Salt is universally used to enhance flavour, making both sweet and savoury foods taste better. Yet consuming too much salt is also not good for us, and can cause everything from dehydration to high blood pressure, and headaches to stomach cancer. This, however, is where the new Electric Salt Spoon comes in.
The Electric Salt Spoon is fashioned almost entirely from plastic, apart from a thin metal strip on the drop of the spoon. The battery-operated spoon, which weighs approximately 60g, uses this strip to pass weak electric currents that help concentrate sodium ion molecules found in food on the tongue, therefore intensifying the perceived saltiness. Users of the spoon can pick from four saltiness levels.
Recently released in Japan, the spoon was created by Kirin, a Japanese company traditionally focusing on beverages and beer, and Professor Homei Miyashita from Meiji University.
Speaking about the invention, a researcher for Kirin called Ai Sato said that, “Japan has a food culture that tends to favour salty flavours… Japanese people as a whole need to reduce the amount of salt intake but it can be difficult to move away from what we’re used to eating. That’s what led us to develop this electric spoon.”
Kirin has so far only made 200 Electric Salt Spoons available for purchase, each retailing for ¥19,800 or approximately €121. However, the company has also pledged to make the invention available internationally within the next five years.