JP7179433B2 - Salty taste enhancer for food and drink containing rotandone as an active ingredient - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a salty taste enhancer. More particularly, it relates to a salty taste enhancer for food and drink containing rotandone as an active ingredient, and a method for enhancing salty taste of food and drink using the salty taste enhancer.

Salt (sodium chloride) is widely used in food and drink as a salty seasoning and for preservation purposes. However, it has been pointed out that excessive intake of sodium contained in salt is a remote cause of lifestyle-related diseases such as hypertension, kidney disease, and heart disease, which have become social problems in recent years. is being developed. Furthermore, in response to the growing health consciousness, low-salt soy sauce, low-salt miso, and various other foods and drinks with reduced salt content have been put on the market. However, when the salt content is reduced, the salty taste naturally becomes weaker and the food may feel unsatisfactory. Potassium chloride, calcium chloride, and the like can be used as salt substitute materials, but they cannot be used as they are because they have a unique taste and smell. Therefore, for example, a technique has been developed in which a portion of salt is replaced with potassium chloride to improve the unpleasant taste peculiar to potassium salt, and to exhibit moderate salty taste even though the salt content is low (Patent Documents 1 to 3). 6). However, the current situation is that application to actual products has not progressed much.

Fragrance compounds are compounds that stimulate the sense of smell, and it is said that there are tens of thousands of types. On the other hand, the flavor of food and drink is considered to be a sensation in which olfactory stimuli and gustatory stimuli are integrated in the brain. That is, olfactory stimuli are combined with taste-stimulating compounds (salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, etc.) to form the overall flavor of food and drink. Therefore, in recent years, among aromatic compounds, there has been an active search for compounds that stimulate the sense of smell as well as the sense of taste, and these compounds are used to improve the overall flavor of food and drink.

Compounds that enhance salty taste include, for example, methional and 4-hydroxy-2-ethyl-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone or 4-hydroxy-5-ethyl-2-methyl-3(2H)-furanone. It has been found that adding it to foods and drinks has the effect of enhancing the salty taste (Patent Document 7). It has also been found that adding phthalides such as 3-n-butylphthalide and 3-butylidenephthalide to salty foods has the effect of improving the salty taste (Patent Document 8). Furthermore, it is disclosed that 2-(3-benzyloxypropyl)pyridine is also used as a salty taste enhancer (Patent Document 9). Furthermore, it has been found that the addition of spiranthol and arginine or a salt thereof to foods and drinks has the effect of enhancing the salty taste (Patent Document 10).

It has been reported that rotandone is useful as a flavoring agent and is responsible for the spicy, peppery aroma of Shiraz wine, which is characterized by its spicy, peppery aroma, and the grapes used for the wine. In addition, it is reported that black pepper and white pepper contain several ppm and that it is an important flavor component of them, and that it is also contained in trace amounts in spices such as marjoram, oregano, rosemary, basil, and thyme. (Non-Patent Document 1). Also known are uses as a citrus flavor enhancer (Patent Document 11) and a fruit flavor enhancer (Patent Document 12). However, although rotandone is known to be used as a flavoring agent, its effect of enhancing salty taste by adding it to food and drink has not been known at all.

JP-A-63-287460 JP-A-4-262758 JP-A-11-187841 Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008-543332 JP 2009-27974 A JP-A-2010-4767 JP 2012-223147 A Japanese Patent No. 4606513 Japanese Patent No. 5805902 JP 2016-106547 A JP 2016-198025 A JP 2016-198026 A

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2008, Vol.56, No.10, p3738-3744

The object of the present invention is to reduce the salty taste content added to food and drink while maintaining the original salty taste of the food, and to feel the aroma and flavor at the concentration actually added to the food and drink. To provide a salty taste enhancer having many advantages such as high versatility that can be used for various foods and drinks because it is difficult to salty.

As a result of intensive research to solve the above problems, the present inventors have found that by adding rotandone to food and drink, the food and drink can be improved without imparting unnecessary aroma and flavor to these food and drink. The inventors have found that the salty taste of food can be enhanced and the flavor of food and drink can be improved, and have completed the present invention.

As described above, rotundone is known as an aromatic component of Syrah wine, grapes and pepper for wine, but its effect of enhancing the salty taste of food and drink has not been known.

