Watermelon - Salted or Not?

[.:.impossible]

I'd say that boiled peanuts taste most like edamame? Probably the best comparison I can come up with. They are fantastic as long as they're hot.

I take them for granted, because people boil them at so many intersections down here, I forget that it is a regional thing.

No salt on the watermelon, but I'll take cantelope over watermelon anyway. Never was much of a fan of the texture.

I guess since so many of you are disgusted by even the thought of salted watermelon (I'm almost certain most of you have never tried it) there's no use for a thread about BOILED peanuts. (that's a Jimmy Carter smile)

Dad loves 'em boiled; I can't stand 'em!

Why would you boil peanuts? What do they taste like?

Guy

Friggin' delicious. Of course, I barely remember what they taste like after I tried them for the first time at age 10, ate at least 4 pounds of the goddamn things in one sitting, and then crawled out of bed at 4 AM and was the most violently ill I've ever been in my life. Haven't touched them since (though that's partly because I've barely spent any time in the Deep South since).

It's probably unlikely that overeating made me that sick - more likely I just had a coincidental stomach bug or food poisoning. But the mental association is still there.

[Tom Storer]

I've never heard of the practice of salting watermelon. In general, I salt before tasting, but not on fruit. But I like salt on cucumber. I'll have to try it on watermelon.

[MoGrubb]

I've never heard of the practice of salting watermelon. In general, I salt before tasting, but not on fruit. But I like salt on cucumber. I'll have to try it on watermelon.

Be careful, you might get a hankering for grits, collard greens, corn bread and blackeyed peas.....Maybe even a develop a southern accent, if you're lucky.

[Matthew]

I had for first watermelon of the year today, and put a ton of salt on it too.

[JSngry]

You are sticking your tongue out to get the salt off!

[Neal Pomea]

I never saw canteloupe (melon français) served as a fruit until I moved away from Louisiana. I never even thought of it as a breakfast item. It was always served with dinner as a side dish, but we wouldn't salt it. The combination of salty and sweet has some appeal for me, I guess.

Now, I haven't seen salt on a beer can in a long time!

Edited May 28, 2010 by It Should be You

[TedR]

Salt on WATERmelon????? Who'd like a nice cool refreshing glass of salt water on a hot day?!

[Matthew]

So, I'm sitting down for dinner with someone from the East Coast across from me, and he puts salt on his watermelon. Deal with it!

[Brad]

I’m from the East Coast and that is very strange. 

[JSngry]

[Scott Dolan]

If I had no tastebuds, I wouldn't bother. But since I do, yes, salted. There is no other way to properly eat watermelon. 

 

[JSngry]

Salt cancels sweet and vice versa (ask anybody who's oversweetened or oversalted a recipe). If you have to salt a watermelon to taste it, you've got a bad watermelon. Same thing with cantaloupe, and tomatoes.

The other way around, I've come around on sugaring berries - no mas. Sure it makes for a nice syrupy "juice", but really if you have berries that need sugaring, you've got bad berries.

Now having said that, the way they grow some of this stuff and package it for shipping, the flavor is never given a chance to be natural. So, that's why, find a roadside stand or a real farmers market or someplace for in-season fruit other than the supermarket.

Taste it now and thank me later!

[Scott Dolan]

You don’t have to have salt to taste anything. It’s a spice, and spices are used to enhance. 

But i’ve always been a huge salt and hot sauce type. I put hot sauce on everything but pancakes, essentially. I love spiciness! 

[JSngry]

You don't put hot sauce on watermelon, surely?

Now sure, all taste buds are unique at some level, but the basic premise remains, salt cancels sweet, sweet cancels salt. I've yet to eat a watermelon that was too sweet!

My wife's a salter, and although I do think there's something fundamentally wrong with her for that, our love endures. But once the watermelon is opened and sliced....never the twain shall meet, hopefully. She claims it "brings out the flavor", but to me, it takes a perfectly fine sweet  flavor and turns it salty.

I wonder about her sometimes....

As for hot peppers, if your soil and climate allow for it (and you don't already do it), try growing our own. They thrive here, and bear fruit from mid-May (we've already gotten some in) all the way through November or the first freeze, whichever comes first. Low maintenance gardening with very satisfying results. Let the kids do it!

 

[Chuck Nessa]

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

Salt cancels sweet and vice versa (ask anybody who's oversweetened or oversalted a recipe). If you have to salt a watermelon to taste it, you've got a bad watermelon. Same thing with cantaloupe, and tomatoes.

The other way around, I've come around on sugaring berries - no mas. Sure it makes for a nice syrupy "juice", but really if you have berries that need sugaring, you've got bad berries.

Now having said that, the way they grow some of this stuff and package it for shipping, the flavor is never given a chance to be natural. So, that's why, find a roadside stand or a real farmers market or someplace for in-season fruit other than the supermarket.

Taste it now and thank me later!

Salt enhances sweet and the inverse is true.

Watermelon/salt, cantaloupe/salt and tomato/sugar.

[Brad]

Why would you put salt on something naturally sweet? That makes no sense to me. I understand salting something that tastes bland but watermelon isn’t bland. 

Note: after I posted the above, I saw a few articles saying that salt makes the watermelon sweeter by driving the sweetness to the top. It’s also a Southern thing, although not exclusively. 

Edited May 31, 2018 by Brad

[Scott Dolan]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

You don't put hot sauce on watermelon, surely?

Now sure, all taste buds are unique at some level, but the basic premise remains, salt cancels sweet, sweet cancels salt. I've yet to eat a watermelon that was too sweet!

