts of salt sprinkled on top (never tried one, though).
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Eagleon on August 22, 2011, 10:21:28 am
I feel like this thread deserves some mood music. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0I6mhZ5wMw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjAMAtkHGZs&feature=related Yeah.

I have on occasion but I won't go out of my way to.
Salt on chocolate sounds good, too, so long as it's not crappy chocolate. Perhaps with nuts, too. Mmmm.
Yes, so much. If you get the chance, get a salted caramel hot-chocolate from Starbucks or similar. Godly. Godiva also has it in bar form.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: counting on August 22, 2011, 10:39:25 am
Actually we used sprinkle salt on many fruits, not just watermelon. Pineapple, bell fruit, common guava, starfruit, and even grape. But often we used another kind of "salt" is used to bring out the flavor - dried plum powder (乾/酸梅粉). Which is made of the powder of dried plum/ume, sugar, and salt. And it can bring out the flavor so poor quality fruits can taste better. (When you buy a box of sliced fruits, it often comes with a small package of this powder). But I prefer natural flavor though. If you need these additive a lot, it means the fruit quality you chose is probably not good.



Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Muz on August 22, 2011, 01:10:23 pm
I assume it works like salted corn does, with bringing out the flavor.

I think you should expand on this hypothesis and try buttering your watermelon as well.

Someone should do it, and let us know how that goes.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: quinnr on August 22, 2011, 01:18:30 pm
If it's just myself, no.
My stepdad will salt the whole giant bowl of watermelon before I can steal some out, though...it's alright as long as it's only a tiny bit.

Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: counting on August 22, 2011, 01:29:02 pm
I assume it works like salted corn does, with bringing out the flavor.

I think you should expand on this hypothesis and try buttering your watermelon as well.

Someone should do it, and let us know how that goes.

Adding condensed milk with watermelon is actually very good. (And I like it, and add some shaved ice with it)

Also I do have butter in my frig (I don't use it often though), I'll buy some watermelon tomorrow and test it. I am curious too. Better tasting it myself.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Sowelu on August 22, 2011, 01:41:19 pm
Can't say I ever have. I'm not a salt person, and salted caramel is one of the big "agree to disagree" foods in my relationship.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: kaijyuu on August 22, 2011, 01:44:56 pm
Gotta say it sounds pretty nasty to me. I'm uncultured when it comes to food, though.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: counting on August 22, 2011, 02:05:09 pm
In fact there are even more options as sprinkle some paprika (spicy + sweet + salty, it not that weird as you might think).
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Vector on August 22, 2011, 02:27:32 pm
Me, no.  My father, who was born in Japan (I think he picked the habit up from his parents)--yeah, probably.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Blargityblarg on August 22, 2011, 05:28:42 pm
My sister-in-law is indian, and if she isn't salting her fruit, then she's adding chili. Chili pineapple is pretty good, though I haven't tried any of the salted stuff.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: UltraValican on August 22, 2011, 07:50:04 pm
I don't it tastes horrible to me, the salty taste ruins the juicyness for me. I've also tried glazing watermelon in honey. It tasted okay.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Scaraban on August 22, 2011, 09:22:13 pm
The point is that it's just a tiny bit, you really shouldn't be able to taste the salt enough to say, "this is salty." It is there to enhance the flavor of the watermelon, not overpower it or even be equal to it.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: ein on August 22, 2011, 09:24:08 pm
But often we used another kind of "salt" is used to bring out the flavor - dried plum powder (乾/酸梅粉). Which is made of the powder of dried plum/ume, sugar, and salt.

This stuff is very popular here in Hawaii~
Kids will often just eat it plain, rather than sprinkling it on fruits, and you will often find it sprinkled on gummy candies~
As an experiment, I put some on honey roasted peanuts once, and it tasted delicious~

Back on topic, yes, I do salt my melons~
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: TherosPherae on August 22, 2011, 09:42:02 pm
I don't eat watermelon. So I guess that means I don't salt it...?
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Grimshot on August 22, 2011, 09:42:51 pm
 Nope, though my Father and Grandmother eat it that way. I always thought they were just weird...
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Aqizzar on August 22, 2011, 09:44:33 pm
It never even occurred to me to add salt to watermelon, when I'm not a big fan of watermelon in the first place.  Then again, I like salt so maybe it's possible.  I suspect it would wind up tasting like cantaloupe though, and I hate cantaloupe. (Holy crap, that's how you spell that?)

Spoiler: I endorse this post. (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Interus on August 22, 2011, 11:29:24 pm
Yeah, I do sometimes.  I can't remember if I learned it from my mom or dad though.  Not that it makes a big difference.  I was just thinking it might be a Southern thing if I learned it from my dad.  I think I tend to oversalt though, so I don't do it often, and I hardly ever have watermelon these days, so there's that.