When rotandone, which is an aromatic component of pepper, was used alone, it was expected to impart a spice- and pepper-like flavor from its aroma characteristics and threshold. Surprisingly, however, when a very small amount of rotandon is used in a food or drink having a salty taste, the spice and pepper-like aroma of rotandon is not perceived, and the salty taste of the food and drink is enhanced and lacks saltiness. We have found that a moderate salty taste is imparted to food and drink that can be felt.

Thus, the present invention provides the following.
(1) rotandone [(3S,5R,8S)-5-isopropenyl-3,8-dimethyl-3,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydro-1(2H)-azulenone and/or (3R, 5R,8S)-5-isopropenyl-3,8-dimethyl-3,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydro-1(2H)-azulenone].
(2) A salty taste enhancing composition for food and drink containing 0.1 ppt to 1 ppm of the salty taste enhancer according to (1).
(3) A method for enhancing the salty taste of a food or drink, comprising adding 0.001ppt to 1 ppb of the salty taste enhancer according to (1) to the food or drink.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, it is possible to maintain the original salty taste of food while reducing the salty taste content added to the food and drink, and to enhance the salty taste of the food and improve the flavor of the food and drink. can do. In addition, by enhancing the salty taste, it has the effect of enhancing the palatability of the food and drink whose taste has been lost due to the reduced salt content.

The present invention will be described in more detail below.

In the present invention, the values of %, ppm, ppb, and ppt indicate mass-to-mass values, respectively.

Reduction of salty taste content in the present invention means reduction of salts such as common salt, potassium chloride, ammonium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium malate, magnesium sulfate, calcium chloride and calcium lactate. In addition, the salty taste in the present invention means one of the tastes that humans perceive with the tongue of the aqueous solutions of the above salts.

Moreover, the salty taste enhancer may be in any dosage form. Examples of solid forms include granules, fine granules, tablets, powders, etc., or liquid forms and suspension forms. Furthermore, other ingredients can be included within the range that does not adversely affect the object of the present invention.

Rotandone generally refers to (3S,5R,8S)-5-isopropenyl-3,8-dimethyl-3,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydro-1(2H)-azulenone is referred to herein as "rotandone" as its isomer, (3R,5R,8S)-5-isopropenyl-3,8-dimethyl-3,4,5,6,7, Also included is 8-hexahydro-1(2H)-azulenone.

(3S,5R,8S)-5-isopropenyl-3,8-dimethyl-3,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydro-1(2H)-azulenone (hereinafter (- )-Rotandone) can be synthesized by the method described in Non-Patent Document 1, or can be obtained from commercially available pepper essential oil by a fractionation method using either a distillation method or a chromatographic method alone or in combination.

In addition, (3R,5R,8S)-5-isopropenyl-3,8-dimethyl-3,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydro-1(2H)-azulenone (hereinafter referred to as 3-epirotandone) can be synthesized by the method described in JP-A-2017-206451.

The (-)-rotandone and 3-epirotandone of the present invention can have a salty taste-enhancing effect by being added to food or drink either singly or as a mixture.

For food and drink, for example, food and drink having a salty taste, by blending the compound of the present invention, rotandone, into the food and drink as it is, the food and drink can be improved without imparting unnecessary aroma and flavor to these food and drink. It can enhance the saltiness of food and improve the flavor of food and drink. In addition, it is possible to provide a salty taste enhancer that has many advantages such as high safety backed by abundant eating experience and high cost performance that can be achieved with inexpensive raw materials that are readily available on a daily basis.

The amount of the rotandone of the present invention to be added to the food or drink varies depending on the purpose or the type of the food or drink, but the lower limit for the total mass of the food or drink is 0.001 ppt, 0.002 ppt, or 0.005 ppt. , 0.01ppt, 0.02ppt, 0.05ppt, 0.1ppt, and 0.2ppt can be exemplified. can be exemplified, and any combination of these lower and upper limits can be mentioned. For example, 0.001 ppt to 1 ppb relative to the total weight of the food or drink (in this specification, "~" means the range including the upper and lower limits), preferably 0.005 ppt to 0.5 ppb, more preferably can be 0.01ppt to 0.1ppt, more preferably 0.05ppt to 50ppt, particularly preferably 0.1ppt to 10ppt. Within these ranges, it has an excellent effect of enhancing the salty taste of food and drink.

