Why does 'no salt' peanut butter taste awful, but 'salt added' peanut butter tastes (normal) sweet?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Uh, no it doesn't

Salt is a strange substance. Even small amounts of it somehow enhances flavors of foods - even sweets. It can also help neutralize bitter tastes as well. If you find your coffee too bitter, add a tiny pinch of salt to your coffee cup.

Scientists don't fully understand how this works. Some think it has something to do with how the salt molecules are negatively charged, and thus helps attract more positively-charged molecules responsible for flavors, to your tongue.

At any rate, there are better ways to cut back on sodium than going with no-salt-added peanut butter, like dropping frozen processed foods, for instance, and don't use soy sauce (or at least use the low-sodium version - it tastes the same to me.) Also be careful about "low sodium" foods. Many of them replace salt with added sugar and even fat.

Personally, I've found the best way to cut back on salt, sugar, fat and calories is to do my own cooking with "real" food, and just plain old eat less.

part of that 'awful' taste is because salty peanut butter is what you are used to.
When cutting salt in a diet, it takes a couple of days to become accustomed to lower salt in foods.
Add a dab of jelly on your salt free peanut butter sandwich which will help with the flavor and soon you will find that regular salted products are TOO salty for your taste.
EDIT: I agree with Poohbear. There are better tasting ways of cutting back on salt.
Anything in a can except fruit is very salty.
Any instant mixes like for gravy or mac and cheese are also VERY salty.
IF you make homemade of all these you will automatically get less salt and you have more control.

mother, grandmother and husband all had to be on low salt diets.
also had to cook salt free when I worked at a hospital and nursing homes.

I think you may be wise to check the list of ingredients closely. You may find that one of the ingredients of your peanut butter is sugar. I don't know why they put it in but they do.

Go to a natural food store and get a small amount of their salt-free PB if you can and give that a try. I remember it being better than the regular commercial stuff but that was a while back. They also have several varieties with and without salt. Try the variations and see if anything works for you.

Salt brings out the tastiness. Try adding your own celtic salt to be a bit healthier.

That's what salt does-even when bakind sweet things.