To provide a salty taste enhancer which exerts a flavor enhancing effect comparable to sodium chloride without imparting any undesirable flavor such as harsh taste or odd smell, a method for producing the same, a kelp extract comprising the salty taste enhancer, and a food or drink having enhanced salty taste and flavor which comprises the salty taste enhancer or the kelp extract. A salty taste enhancer which comprises a volatile component with a molecular weight of less than 200 derived from a kelp. The volatile component derived from the kelp can be obtained by subjecting a starting kelp to distillation in the presence of a solvent, extraction with a solvent, supercritical extraction or the like. In the volatile components of the kelp thus obtained, those in which the amount of a component with a molecular weight of 200 or more is reduced preferably to less than 60% by weight are used as the salty taste enhancer. In the case of employing the distillation procedure, for example, a liquid distillate obtained by distilling the kelp is collected in fractions. Then, the first half of the fraction containing the volatile component with a molecular weight of less than 200 may be used as the salty taste enhancer.
