Flavoring of sea salt with Mediterranean aromatic plants affects salty taste perception

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Salt (sodium chloride) is an essential component of daily food, crucial for many physiological processes. Due to health risks related to salt over consumption, considerable interest is devoted to strategies to reduce dietary salt intake. In this work we evaluated the sensory dimensions of sea salts flavored with Mediterranean aromatic plants with the aim to confirm the role of herbs/spices in the enhancement of salty perception and to validate the use of flavored salts as a strategy to reduce salt intake. To this goal we compared taste dimensions (pleasantness, intensity, and familiarity) of solutions obtained with salt and sea salts flavored with Mediterranean herbs, spices, and fruits. Sensorial differences were analyzed using a seven-point hedonic Likert-type scale on 58 non-trained judges.RESULTS: Main flavor compounds, identified by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection-mass spectrometry (GC-FID-MS) analysis, were ⊍-pinene and 1,8-cineole in myrtle salt (FS 1), verbenone, ⊍-pinene, 1,8-cineole, and rosifoliol in herbs/plants salt (FS 2), and limonene in orange fruits/saffron salt (FS 3). At the dose of 0.04 g mL −1 , saline solutions obtained with flavored salt (containing approximately 6-30% less sodium chloride) were perceived as more intense, less familiar, but equally pleasant than pure salt solution. In particular, sea salt flavored with orange fruits/saffron emerged as the most interesting in potentiating saltiness perception.CONCLUSION: Our study confirmed the important role of Mediterranean aromatic plants in the enhancement of saltiness perception and qualified the use of flavored sea salt during food preparation/cooking instead of normal salt as a potential strategy to reduce the daily salt intake.

Role of Aromatic Herbs and Spices in Salty Perception of Patients with Hyposmia

“…Gao and Colleagues suggested the use of Chinese douche, a traditional fermented soya bean product, to improve salty taste and reduce the salt intake [ 10 ]. In our previous study [ 3 ], we confirmed the important role of Mediterranean aromatic plants (rosemary, myrtle, orange, and saffron) in the enhancement of salt perception and qualified the use of flavored sea salts as a potential strategy to reduce daily salt intake.…”

“…The semi-industrial production of flavored salts was carried out as previously reported [ 3 , 27 ]. Table 1 indicates the composition per 100 g of product of FS, as indicated on the commercial labels.…”

“…All participants evaluated the taste dimensions (pleasantness, intensity, and familiarity) of different saline solutions using a self-reported Likert scale [ 3 , 24 , 28 ]. Saline solutions were obtained by dissolving flavored sea salts in drinking water at the concentrations of 0.1 and 0.04 g/mL, which represented the two intermediate concentrations preliminarily used in the Taste Strips test [ 26 ] for the assessment of gustatory function.…”

“…Most people usually consume too much salt, in the area of 9–12 g/day [ 2 ]. Salt that is normally used for human consumption is refined (table) salt, which is obtained from rock deposits or seawater [ 3 ]. In the Mediterranean region, the main source of sodium is related to the sea salt used in many countries as a condiment [ 3 ].…”

“…The use of a specific type of aromatic herbs and spices is often associated with eating habits and cultures of different countries. In fact, in the Mediterranean zone, different herbs and plants such as basil, bay, peppermint, rosemary, and sage are normally used to increase food flavor and taste perception [ 3 , 8 , 9 ]. Gao and Colleagues suggested the use of Chinese douche, a traditional fermented soya bean product, to improve salty taste and reduce the salt intake [ 10 ].…”