We are hearing a lot that some foods are sweet and others salty, but what is the difference? Is there any truth that salty foods are aphrodisiacs? And can a dish be both sweet and savory? Basically, sweet foods have a sweet taste, usually from sugar, honey, chocolate, or natural sugars found in fruits. Examples include candies, cakes, cookies, fudge, pies, puddings, and chocolate bars.

Salty foods don’t focus on being sweet. Its main flavor would come from the combination of herbs and spices that make the dish palatable, pleasurable and pleasing to the senses like a Mediterranean-inspired chicken cooked with cumin and turmeric, or a roast beef with garlic and paprika. Meat, vegetables, and snack foods are often tasty because they are prepared with minimal sugar and do not focus on a sweet taste.

And yes, a dish can be both sweet and savory. This is often seen in Asian cuisine, such as sweet and sour chicken or a turkey sauce made with fancy spices and sweetened with prunes, raisins, or honey. Honey and mustard dishes are another example of sweet and salty.

But there is still more…

Since the time of the Saxons, savory, the bold and pungent herb, has come to mean not just the herb itself, but an entire segment of cooking. Savory is a Mediterranean aromatic herb of the mint family and has two varieties: summer savory and winter savory. Summer savory has the scent of mint and thyme. Winter savory is best used for long-cooking dishes such as stews and sauces, or it can be added to water when cooking dried beans. Both varieties have a touch of heat, but summer savory is milder. The salty herb is used to flavor meats, soups, and salads.

Fun facts

Savory is reputed to be an aphrodisiac. The Roman naturalist and writer Pliny the Elder, in the 1st century AD. C., gave the herb its name “satureja” derived from “satyr” (half man, half goat with an insatiable sexual appetite). According to tradition, satyrs lived in meadows of savory, implying that it was the grass that made them so passionate. And as recently as this century, the celebrated French herbalist Messeque claimed that he used savory in the love potions he concocted for couples. As a child, his father told him that it was the herb of happiness.

The original name of San Francisco, Yerba Buena, means “good herb”. This is a variety of salty: Satureja douglasii. Early settlers learned to dry the herb and drink it into tea to cure a variety of ailments, earning it the name “good herb.” It is commonly used today in toothpaste and soaps.

sweet and salty

Sweet and savory flavors go great together in the same dish, like: Roast Turkey with Glazed Apple Topping, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Glazed Carrots, Garlic and Onion, Pineapple Chicken, and Pineapple Pizza.