Salt: a sailor with too much to bear? (9)
I believe the answer is:
glutamate
'salt a sailor' is the definition.
'glutamate' can be an answer for 'salt' (I've seen this before). I am not certain of the 'a sailor' bit.
'with too much to bear?' is the wordplay.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'too much' becomes 'glut' (I've seen this before).
'to bear?' becomes 'amate' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'glut'+'amate' is 'GLUTAMATE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for glutamate that I've seen before include "Flavour enhancer" , "Salt" .)