salt

, or sodium chloride, is a mineral that, in cuisine and in mixed drinks, is not only a primary flavor in itself (along with sweet, sour, and bitter) but also an enhancer and modifier of other flavors.

In cocktails, the most recognized use of salt is in a Margarita, where it is encrusted onto the glass’s rim. See Margarita. Used in small amounts, salt has the ability to suppress bitter flavors while accentuating sweet, sour, and savory (umami) ones. Some cocktails may be improved by adding small amounts of salt, as in the case of the Bloody Mary. See Bloody Mary. Working with salt in a drink, it’s best to adopt a “less is more” attitude. Once added, it cannot be removed and is almost impossible to remedy. Given this, a very good way to work with salt is to create a conservative saline solution. An easy and restrained recipe: dilute 1 level tablespoon (15ml) into 90 ml of water. Dose this at only a drop or two, and taste.

Salt has historically also been used in various parts of spirits production. It was sometimes used by early distillers to raise the boiling point of the water in a wash, thus raising the proportion of alcohol in the first part of the distilling run. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some rum distillers in the British Caribbean made a practice of adding salt or salt water to their fermenting wash; in small doses, salt can increase the metabolic activity of yeast. In the nineteenth century, salt was also used by rectifiers for its flavor-enhancing properties in compounding imitations of gin and other spirits. See rectification, rum.

Grainger, James. The Sugar Cane: A Poem. London: 1764.

Smith, G. A Compleat Body of Distilling. London: 1731.

By: Audrey Saunders and David Wondrich