Some flavour titbits

Contrary to school textbooks, the tongue is not divided into zones for tasting, with sweet at the tip, salty and sour at the sides, bitter at the back. This myth grew from a bad 1950s translation of a 1900s German study. Instead taste receptors are spread all over the tongue, indeed all round the palate.

Some people are super-tasters with a greater density of taste buds. And they tend to be more sensitive to smells too. But it can be a handicap as it leads to a strong reaction to bitterness especially – broccoli, brussels sprouts, even salad.

Aroma may help improve portion control. Dutch researchers tested people with a custard dessert and found the stronger smelling versions encouraged them to take smaller, more delicate, bites.

Silicon Valley start-ups are getting excited by the prospect of artificial meat – using new technology to synthesise plant material into complex products which have the taste, and even the texture, of muscle, fat and connective tissue. Led by US firms like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat.

Aristotle gave one of the first theories of taste in his On the Soul. He saw taste as a spectrum anchored by the contraries of sweet and bitter. Fattiness was aligned with sweetness, saltiness at the other end with bitterness. Also included were taste qualities like pungent, rough, astringent and acid.

Flavour houses deal in both natural and synthetic additives. One of the biggest, Synergy Flavors, sells 80,000 different lines and has a choice of 1000 banana formulations alone, including green banana, caramelised banana and vanilla-tasting banana.

How many words do we need to describe the texture of food? Sensory panels grading fruit and vegetables for industry have a long checklist of terms like firm, soft, crisp, limp, mealy, tough, leathery, melting, gritty, woolly, stringy, dry and juicy.

Fruits span the range of possible acidities, so are handy for professional tasters wanting to get their food descriptions right. Sour like lime means being top of the chart with a PH of 2. Then come gooseberries, grapefruit, raspberries, grapes, pineapple, and near neutral melon with a PH close to 6.