The Simple Ingredient You Should Always Add To Sweet Tea - Tasting Table

""There's no harm in using it," Sarda says. "It's the same principle behind why a pinch of salt is essential in baking - it does not make the cake taste salty; rather it makes it taste richer with chocolate or vanilla." Just as in baking, adding a pinch of salt to other foods, such as watermelon, often enhances the sweetness of that food. Science has proven that the receptor cells on our taste buds react favorably to the marriage of salt and sweet."

"let's note what makes sweet tea different from classic iced tea (hint: it's not just the sugar). Sweet tea is prepared by brewing black tea, such as this Republic of Tea Earl Grey, and adding white table sugar to the brew while it's still hot. The addition of sugar to hot tea allows it to dissolve evenly. Black tea tends to be bitter due to the presence of tannin, and dissolved sugar ensures less bitterness and uniform sweetness."

Sweet tea is brewed with black tea and white sugar added while hot so the sugar dissolves evenly and offsets tannin bitterness. A small pinch of salt reduces perceived bitterness and heightens detected sweetness by altering taste receptor responses, much like salt enhances flavors in baking or on fruits. Adding salt during the brewing process can make flavors taste richer and more balanced without producing a salty taste. Chefs and food scientists have used this principle for decades, making a pinch of salt a simple method to improve sweet tea's overall flavor.

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