Salty Taste
Saltiness, Salty Flavor
noun, の adjective
The salt taste is a salty taste.
塩味 specifically refers to the saltiness found in foods or drinks. It's commonly used in cooking to describe a dish's flavor profile or on food packaging to indicate that the item has a salty flavor.
This uses kun'yomi readings, which you've seen with the vocab words 塩 and 味. Combine them and you have yourself しおあじ.
This can also be read with on'yomi, and both しおあじ and えんみ can refer to salty flavor profiles. Traditionally, えんみ was more formal and reserved for culinary arts and cooking shows, but it's catching on with the younger crowd and popping up more often in everyday conversation about food. For something like the salty flavor of potato chips, though, it's always しおあじ.
塩味が少し足りない気がします。
I think it lacks a little saltiness.
うす塩味のポテトチップスは、あまり人気がありません。
Lightly-salted potato chips aren't that popular.
グリークサラダには、塩味の利いたオリーブが欠かせません。
Salty olives are an essential ingredient in Greek salad.