The salty taste enhancer of the present invention can be added alone to food and drink, but can also be used as a salty taste enhancing composition for food and drink in combination with a flavor component. Other flavoring ingredients that can be contained together with the salty taste enhancer of the present invention include various synthetic flavors, natural flavors, natural essential oils, plant extracts, and the like. For example, natural essential oils, natural fragrances, synthetic fragrances described in "Patent Office, Collection of Well-known and Commonly Used Techniques (Fragrance) Part II Food Flavors" or "Synthetic Flavors, Chemistry and Product Knowledge, Enlarged New Edition, Published by The Chemical Daily" can be mentioned.

Examples of these components include, as raw materials for food flavors (fragrance compositions and salty taste enhancing compositions), monoterpenes such as α-pinene, β-pinene, myrcene, camphene, limonene and sabinene as hydrocarbon compounds, valencene, Sesquiterpenes such as cedrene, caryophyllene, longifolene and farnesene, 1,3,5-undecatriene and the like; saturated alkanols such as isoamyl alcohol, butanol, pentanol, hexanol, octanol, decanol and prenol as alcohol compounds, (Z) -unsaturated alcohols such as 3-hexen-1-ol, 2,6-nonadienol and 2,6-decadienol; terpene alcohols such as linalool, geraniol, citronellol, tetrahydromyrcenol, farnesol, nerolidol and cedrol; aromatic alcohols such as benzyl alcohol, phenylethyl alcohol and furfuryl alcohol; saturated aldehydes such as acetaldehyde, butanal, hexanal, octanal and decanal as aldehyde compounds, (E)-2-hexenal, 2,4-octadienal, Unsaturated aldehydes such as 2,6-decadienal, terpene aldehydes such as citronellal and citral, aromatic aldehydes such as benzaldehyde, cinnamylaldehyde, vanillin, ethyl vanillin, furfural, and heliotropine, ketone compounds such as 2-pentanone, 2 -saturated and unsaturated ketones such as hexanone, 2-heptanone, 2-octanone, 2-nonanone, 2-undecanone, 1-octen-3-one, acetoin, diacetyl, 2,3-pentadione, maltol, ethyl maltol, diketones such as 2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone, 4-hydroxy-2(5)-ethyl-5(2)-methyl-3(2H)-furanone, carvone, menthone, Terpene ketones such as nootkatone, ketones derived from terpene decomposition products such as α-ionone, β-ionone, β-damascenone, aromatic ketones such as raspberry ketone; rose oxide, linalool oxide, menthofuran as furan ether compounds , theaspirane and other cyclic ethers; ester compounds such as ethyl acetate, isoamyl acetate and other aliphatic alcohol acetate esters, linalyl acetate, geranyl acetate and other terpene alcohol acetate esters; fatty acids and lower alcohol esters such as ethyl butyrate and ethyl hexanoate; aromatic esters such as benzyl acetate, 2-phenylethyl acetate and methyl salicylate; Saturated lactones such as decalactone and δ-dodecalactone; unsaturated lactones such as 7-decen-4-olide and 2-decen-5-olide; Saturated/unsaturated fatty acids such as octanoic acid, decanoic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid; Nitrogen-containing compounds such as indole, skatole, pyridine, pyrazine, alkyl-substituted pyrazine, methyl anthranilate, etc.; Sulfur-containing compounds Examples include methanethiol, methional, dimethylsulfide, dimethyldisulfide, and allyl isothiocyanate.

These synthetic fragrances are readily available on the market and can be easily synthesized if necessary.

In addition, various extracts include herb/spice extracts, coffee/green tea/black tea/oolong tea extracts, milk or processed milk products, and enzymatic decomposition products thereof such as lipase and protease.

As materials for the salty taste-enhancing composition, in addition to the above-mentioned food fragrance materials, salts such as salt, potassium chloride, ammonium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium malate, magnesium sulfate, calcium chloride, and calcium lactate are used. can do.

The salty taste enhancer or salty taste enhancer composition of the present invention can be used by adding it to food and drink as it is. can also

Examples of water-miscible organic solvents for dissolving the salty taste enhancer or salty taste enhancer composition of the present invention include ethanol, methanol, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, methyl ethyl ketone, 2-propanol, glycerin, propylene glycol, and the like. can do. Among these, ethanol, glycerin and propylene glycol are particularly preferred from the viewpoint of use in food and drink.