My wife's a salter, and although I do think there's something fundamentally wrong with her for that, our love endures. But once the watermelon is opened and sliced....never the twain shall meet, hopefully. She claims it "brings out the flavor", but to me, it takes a perfectly fine sweet  flavor and turns it salty.

I wonder about her sometimes....

As for hot peppers, if your soil and climate allow for it (and you don't already do it), try growing our own. They thrive here, and bear fruit from mid-May (we've already gotten some in) all the way through November or the first freeze, whichever comes first. Low maintenance gardening with very satisfying results. Let the kids do it!

 

We actually do grow our own peppers. Just filled one of our 4x4 garden boxes with a bunch of them a couple of weekends ago. Chili, Habanero, Cayenne,  Jalapeno, and one labeled as a Tobasco pepper. We usually use them for cooking or making salsa, but this year we’re going to try our hand at making our own hot sauce. One of our cupboards looks like a hot sauce grocery store. Everything from run of the mill Frank’s to 357 Ghost Pepper which has the potential to destroy your life if you go one drop too far. 

 

1 hour ago, Brad said:

Why would you put salt on something naturally sweet? That makes no sense to me. I understand salting something that tastes bland but watermelon isn’t bland. 

Note: after I posted the above, I saw a few articles saying that salt makes the watermelon sweeter by driving the sweetness to the top. It’s also a Southern thing, although not exclusively. 

One of the finest, and I mean finest, treats you could ever have is dry roasted peanuts and regular M&M’s mixed together in a bowl.

Try that and tell me it isn’t a wonderful thing.  

[JSngry]

2 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Watermelon/salt, cantaloupe/salt and tomato/sugar.

Noooooo.....none of that in my kitchen! None!

[Scott Dolan]

I’ve never done sugar on a tomato, but it is an absolute must in homemade spaghetti sauce, so I can see it. 

[uli]

never heard of salt on melons. will have to try it. pepper on strawberries is good. can't imagin sugar on tomates since i like salt on a raw tomato

[JSngry]

11 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

I’ve never done sugar on a tomato, but it is an absolute must in homemade spaghetti sauce, so I can see it. 

If you're making "that kind" of sauce, yes, but there's a lot of other tomato-based sauces where sugar is not needed, especially if you're using fresh tomatoes instead of tomato sauce/paste as a base. There's this whole "old folks" thing about tomatoes being "bitter" or something, so people will peel them and reduce them down and the sugar them up, and that's just....old. A good tomato brings it's own delightful flavor "as is" and can be enjoyed on it's own terms, it doesn't need "helping" of "fixing" to be delicious.

This is but one of many: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/sicilian-spaghetti-sauce-ragu-no-sugar-added-417814?mode=metric

[uli]

29 minutes ago, JSngry said:

If you're making "that kind" of sauce, yes, but there's a lot of other tomato-based sauces where sugar is not needed, especially if you're using fresh tomatoes instead of tomato sauce/paste as a base. There's this whole "old folks" thing about tomatoes being "bitter" or something, so people will peel them and reduce them down and the sugar them up, and that's just....old. A good tomato brings it's own delightful flavor "as is" and can be enjoyed on it's own terms, it doesn't need "helping" of "fixing" to be delicious.

This is but one of many: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/sicilian-spaghetti-sauce-ragu-no-sugar-added-417814?mode=metric

I am old and unlikely to change the way I make my spaghetti meat tomato sauce. very similar to Jim's recipe but to balance the acidity of the tomatoes i cut up some carrots and simmer for hours not just 40 minutes. I also make quicker sauces eg for a shrimp/eggplant pasta dish using no sugar/carrots.

[JSngry]

well, you may be old, but people older than you (and all now dead) would get apoplectic when I fixed a meat sauce by (A) not adding sugar to it (didn't want it, didn't need it); and (B) browning the meat in a non-stick skillet without adding some oil, like, geez, this meat gonna make it's own grease, it won't need help. Then they'd eat it and say, oh, ok, don't know why it tastes good, but it does, Well, duh, flavor comes in through many doors.

 

[Scott Dolan]

Sugar is used in all tomato based sauces to help neutralize the acid and enhance the natural sweetness of the tomato. If you choose not to, that’s fine, but the difference is noticeable. My wife is Italian, can cook her ass off, and makes some of the very best sauces I’ve ever had. As does her father. 

Pretty much every top end, hell, medium end, chefs use a pinch of sugar in their sauces. So you may want to avoid Italian restaurants. 

As for adding oil when cooking hamburger, it’s only necessary if the meat is incredibly lean. Buffalo meat immediately comes to mind. But we buy our own side of beef, and sometimes we have to add a little olive oil because it doesn’t make enough of its own grease. 

Edited June 1, 2018 by Scott Dolan

[JSngry]

I'm telling you, there are plenty of Italian tomato sauces that don't call for sugar. Not all are the "traditional" red/gravy that's so popular in America, but there's provincial recipes galore, watch that Lydia's Kitchen show on PBS, whatever it's called. I watched it so much that she started to get on my nerves, but she opened my eyes (and apparently many others) to what other options there are besides what we all know and love over here.

So much of what's called "Italian food" in America is actually "New York Italian" in one form or another. Italy itself has a very diverse group of local cuisines and the pasta is topped a lot of different ways, depending on what's local and available.

And truthfully, I do tend to avoid Italian restaurants these days. Brenda has gotten adept enough to the point where we only eat that type of food out when we're too busy to want to make it ourselves. Which is often enough! But there's only one or two places we go to, because most of the others make a red sauce that's....cloying, that's what I'll call it, cloying. Not fun to eat.