{"id":675110,"date":"2026-07-05T14:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T14:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/675110\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T14:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T14:07:08","slug":"shaking-it-up-why-salt-is-this-summers-hottest-ingredient-summer-food-and-drink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/675110\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaking it up: why salt is this summer\u2019s hottest ingredient | Summer food and drink"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Europe braces for another heatwave<\/a>, some people are seeking relief from an unlikely source. The store cupboard is surpassing the freezer, with salt becoming a key ingredient in the battle to cool down<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Salty drinks are gaining popularity as thirst quenchers during this scorching summer. Commonly found in countries including India and Mexico, these traditional street corner drinks, which can be rehydrating, are being hailed as a salve in a heat-soaked UK. The trend is being driven by several factors, including a preference for savoury rather than sweet flavours alongside a growing interest in premium salts.<\/p>\n

At Jikoni in London\u2019s Marylebone, fresh lime is teamed with black salt, then topped with sparkling water. Taking inspiration from India-style lemonade nimbu pani, Jikoni\u2019s head of drinks, Jade Harman, says the addition of salt is refreshing \u201cbecause it lessens your perception of bitterness in the drink and improves hydration\u201d.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Jackson Boxer\u2019s latest opening, Vesper, in east London serves up icy soft takes on gin and tonics that feature Pentire, a non-alcoholic spirit distilled from coastal botanicals and Cornish sea salt, while around the country matcha fans are attempting to draw out its umami taste even further by adding coarse flaky sea salt.<\/p>\n

Cameron Malik-Flynn, co-founder of the food and beverage agency Malik Acid World<\/a>, whose clients include Burberry and Nike, describes salt as a key taste on its flavour wheel, explaining that it works particularly well with fresh fruits. He recently teamed up with Ellie\u2019s in Dalston to create a zingy sour watermelon tequila soda that comes topped with a salted matcha vegan cream.<\/p>\n

\u201cSalt within a drink really pulls through the flavour of the other ingredients,\u201d he says. \u201cYou get these big bold flavours throughout the palate. It makes a drink feel more adult and considered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malik-Flynn credits the salty surge to a wider shift away from sugar. \u201cSavoury flavours are big right now. People want freshness. They are becoming more aware of and moving away from drinks made from pre-packaged syrups and terrible modifiers filled with E-numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A nimbu pani at Jikoni\u2019s. Photograph: Beca B Jones<\/p>\n

These posh salty drinks reflect a growing interest in the ancient mineral. Similar to the fancification of olive oil<\/a>, the humble pantry staple is now experiencing its own glow-up.<\/p>\n

Forget a giant tub of fine pouring salt, nowadays aspiring chefs are more likely to spotlight designer boxes and beautiful jars of salts spanning everything from rosy pink flakes to tiny grey grains. In The Devil Wears Prada 2, the product placement list even included two boxes of Maldon sea salt flakes \u2013 somewhat bizarrely placed on the same kitchen countertop.<\/p>\n

\u201cNatural sea salt offers a cleaner, more rounded flavour and a far more intentional way of seasoning,\u201d says Caleb Tennant, who works for the Dorset Sea Salt Company. \u201cIt\u2019s the difference between simply making food salty and actually building flavour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Its salty offerings, hand-harvested from the Jurassic Coast, come in chef- style tubs and neat glass jars that can be easily stacked. Meanwhile, Halen M\u00f4n, which harvests its salt from the island of Anglesey (Ynys M\u00f4n) in north Wales, packages its flavoured takes, including charcoal and vanilla, in tiny ceramic jars that come with a matching spoon.<\/p>\n

Scottish-based brand Goat Rodeo Goods\u2019 range comes in colourful tin with playful names. Photograph: Goat Rodeo Goods<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the New Zealand condiment specialist Apostle places its red wine and plum herb salt in glass jars with labels that riff on Roman Catholic artwork, while the Scottish-based brand Goat Rodeo Goods<\/a>\u2019 \u201csalty b*tch kimchi\u201d and \u201cpickle tickle\u201d salts come in small colourful tins designed to be displayed rather than stashed in the back of a cupboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cPremium salts certainly follow the trajectory of elevated pantry goods, which we\u2019ve seen with olive oil, tinned fish and tinned beans,\u201d says Lisa Harris, co-founder of Harris and Hayes, a food consultancy. \u201cIn times of economic uncertainty, a pinch or a drizzle of something special feels like an achievable everyday indulgence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malik-Flynn describes pink Himalayan salt as \u201cmimicking a citrus flavour\u201d while sea salt has a \u201cherbal and briny effect\u201d. He also likes lava salt for a \u201csubtle earthy smoky flavour\u201d but cautions that when it comes to using salt, less is more. \u201cYou have to be really careful with the dosage of it all otherwise it just moves into something that\u2019s too salty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Europe braces for another heatwave, some people are seeking relief from an unlikely source. The store cupboard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-675110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}