Moreover, in order to prepare an emulsified preparation, the salty taste enhancer or the salty taste enhancer composition of the present invention can be emulsified with an emulsifier. For example, one or more emulsifiers or stabilizers such as quillaya extract, enzyme-treated lecithin, sucrose fatty acid ester, polyglycerin fatty acid ester, glycerin fatty acid ester, gum arabic, etc. are blended, for example, homomixer, colloid mill, high pressure By emulsifying using a homogenizer or the like, it can be made into a form of an emulsified perfume preparation. The amount of the emulsifier or stabilizer to be used varies depending on the type of emulsifier or stabilizer, but is, for example, in the range of 0.1 to 25% by weight, preferably in the range of 5 to 20% by weight, based on the weight of the emulsified perfume preparation. can be mentioned.

Further, for example, the emulsified flavor preparation may contain sugars such as sugar, lactose, glucose, trehalose, cellobiose, starch syrup, and reduced starch syrup; sugar alcohols; various starch decomposition products and starch derivatives such as dextrin; After appropriately blending excipients such as natural gums, the mixture may be dried by an appropriate drying means such as spray drying or vacuum drying to form a powder flavor preparation. The amount of these excipients to be blended can be appropriately selected according to the desired properties of the powdered flavor preparation.

The salty taste enhancer of the present invention can enhance the salty taste of a salty food or drink by adding it to the salty food or drink. By applying such a salty food and drink to a reduced-salt food and drink in which the salt content is reduced for health-consciousness, the unsatisfactory taste is eliminated despite the reduced salt content, and umami, It is effective because salty taste can be enhanced while maintaining and enhancing taste such as richness. In addition, by applying it to potassium salt-containing food and drink in which a part of salt is replaced with potassium chloride, the amount of potassium salt used is reduced or eliminated, and the unpleasant taste of potassium salt-containing food and drink is improved. It is possible to enhance the salty taste while maintaining and enhancing the full-bodied taste. Foods and drinks having such a salty taste include, for example, rice crackers, rice crackers, various Japanese sweets, salted caramel, salted candy, cookies, bread, and various Western sweets; Cooked products; Potato chips and other snacks; Flour paste, peanut paste and other pastes; Products; fish ham, fish sausage, kamaboko, chikuwa, hanpen, tempura, and other seafood products; instant curry, retort curry, canned curry, and other various curries; miso, powdered miso, soy sauce, powdered soy sauce, moromi, Fish sauce, sauce, pasta sauce, sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise, dressing, solid bouillon, grilled meat sauce, curry roux, stew base, soup base, dashi base, and other various seasonings; miso soup, soba sauce, clear soup, Examples include consommé soup, ramen soup, and potage soup.

In addition, the salty taste enhancer of the present invention may be used in combination with other known and commercially available additives for the purpose of salt reduction.

The content of the rotandone of the present invention in the salty taste-enhancing composition varies depending on the purpose or the type of the salty taste-enhancing composition, but the lower limits for the total weight of the salty taste-enhancing composition are 0.1 ppt and 0.1 ppt. .2ppt, 0.5ppt, 1ppt, 2ppt, 5ppt, 10ppt, 20ppt can be exemplified, and the upper limit can be exemplified by 1ppm, 0.5ppm, 0.2ppm, 0.1ppm, 50ppb, 20ppb, 10ppb, 5ppb, Any combination of these lower and upper limits can be included. In particular, 0.1ppt to 1ppm (in this specification, "to" means a range including the upper and lower limits), preferably 0.5ppt to 0.5ppm, more preferably 1ppt to 0.1ppm, more A range of preferably 5 ppt to 50 ppb, particularly preferably 10 ppt to 10 ppb can be exemplified. Within these ranges, it has an excellent effect of enhancing the salty taste of food and drink.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to Examples. In addition, this invention is not limited to these.

(−)-Rotandone in the present invention was synthesized according to the method described in Non-Patent Document 1. Further, 3-epirotandone in the present invention was synthesized according to the method described in JP-A-2017-206451.

Example 1: Effect of enhancing salty taste (-)-rotandone or 3-epirotandone was dissolved in a 0.3% by mass sodium chloride aqueous solution (control) and a 0.3% by mass aqueous sodium chloride solution at the concentration shown in Table 1. A solution was prepared. A sensory evaluation of saltiness enhancement was performed by tasting each solution by 10 well-trained panelists.

