Tasting and Genetics

Reader Lee brings up a fascinating topic:

There is one question I’ve been curious about: How much variability is there between humans in the capacity to taste? I always say I have a “weak palate,” certainly compared to my sister, who can pick out, and then name, subtle flavors and spices in a dish, tastes that I am only dimly aware of. It shouldn’t surprise us that people might have stronger or weaker taste buds; vision skills, after all, vary from person to person. But what do scientists have to say on this topic?

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The Science of Taste

Would you believe that up until about fifteen years ago there wasn’t much? It’s true. Scientists knew virtually nothing about how the human taste sense actually functioned. Sure, we had these types of simple diagrams, but as far as determining exactly how human sensory organs intercepted and interpreted flavors, there was virtually no data. That began to change in the mid-1990’s when scientists in the US and Europe finally started to hold some long-held assumptions about taste up to scientific scrutiny. What they found was that there was far more to the perception of taste than anyone had ever imagined.

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Traveling, but I won’t let that stop me!

Well it’s happened again, I’m being forced to actually go out make a living. However because I’m sick and tired of leaving everyone in the lurch just because I’m away from the oven, I’m planning to press on blogging anyway. I received no end of questions about sensation, specifically as it applies to food, so I’ll blog about that. I’ll recycle some content (apologies to any deep Joe readers out there) but also add what I can as I go along. Hopefully the result will be at least mildly amusing!

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With friands like these…

Oh, silly me, I forgot to mention something. As reader Joy observes:

I learned something new today! Financiers are the little cakes I make to use up the leftover egg whites after I have made my weekly batch of mayo! I know them as Friands and bake them in a special muffin tin with oval holes. I like to add lemon zest to the cake recipe and drop two or three raspberries or blueberries on to each one before baking! They don’t last long in our house!

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Why bother to “brown” butter?

I was just going to get to that, reader Clarissa, thanks! The reason bakers like to brown (clarify) butter is to add more flavor notes to it. As mentioned down below, fats, while they’re great flavor mediums, tend not to add much flavor by themselves. Butter is no exception, though its unique composition does allow us to up the ante a bit by applying heat to it.

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On Crispiness and Crunchiness – or – What? WHAT??

I’m personally fascinated by the subject of crispy and/or crunchy food. No question it’s an odd thing to take an interest in. However as many of you who’ve read my bio know, I work quite a bit with food growers, packagers and purveyors. And all of them — save for the beverage makers — are continually concerned with the property of crispness and/or crunchiness. It’s a highly valued property in food among human beings generally, and lots of time, effort and money has gone into studying it.

Why are human beings so terribly fond of the crispy/crunchy sensation? Every consumer group from health nuts all the way through to couch potatoes love it, creating huge markets for everything from bagged micro-greens to kettle chips. Indeed if one were to re-categorize foods in the supermarket based on their sensory characteristics alone, “crispy” would be the largest section by far, full of everything from asparagus to apples to bacon, chips, pretzels, tater tots, pickles, candy, cookies, microwave-ready edamame and frozen thin-crust pizzas.

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Why are they called “financiers”?

I’m not sure. At least I haven’t found anything authoritative on the subject. The word itself means the same thing in English as in French, which is to say a money manager, or a person who owns, handles or invests large amounts of capital. As I mentioned in an earlier post, some people believe it’s the “gold bar” shape of the cake that inspired the name. Others because it was (supposedly) invented at a pastry shop located near the Paris stock exchange, the Paris Bourse.

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How does butter create crispness?

Oooh..COOL question, reader Monica! Forms greased with butter create crispy edges by facilitating the transfer of heat from the oven to the batter. That’s the first part. We coat things like vegetables and potatoes with oil before we oven-roast them for the very same reason: the oil film speeds cooking, and faster cooking means less dehydration of the food. The added benefit is that the fat helps deliver more flavor to the taste buds.

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