为什么有些日本人吃西瓜要放盐？ [美国媒体]

Why do some Japanese people add salt to watermelons when eating?

为什么有些日本人吃西瓜要放盐？



Martin Schneider, travelling there at least once a year
Answered Sep 22, 2014
First of all, adding a bit of salt to any sweet dish will cause additional taste buds (the ones for 'salty') to fire when that food is in your mouth. 

首先，加一点盐到任何甜的菜肴上，食物会在你口中激发额外的（感知咸味的）味蕾。

If the dose is right, you won't taste much of the actual salt - instead the thereby heightened total "taste signal level" will make the 'sweet!' signal even more intense for your brain.

如果加入量刚刚好，你不会尝到实际那么多的咸味——相反，因此而增强的总体“味觉信号水平”会使‘好甜啊！’的信号在大脑里显得更强烈。

But even if you add more salt (so that it becomes part of the conscious taste level): keep in mind that watermelons are a very seasonal food in Japan, almost only consumed in summer. Now add the fact that Japanese summers are notorious for being brutally sweltering - and will inevitably make you sweat a lot. In such an environment, your body will shed a lot of salt via your sweat over the day, thus actually making you crave salt ... which is generally part of why slightly salty/bitter drinks are pretty popular in hot countries.

但即使你加更多的盐（以致于它变成有意识的味觉水平的一部分）：切记，西瓜在日本是种有很强季节性的食物，几乎只在夏天消费。再加上日本夏天以极度闷热而众所周知——不可避免地会让你大汗淋漓。在这样的环境下，一天下来，你的身体会随着流汗而损失大量盐份，因而使你真的渴求盐份……这通常是炎热国家很流行微咸（苦）饮料的部分原因。

Adding to that, note that watermelons in Japan are (almost) always cooled or sometimes even iced. This is of course done to provide added pleasure in the heat, but it also has  the inevitable disadvantage that (like any cooled foods) the flavor  will be less intense - soooo, yet another reason to help things a bit with a dash of salt.

另外，请注意在日本西瓜（几乎）总是冷藏的，有时甚至是冰冻的。当然这是为了在炎日里提供额外的凉爽，但它也有不可避免的缺点（像任何冷藏食物一样），口味没有那么强了。所以呢，这就是加点盐给食物调一下味的另一个理由。



"Crazy Japanese" you say? (*)

“疯狂的日本人”你说呢？

Trust me, you will think very different about that... when you eat your first dreamy cool, salty, sweet, juicy watermelon. Outside, on a scorching hot Japanese summer day.

相信我，在你吃第一口梦想的、凉爽的、咸咸的、甜甜的、水分多多的西瓜时，你会感觉非常不同的……而外面却是灼热的日本夏天。

*) Note that this is just a novelty item for the extreme people, even in Japan. Normal Japanese are usually not rolling around with these. Still, it illustrates the general idea of "Watermelons must be cooled to be delicious!"

注意，即使在日本，这也是极度偏爱的人的新奇事物。普通日本人通常不会这样吃。然而，这解释了“西瓜必须冷藏才好吃”的普遍想法。

Sadako Tetsuwan
Sadako Tetsuwan, studied at Austin College
Answered Sep 22, 2014
Maybe they just like the taste? My grandmother (not Asian) was a prolific salter--she salted watermelon and bananas and anything else that would sit still. She just really likes salt.

也许他们只是喜欢那种口味？我祖母（不是亚洲人）就经常加盐——西瓜、香蕉和其它任何能让人静静坐会的东西。她真的是喜欢盐。

She was also a smoker, so she might have needed the salt to improve the flavor of foods. Her doctors told her to cut back on sodium after she quit smoking, and I haven't heard her complain about not being able to salt watermelon anymore, so there might be a connection there.

她也吸烟，她可能因此需要加盐来提高食物的味道。戒烟后，她的医生叫她减少钠的摄取，而我也没听过她抱怨不能再在西瓜上放盐。所以可能在这方面有点关系。

Takao Ishigaki
Takao Ishigaki, Moved to Japan in 2004 after growing up in Canada
Answered Sep 22, 2014
The salt is added to the watermelon to draw out and heighten the natural sweetness of the fruit.  This is what I am told, though I am not entirely convinced that adding salt will have the desired effect.  I do believe that this is the same principle for the recent trend in "salted caramel" desserts.

加盐到西瓜上是为了引出及增强水果的天然甜度。这是别人告诉我的，可是我并没有完全相信加盐会有想要的效果。但我相信这和最近“盐渍焦糖”甜点的流行趋势是一样的道理。

Eiri Chieko Endo
Answered Aug 27
I've put salt on watermelon since I was a kid, my mom and grandma did it too. Sometimes, when I'm at safeway picking up watermelons I think that it'll be sweet, only to cut into it and find that it has absolutely no sweetness, no flavor whatsoever. Sprinkle some salt on it though and all the sweetness, all the water comes to the surface and it tastes so much better. It's really no different from the mexicans putting that chili mixture on their fruit, but we don't want spicy on our watermelon.