The salty taste was evaluated using a 0.3% by mass sodium chloride aqueous solution as a control. It was scored as having a salty taste compared to the control, 4: having a strong salty taste compared to the control, and 5: having a very strong salty taste compared to the control. Table 1 shows the average scores of the 10 panelists.

As shown in Table 1, when (−)-rotandone or 3-epirotandone was added alone to the aqueous sodium chloride solution, the aqueous solution had a stronger salty taste compared to the aqueous sodium chloride solution. Moreover, it was confirmed that the salty taste was enhanced within the range of 0.001 ppt to 1 ppb on the basis of mass. However, at an addition concentration of 10 ppb, although the salty taste was enhanced, the spicy-like aroma characteristic of rotandone appeared, resulting in an unbalanced taste.

Reference Example 1: Preparation of dried bonito flavor by steam distillation 200 g of pulverized dried bonito and 1800 g of water were placed in a 5-liter steam distillation kettle, steam was blown into the kettle from the bottom, and steam distillation was carried out at about 100°C for about 3 hours. rice field. The distilled steam containing volatile aroma components was led to a water-cooled glass cooling tube, cooled to about 20° C., and condensed to obtain 400 g of recovered aroma. 40 g of ODO (registered trademark: trade name of medium-chain fatty acid triglyceride manufactured by Nisshin OilliO Co., Ltd.) was added to 400 g of the recovered incense, and extracted with stirring at room temperature for 30 minutes. After extraction, the mixture was allowed to stand for 60 minutes, and the oil layer was separated by decanting. The separated oil layer was dehydrated with anhydrous sodium sulfate and filtered through filter paper to obtain 38 g of dried bonito flavor (reference product 1).

Reference Example 2 Preparation of Katsuobushi Flavor by Hydrous Alcohol Extraction 200 g of pulverized dried bonito and 100 g of 80% hydrous alcohol were added to a 3-liter flask and extracted with stirring at 80 to 85° C. for 3 hours. After extraction, 800 g of extract was obtained by centrifugation and filtration, and alcohol was recovered under reduced pressure to obtain 15 g of dried bonito flavor (reference product 2).

Reference Example 3: Preparation of dried bonito flavor by blending flavor compounds The following components shown in Table 2 were blended (Reference Product 3)

Comparative Product 1: Preparation of dried bonito-like salty taste-enhancing composition As a dried bonito-like salty taste-enhancing composition, the following components (parts by mass) were prepared (Comparative Product 1).
Reference product 1 10
Reference product 2 25
Reference product 3 0.5
Alcohol 35
Water 29.5
Total 100

Example 2: Salty Taste Enhancement Effect by Salty Taste Enhancement Composition Comparative Product 1 contains (−)-rotandone or 3-epirotandone at 0.01ppt, 0.1ppt, 1ppt, 10ppt, 0.1ppm, 1ppm and 10ppm. to prepare a salty taste enhancing composition. A control product (comparative product 2) was prepared by dissolving 0.1% of the comparative product 1 in a 0.3% by mass sodium chloride aqueous solution, and each salty taste enhancing composition was added to a 0.3% by mass aqueous sodium chloride solution at 0.5%. Sensory evaluation of salty taste was performed by 10 well-trained panelists on 1% dissolved solutions.

The salty taste was evaluated using the comparative product 2 as a control, 0: no difference from the control, 1: very slightly salty taste compared to the control, 2: slightly salty taste compared to the control, 3: salty taste compared to the control, Scored as 4: strong salty taste compared to control, 5: very strong salty taste compared to control. Table 3 shows the average scores of 10 panelists.

As shown in Table 3, when (−)-rotandone or 3-epirotandone was added alone to Comparative Product 1, the aqueous solution had a stronger salty taste compared to Comparative Product 1. Especially effective was when 0.1ppt to 1ppm was added to the comparative product 1. However, at an addition concentration of 10 ppm, the salty taste was enhanced, but the spicy-like aroma characteristic of rotandon appeared, resulting in a lack of taste balance.

