It was on a trip to Charleston, S.C., a year-and-a-half ago that I experienced it for the first time: bite-sized chunks of watermelon sprinkled with coarse kosher salt.
I had grown up slurping watermelon and enjoying its refreshing personality. After all, watermelon is about 92% water.
But I had never even thought about sprinkling some salt on my slice. Turns out the practice is a Southern tradition.
The salt essentially underscores the sweetness of the watermelon. No wonder I liked it so much!
After doing some investigating, I learned that some, for lack of a better word, “season” their salt to lend even more flavor to their salted watermelon.
And one of the flavors they use is wine.
The color does not matter. Either red or white will do. And you don’t need much of it — just two teaspoons.
Even better, making wine salt is super easy. All you have to do is mix those two teaspoons of wine with a quarter-cup of kosher salt.
My first thought was that the salt would dissolve, but that does not happen. All you have to do is let the wine-flavored salt dry on a dinner plate for about 24 hours before you transfer the mixture into an sir-tight container until you’re ready to use it.
When the time comes, cut your watermelon into square, bite-sized chunks, and then lightly sprinkle the wine salt on them. To help “marry” the melon and the salt, you may want to put the salted chunks in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.
After a nice meal with a glass or two of wine, watermelon sprinkled with wine salt makes a refreshing, flavorful treat.
It’s just one more way to get creative with your wine.