从小时候开始，我吃西瓜就放盐了，我妈妈和奶奶也放。有时候，当我在超市挑选西瓜时，我觉得它会很甜，只有在切开吃过后才发现一点都不甜，什么味道都没有。然而洒一点盐上去，所有的甜味和水分都冒出来了，尝起来好吃多了。这真的跟墨西哥人在水果上放辣椒混合物没有区别，只是我们不想吃辣的西瓜。

Narendran Sivakumar, Engineer, History buff and self professed know it all
Answered Sep 22, 2014
Because it tastes amazing ! Indians do it too, sometimes adding a little spice as well. the taste you get when the salt and the juicy watermelon combine is unique and just plain awesome.

因为吃起来很美妙！印度人也这样，有时候也加一点辣椒。当盐和多汁的西瓜结合时，那种滋味是独一无二的，就是简简单单地好吃。

If you eat watermelons occasionally, you might just stick with the fruit, but if you have been eating it as often as the Japanese or Most Asians, you tend to experiment !

如果你偶尔吃西瓜，你可能只是吃水果而已，但是如果你像日本人或大多数亚洲人一样经常吃，你会趋向于尝试的！

Kim Huynh
Kim Huynh, not a native speaker
Answered Oct 4, 2014
Because it tastes so much better - see Martin Schneider's more informed answer on this - people eat watermelons with salt in Vietnam too. 

因为尝起来好吃多了。看看Martin Schneider的更丰富的答案——越南人吃西瓜也放盐。



David W. Rudlin
David W. Rudlin, Novelist, corporate poo bah, foodaholic, political junkie.
Answered Jun 6, 2016
My Mom, who's from Alabama, salts her watermelon. She swears it brings out the juiciness. Salts her tomatoes for the same reason.

我妈来自亚拉巴马州，她吃西瓜会放盐。她发誓说盐释放了浆汁。基于同样的理由，她番茄也加盐。

James Andrada, studied at Harvard University
Answered Aug 27
Maybe for the same reason that Americans do? Because it tastes good? My father always sprinkled salt on his watermelon and he was a native of Brooklyn. So I do it too .

或许基于同样的理由美国人也这样？因为尝起来好吃？我父亲总是在西瓜上洒盐，他是布鲁克林本地人。所以我也这样吃。

Sunao Munakata, Entreprenuer
Answered Sep 23, 2014
Because a little bit of salts makes water melon sweeter.

因为一点点盐会让西瓜更甜。

Amit Kaushik, works at Samsung Mobile
Answered Apr 22, 2016
They do the right thing this is how watermelon should be consumed for best taste :-)

他们做对了。这就是应该如何吃出最佳西瓜味道的方法。

Try it in Indian way sometime for even better taste that is sprinkle some black salt or chat masala that is even better

改天试一试印度方法品尝甚至更好的味道，就是洒点黑盐，或者洒马萨拉那就更好了。

BTW in my country watermelon is cheapest available fruit however in some other countries in northern hemisphere how much expensive and exotic it can be.

顺便说下，在我的国家西瓜是可以吃到的最便宜的水果，然而在一些北半球国家，它会有多么贵以及异国风啊。

Eric Smith, works at Rossignol
Answered Jul 31
I'm an American. We did this too as kids!

我是美国人。我们小时候也这样吃！

Tanmay Ladkat
Updated Jul 27
not just the Japanese, we Indians too sprinkle salt on watemelon…..it just lifts the taste sooo much.

不只是日本人，我们印度人也会在西瓜上洒盐……它大大地提升口味啊。

Sue Umezaki, lives in Japan
Answered Feb 1
Martin Schneider explains the why perfectly.
We always salted our watermelon in my family growing up as well (Georgia, USA), and other answerers from hot climates seem to say the same.

Martin Schneider完美地解释了为什么。
在我长大的家庭里，我们也总是吃西瓜放盐（美国佐治亚州），其它来自炎热气候国家的答案说的似乎也一样。

Quora User, Three degrees and I deliver pizza for a living.
Answered Mar 15, 2016
I wasn't aware that adding salt to watermelons was unusual.  My parents and grandparents were born and raised in Mobile, AL USA.  To them (and now me) salting watermelon is as normal as mustard on hotdogs.
As others have mentioned, salt, in moderation, enhances the flavor quite a bit.

我之前没有意识到往西瓜里加盐是不平常的。我父母和祖父母在美国阿拉巴马州的Mobile出生长大。对他们来说（现在是我）西瓜加盐跟热狗加芥末一样正常。
正如其他人提到的，适度的盐，提升了相当多的口味。

Quora User, works at Colleges and Universities
Answered Wed
Just try it. It will make watermelons more sweet.

尽管试一试。它会让西瓜更甜。