Flavour Fundamentals

What is Flavour

Understanding what flavour truly is, how it works and the many components that affect its use and experience are vital for those working with food and drinks.

Flavour = Taste + Mouthfeel + Aroma + ‘The X Factor’

• Taste = what is perceived by the taste buds

 

• Mouthfeel = what is perceived by the rest of the mouth

 

• Aroma = what is perceived by the nose

 

• ‘The X Factor’ = what is perceived by the other senses – plus the heart, mind and spirit

 

- Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg; “The Flavour Bible”

• Taste refers to the perception of the sensory cells in your taste buds. When food compounds activate these sensory cells, your brain detects a taste, like sweetness.
• Flavour includes taste and odour. Odour comes from your sense of smell. Sensory cells in your nose interact with odour particles, then send messages to your brain.

HOW DO WE TASTE

The experience of tasting a dish or drink involves all 5 senses, and more…

• Sight - often the first information the brain receives about food or drink comes from the eyes. The appearance of what is in front of you will immediately begin shaping your tasting experience and expectations.

 

• Smell – aroma is responsible for about 80% of flavour and thus greatly enhances the quality and experience of a dish or drink when done correctly.

 

• Hearing – sounds prime your palate for what you’re about to taste and are very powerful in forming emotional and sensory memories.

 

• Touch - the material composition of vessels, furnishings and surroundings influence your perception of flavour through their weight and texture

 

• Taste – when food or drink enters your mouth tastebuds act as tiny flavour receptors sending messages to the brain letting you know how it tastes

PROFILE OF TASTE

The taste of food is caused by its chemical compounds. These compounds interact with sensory (receptor) cells in your taste buds. The cells send information to your brain, which helps you identify the taste.

We have 5 primary receptors for taste: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Umami/Savoury. These are tasted both individually and together as each taste affects the other, and they affect your palate in different ways. For example, bitterness suppresses sweetness and saltiness stimulates the appetite.

• Sweet – generally caused by a form of sugar, some proteins or alcohol and bring out the flavours of other ingredients
  
  
• Sour – (or tartness) is the taste that detects acids. It’s brought on by hydrogen ions
  
  
• Salty - usually caused by table salt, or sodium chloride, that’s added to food. It can also be caused by mineral salts. Salt is nature’s flavour enhancer.
  
  
• Bitter - due to many different molecules usually found in plants. It balances sweetness and can be both palate-cleansing and a digestive
  
  
• Umami - (or savoury) is caused by amino acids and has a meaty ‘mouth-filling’ taste

THE EXPANSE OF TASTE

There is an incredible variety and diversity of fruits, foods and spices across the globe. While the globalisation of food and the large-scale migration of people have introduced new food traditions to the world, there will always be particular tastes prevalent in particular regions.

• Latin America - Achiote, bananas, beans, chocolate, corn, hibiscus, nopales (cactus pads), papayas, chili peppers, sweet Plantains, vanilla
  
  
• Europe / Mediterranean - barley, basil, capers, dill, fennel horseradish, mint, olives, rosemary, thyme, tomatoes
  
  
• Africa - black-eyed peas, collard greens, corn millet, molasses, okra, paprika, peanuts, sassafras, yam
  
  
• Middle East / India - allspice, cardamom, chickpeas, cinnamon, cilantro, cumin, garlic, ghee, nutmeg, pine nuts, pomegranate, rose water, tamarind, yoghurt
  
  
• Asia - coriander, coconut, fish sauce, ginger, lemongrass, mung beans, rice vinegar, sesame seeds/oil, soy flavourings, tofu

THE EXPANSE OF TASTE

Likewise there is a huge variety in how one singular type of foods aroma & flavour can be described sensorially. The Britvic sensory team has over 20 attributes to describe fruit alone:

• Alcoholic
• Medicinal
• Confectionary
• Creamy
• Floral
• Green
• Jammy
• cooked/stewed
• Earthy
• Ripe
• skin/peel
• Fresh
• Juicy
• Natural
• Artificial

GLOBAL TASTES

While everyone around the world processes taste in the same physiological way, taste itself and how flavours and smells are perceived varies greatly between territories and cultures globally.

• Durian fruit - popular in Southeast Asia, this fruit has an intense aroma that many cultures find offensive, with descriptions ranging from body odour to raw sewage. It's often kept frozen when sold outside of Southeast Asia to avoid shoppers fleeing in horror.
  
  
• Sweet biscuits - sugar consumption in the US is 126.4g per person per year, whereas in Taiwan per capita consumption is 22.3g (2015; Euromonitor). When students from these two countries were asked to rate biscuits with different sugar levels, the Taiwanese students found the sweeter cookies that the US students loved to be rather unpleasant.
  
  
• Wafer Oreos - the manufacturer of Oreos introduced a layered wafer version of the biscuit to China when sales of the original failed to take off. China now has many versions of the Oreo — from straw-shaped wafers to stacked wafers and green tea-flavoured cream fillings.

MAXIMISING FLAVOUR

When seeking to maximise flavour for the guest experience, it is not enough on it’s own to simply create and serve a tasty cocktail or meal. There are a number of key factors that when considered and delivered in concert, deliver a truly holistically flavourful moment.

• Occasion – time, weather? Social or formal? The occasion is always crucial and guest-specific
  
  
• Seasonality – ensure vibrancy in flavour and sustainable practices by using ingredients in season
  
  
• Taste – what is the best taste of each ingredient to create the best complete meal/drink?
  
  
• Weight – light, medium or heavy? The ingredient ‘weight’ will determine the cooking or preparation technique to yield the right flavour
  
  
• Volume – measurements must be precise and balanced
  
  
• Function – what is the intended function of your presented flavours?
  
  
• Perfect Pairings - a pinch of salt, a squeeze of citrus, a splash of vinegar, a dusting of sugar; understand the few elemental pairings that heighten and perfect the right ingredients