Why salt in chocolate?
How gourmet salts influence the flavour profile of chocolate
Text:
Katharina Kuhlmann
Photography:
© Kilian Kuhlmann
5 June 2026
Chocolate and salt are a popular combination. At first glance, it seems like a contradiction, but a small amount of salt balances the contrasting flavours of sweet and bitter, helping to harmonise the flavours. Salt can also deliberately emphasise specific notes in the chocolate, acting as a natural flavour enhancer. The use of high-quality gourmet salts creates new, deep and complex taste experiences in milk, dark or even white chocolate.
Salt: a secret weapon in the kitchen
In cooking, there is hardly a recipe that does not require a pinch of salt. However, this is not due to the salty taste itself. Salt is known for balancing out different flavours such as sweet, sour or bitter. For dark chocolate with a high cocoa content, this means that the bitterness is softened whilst the sweetness of the chocolate is brought out more clearly. In addition, other flavours of the cocoa come to the fore, such as fruity notes. Here, salt acts as a natural flavour enhancer, creating entirely new flavour profiles that are significantly more complex and deeper. With very sweet chocolate (milk or white), on the other hand, salt can temper the excessive sweetness.
What are gourmet salts?
So-called gourmet salts differ greatly from ordinary white table salt. They can vary in grain size from fine to coarse, or take on distinctive shapes, such as larger crystals or pyramids. Speciality salts also vary in colour. They are available in classic white, but also in shades ranging from pink to black and even blue. Finally, gourmet salts often have a distinctive flavour of their own, which is influenced by their origin, extraction method and composition. Through further refinement, they can also take on additional notes, such as smoked salts.
Gourmet salts, which are significantly more expensive than table salt, are often produced using complex processes that frequently still rely on manual labour. Two examples of this are the pink-coloured Inca salt, which is produced in the traditional manner on high terraces in the Andes, and the ‘salt flower’ crystals of Fleur de Sel (Spanish: Flor de Sal), which are formed in Mediterranean seawater salt pans.
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Gourmet salts in chocolate
Gourmet salts are very popular for use in chocolate, as they impart their own flavours to the creations and thus contribute to the overall distinctive taste of the bar. If the taste of salt is to be deliberately emphasised, coarser varieties are particularly suitable. Fleur de sel, for example, is frequently used. Unlike fine salt, its crystalline, often pyramid-like structure remains intact during chocolate production and later provides a slight crunch in the bar.
VIVANI chocolates with salt
The VIVANI range also includes a number of organic salted chocolates containing high-quality gourmet salts. The two “Mallorca” bars feature the Mallorcan speciality salt Flor de Sal d’Es Trenc. The Fine Dark Mallorca contains 75% cocoa from Panama and is sweetened exclusively with coconut blossom sugar, whilst the Fine Dark Caramel Mallorca variety contains 62% cocoa from the Dominican Republic as well as caramel.
More Information about Flor de Sal d’Es Trenc
The Caramel Pink Salt of Maras milk chocolate, on the other hand, is enhanced with Pink Salt of Maras, an aromatic rock salt from the Peruvian Andes. The subtle hint of salt really brings out the malty sweetness of the coconut blossom sugar and caramel.
Dark Mallorca
Fleur de Sel
75 % Cocoa Panama | vegan | with coconut blossom sugar
Dark Caramel Mallorca Fleur de Sel
62 % Cocoa Santo Domingo | vegan
Milk Caramel Pink Salt of Maras
44 % Cocoa | with coconut blossom sugar
