In fact, the tradition of adding salt to watermelon in the South can be traced all the way back to the 1930s, when an article in a South Carolina newspaper shared instructions for how to "best prepare watermelon," according to the Post and Courier. Not to mention, the salt activates your salivatory glands, making the watermelon seem that much juicer.Īnd while the science behind the practice might be new, the act of adding salt to watermelon ain't new at all. By adding salt, you suppress the bitter flavor so that the sweet can reign supreme. The jist of it is, according to food developer and author Barb Stuckey, watermelon has three taste elements, which are sweet, sour and bitter, reports The Huffington Post. While it might feel counterintuitive, adding salt to something sweet will actually make it taste that much sweeter because it removes any bitter flavors. So first things first, let's address why Southerners started putting salt on watermelon to begin with - it tastes better that way. (If you want to have a say in future topics we cover, you can join The Potluck here.) We asked members of The Potluck, the It's a Southern Thing membership program, to vote on what "In Defense Of" article they wanted to see next, and adding salt to watermelon was the overwhelming victor. That's why we felt the need to come to the Southern tradition's defense, and we weren't the only ones.