Saline Solution
Saline solution is salt dissolved in water at a fixed strength; ours is 20%, one part salt to four of water by weight. A drop carries about a hundredth of a gram of salt, too little to taste as salt, yet enough to suppress bitterness so fruit and sweetness show. Our Tomatini takes two dashes to deepen the tomato.
Quick Facts
Indefinite: it is salt water. Keep it in a labelled dasher bottle.
None of the 14 listed allergens.
About Saline Solution
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
No taste of its own at working dose: sweetness rounds, bitterness softens, fruit brightens. The drink simply tastes more like itself.
Salt water at a known strength
Our saline is 20% salt by weight: 20g of fine salt stirred into 80g of warm water until clear, then cooled and bottled. That is the ratio in the house prep chart on the syrup page, and sealed it keeps indefinitely.
The fixed strength is the point. A pinch of salt varies with whoever takes it; a drop of 20% saline, about 0.05ml, carries roughly a hundredth of a gram of salt every time, so a drink can be seasoned the same way twice.
A few drops suppress bitterness
Salt suppresses bitterness. Paul Breslin and Gary Beauchamp of the Monell Chemical Senses Center reported it in Nature in 1997, in a paper titled "Salt enhances flavour by suppressing bitterness". Take the bitter edge off a drink and its fruit and sweetness read more clearly, so a few drops make it taste fuller without tasting of salt.
The window is narrow. A drop or two seasons; past a few, the drink starts to taste salty, and salt cannot be taken out again. Add it last, one drop at a time.
Saline, a pinch or a rim
Three ways to get salt into a drink
20% saline
- Dose control
- Exact: about 0.01g of salt per drop
- Where it seasons
- Evenly through the drink
- Suits
- Shaken and stirred drinks, to taste
A pinch of salt
- Dose control
- Rough
- Where it seasons
- Evenly, once dissolved
- Suits
- Built drinks where a rough dose is fine
Salt rim
- Dose control
- Per sip, chosen by the drinker
- Where it seasons
- On the lip only
- Suits
- Sours with bitterness to soften
| Method | Dose control | Where it seasons | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20% saline | Exact: about 0.01g of salt per drop | Evenly through the drink | Shaken and stirred drinks, to taste |
| A pinch of salt | Rough | Evenly, once dissolved | Built drinks where a rough dose is fine |
| Salt rim | Per sip, chosen by the drinker | On the lip only | Sours with bitterness to soften |
Two dashes in the Tomatini
In the Tomatini the saline goes into the shaker after the cherry tomatoes are muddled, alongside the vodka, lemon, syrup and white balsamic. It does what salt does on a sliced tomato: it rounds the acid and lets the fruit come forward.
Label the bottle on the side and the base. A clear liquid in a dasher bottle looks like water, and a splash of 20% saline would ruin a drink.
Using Saline Solution
Usage
Two dashes in the Tomatini, added to the shaker with the vodka, lemon, syrup and white balsamic. In other drinks add it last, a drop or two at a time, to a drink that tastes nearly right, and taste after each; past a few drops the salt shows.
House Recipe
Ingredients
- 20g fine salt
- 80g warm water (80ml)
Method
- Stir the salt into the warm water until it is fully dissolved and clear.
- Cool it, then pour it into a clean dasher or dropper bottle.
- Label the bottle clearly, on the base as well as the side.
Food safety
Keep the cap on, or it evaporates and grows stronger. Label it clearly: a clear liquid on a back bar is easy to mistake for water.
Pro Tip
When a sour or bitter drink tastes almost right but slightly harsh, add one drop of saline and taste again before reaching for more syrup. Sugar covers bitterness; salt suppresses it.
Top Tips
- Weigh it: 20g of salt and 80g of water make 100g at 20%.
- Keep it in a dropper or dasher bottle, labelled on the side and the base.
- Add it at the end and taste. It sharpens a balanced drink and cannot rescue an unbalanced one.
- Keep the cap on. Water evaporates and the solution creeps stronger.
More to explore
Common Questions
What is saline solution for cocktails?
How do you make 20% saline solution?
Will saline make my drink taste salty?
How many drops of saline go in a cocktail?
Does saline solution go off?
Can I use a pinch of salt instead of saline?
Which drinks benefit from saline?
Sources.
Correct as of 16 October 2026.
- Europe PMC (bibliographic record), “Breslin PA, Beauchamp GK. Salt enhances flavour by suppressing bitterness. Nature, 1997” (record of the Nature paper, which nature.com does not serve to a script).
Made with Saline Solution
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Often Used With
Guide by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 16 October 2026