On the topic of weird combos, I read something once that suggested putting sugar on steak and other meats.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: woose1 on August 23, 2011, 03:50:27 am
My family looks at me weird when I cook hot-dogs with salt. So, yeah.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: counting on August 23, 2011, 10:38:33 am
I bought the watermelon back, but *sad face* since my butter in the frig is frozen. So I'll have to defrost it. I'll have to wait and try the experiment tomorrow. I've planned to experiment with different combinations of salt, butter, and condensed milk. Any other suggestions for adding flavors to my watermelon? (I can buy those for testing as long as I can find them in the local supermarket.)

*Watermelon is not as cheap as a month ago, and neither as good quality as before. So it's a good way to test if these additives can actually help with the flavors or not.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: quinnr on August 23, 2011, 11:07:13 am
Got a giant watermelon for $3 from the Farmer's Market...I don't really like putting salt on it, but following the same line of thinking, I put sugar on it. It also made it more juicy and it tasted good too.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Tack on August 23, 2011, 11:30:56 am
I've never salted or sugared my watermelon.

I used to just get that stuff in me as quickly as possible.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: counting on August 24, 2011, 11:40:12 pm
1st experiment done. Adding Cheese and Butter on watermelon. I happened to buy a cheese on the way home, thinking it should be interesting to compare withh butter.

And cheese is in fact much better than using butter. But one thing keeps making adding either cheese and butter hard. They are both containing or made of oil, so they are both hard to apply on watermelon, unless it's frozen. When the watermelon melt, it's hard to apply enough on the surface.

For the taste department. Applying cheese tasted better than butter. And it's hard to describe the taste. Imagine adding creamy ice cream into fruit juice. Not that bad actually. But you can't add to much, but only apply a thin layer, or you just taste the plain cheese or butter. (I discover a good way of doing that is to apply them on a toast slice first and make the spoon cover with already partially melt cheese/butter, than apply to the watermelon. In fact it's more convenient to apply them on the bread and make a watermelon sandwich. And I think it would be a hot sell if you can overcome the problem of dripping watermelon juice , and make it a good hot season breakfast.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: NotAQuisling on August 26, 2011, 07:43:54 pm
Salt and lime juice.
I thought everyone did this.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: kaijyuu on August 26, 2011, 07:45:48 pm
Lime juice sounds pretty awesome.

Must try.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Vector on August 26, 2011, 07:46:11 pm
Salt and lime juice.
I thought everyone did this.

I didn't, but I think I may now!
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: NotAQuisling on August 26, 2011, 07:54:11 pm
Egads!
I take you don't put lime juice in chicken soup or on raw hotdog meats that have been chopped up either.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Vector on August 26, 2011, 08:19:01 pm
I'm a vegetarian -> no.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: NotAQuisling on August 26, 2011, 08:55:20 pm
Doh!
I always seem to make some comment along those lines and I always get the same response.
On the plus side now I know.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: SirAaronIII on August 26, 2011, 08:56:22 pm
And knowing is ha- *shot*

I usually salt everything (sometimes I eat salt plain, it's just so salty), but I haven't heard of this. Will probably try it.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: Conrad on August 26, 2011, 09:12:23 pm
1st experiment done. Adding Cheese and Butter on watermelon. I happened to buy a cheese on the way home, thinking it should be interesting to compare withh butter.

And cheese is in fact much better than using butter. But one thing keeps making adding either cheese and butter hard. They are both containing or made of oil, so they are both hard to apply on watermelon, unless it's frozen. When the watermelon melt, it's hard to apply enough on the surface.

For the taste department. Applying cheese tasted better than butter. And it's hard to describe the taste. Imagine adding creamy ice cream into fruit juice. Not that bad actually. But you can't add to much, but only apply a thin layer, or you just taste the plain cheese or butter. (I discover a good way of doing that is to apply them on a toast slice first and make the spoon cover with already partially melt cheese/butter, than apply to the watermelon. In fact it's more convenient to apply them on the bread and make a watermelon sandwich. And I think it would be a hot sell if you can overcome the problem of dripping watermelon juice , and make it a good hot season breakfast.

What. What. I don't even... Cheese? What.

I've never even thought of salting watermelon but I could understand why it would work. Salt does make everything taste a little better... (the very first time I baked a batch of cookies - I think I was 4 - I couldn't understand why my mother wanted salt in them)

I'm going to have to try the lime juice though. Lime juice makes everything tastes better : )
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: NotAQuisling on August 26, 2011, 09:52:09 pm
And knowing is ha- *shot*
Seems like you forgot the other half. :P
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: sonerohi on August 27, 2011, 12:10:58 am
I have never assaulted a watermelon. However, I do put pepper on apples, bananas, and cantaloupe.
Title: Re: Do You Salt Your Watermelon?
Post by: quinnr on August 27, 2011, 08:20:05 pm
Err, maybe I'm wrong, but isn't the salt in cookies supposed to help it rise or something. I thought it was part of the baking-y stuff and not for the taste.