Example 3: Addition to kamaboko 100 parts by mass of frozen pollock surimi, 2.5 parts by mass of salt, 1.5 parts by mass of sodium L-glutamate, 1 part by mass of glycine, 0.1 part by mass of xanthan gum, 8 parts by mass of potato starch , 11 parts by mass of egg white and 50 parts by mass of ice water (174.1 parts by mass in total) were kneaded and molded, and the surimi was steamed at 95°C for 40 minutes to prepare kamaboko (comparative product 2).

Further, 0.0000001 parts by mass of (-)-rotandone and 0.0000002 parts by mass in total of (−)-rotandone and 3-epirotandone were added to the formulation of comparative product 2, and the mixture was kneaded and molded. was prepared. A sensory evaluation of the salty taste was performed by tasting these by 10 well-trained panelists. As a result, all 10 panelists evaluated that the kamaboko to which rotandon was added had a stronger salty taste than the comparative product 2.

Example 4: Addition to Dice Mince To 270 parts by mass of granular soybean protein, 480 parts by mass of water, 45 parts by mass of soy sauce, 5 parts by mass of caramel pigment, and 18 parts by mass of sodium glutamate were added and hydrated. Further, 10 parts by mass of salt and 3 parts by mass of spices were added and pulverized to an appropriate size with a food cutter. 90 parts by mass of vegetable oil, 45 parts by mass of modified starch, and 35 parts by mass of powdered soybean protein were added to the pulverized material and mixed to form a 1 cm square piece. The molded product was steamed with steam and freeze-dried to prepare diced mince (comparative product 3).

To 270 parts by mass of granular soybean protein, 480 parts by mass of water, 45 parts by mass of soy sauce, 5 parts by mass of caramel pigment, and 18 parts by mass of sodium glutamate were added and hydrated. Further, after adding 10 parts by mass of salt and 3 parts by mass of spices, 0.000001 parts by mass of (-)-rotandone was added and pulverized to an appropriate size with a food cutter. To this pulverized product, vegetable oil and the like were added and mixed in the same manner as in Comparative product 3, and the product was molded into a 1 cm square. The molded product was steamed and freeze-dried to prepare diced mince. Sensory evaluation of salty taste was performed by tasting by 10 well-trained panelists. As a result, all 10 panelists evaluated that the diced mince to which (−)-rotandone was added had a stronger salty taste than the comparative product 3.

Example 5: Addition to Chicken Consomme Soup Chicken consommé soup was prepared by adding (−)-rotandon to a commercially available chicken consommé soup so as to be 1 ppb. A sensory evaluation of salty taste was performed by tasting a chicken consommé soup to which (−)-rotandon was not added as a control product by 10 well-trained panelists. As a result, all 10 panelists evaluated that the chicken consommé soup containing (−)-rotandone had a stronger salty taste than the control product.

Example 6: Addition of katsuobushi-like blended flavor composition to noodle soup A katsuobushi-like blended flavor composition (a type that imparts saltiness in addition to flavor) was prepared according to the formulation shown in Table 4 below.

A noodle soup was prepared according to the formulation shown in Table 5 below, to which 0.1% of the katsuobushi-like blended flavor composition shown in Table 4 was added.

A sensory evaluation was carried out by having 10 well-trained panelists taste the noodle soup containing no katsuobushi-like blended flavor composition and the noodle soup containing the added fragrant composition. As a result, 9 of the 10 panelists evaluated that the addition of the katsuobushi-like blended flavor composition of the present invention enhanced the salty taste compared to the additive-free noodle soup.

Claims (5)

A salty taste enhancer for food and drink comprising 3-epirotandone. A salty taste enhancing composition for food and drink, containing 0.1 ppt to 1 ppm of the salty taste enhancer according to claim 1. A method for enhancing the salty taste of a food or drink, comprising adding 0.001ppt to 1 ppb of the salty taste enhancer according to claim 1 to the food or drink. A method for producing a food or drink having an enhanced salty taste, wherein the salty taste-enhancing composition according to claim 2 is added to the food or drink so that the concentration of 3-epirotandone in the food or drink is 0.001 ppt to 1 ppb. A method for producing a food or drink having an enhanced salty taste. A food or drink having an enhanced salty taste, wherein the salty taste-enhancing composition according to claim 2 is added to the food or drink so that the concentration of 3-epirotandone in the food or drink is 0.001 ppt to 1 ppb. Enhanced food and drink.