PAGE D-2
4
smorgasbord
MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1991
PRESS-REPUBLICAN - PLATTSBURGH, N Y .
Su pert asters' have unusually intense senses
iy MALCOLM HITTER
AP Science Writer
NEW YORK <AP) - For
about a quarter of the population, sugar may taste sweeter
and hot peppers burn hotter
than for the rest of us.
New research suggests that
these "supertasters" can thank
their genes and maybe even an
unusual abundance of taste
buds.
Kxperts caution that the
results, not yet published, need
further study. But the findings
add another twist to the largely
murky field of how genes influence human taste perception.
Researchers say such work may
one day help the food industry
develop and test new products,
and perhaps give insight into
eating disorders.
For now. says Yale University
researcher Linda Bartoshuk,
new work suggests that a person
may be a supertaster. ordinary
taster or relatively insensitive
taster, and that the classification holds across a variety of
tastes.
"Were trying to learn what
the taste worlds of these three
genetic groups are like." she
said in a recent interview.
Differences have been found in
taste for so many substances so
early in the research that they
probably exist for many additional substances, she said. But
nobody yet knows whether, or
how much, these sensory differences influence, what people
choose to eat.
The new work springs from
the discovery, made in the
1930s, which has led to a common demonstration in high
school classrooms: The teacher
hands out small white pieces of
paper impregnated with the
cherrucal propylthiouracil or a
similar compound and asks each
student to taste it. Most students find a bitter taste, but
about a quarter taste nothing at
all.
Researchers are still debating
the details of the genetics
responsible, but the classic explanation is that the ability to
taste the chemical is controlled
by a single gene.
One form of the gene lets a
person taste the chemical, and
the other does not. Each person
carries two copies of the gene,
and if either is the "taster"
form, he can taste the chemical.
Only people with two copies of
the "non-taster" form fail to
taste it.
Scientists have not identified
the gene, nor do they know just
how it controls the ability to
taste propylthiouracil.
However, it appears to affect
more than just sensitivity to
that chemical, says Bartoshuk,
who is a non-taster.
Tasters detect more bitterness
in caffeine, saccharine and potassium chloride, which is used
in salt substitutes, she said. One
result is that non-tasters gener*
ally cannot tell the difference between regular and decaffeinated
coffee. Bartoshuk said.
Tasters also taste more
sweetness in the sugars sucrose,
fructose and glucose, she said.
The sugar substitute saccharine
tastes sweeter to them, but
aspartame (also known as
Nutrasweet) does not. And they
detect more bitterness in sharp
cheddar cheese and swiss cheese.
Sugar may be about twice as
sweet to a supertaster as to a
non-taster, she said.
The first hint of supertasters
emerged when researchers noticed that some tasters seemed far
more sensitive to the bitterness
of propylthiouracil than other
tasters did.
Bartoshuk and collaborators
are finding that supertasters
also get a more intense sweet
sensation than other tasters
from sugar and the sugar
substitutes saccharine and
cyclamate. Their perception of
aspartame is no different.
A study in children suggests
that supertasters tend to like
cheddar cheese less than tasters
do, while tasters like it less than
non-tasters do. That apparently
results from differences in detecting bitter tastes, although the
offending ingredient is unknown,
Bartoshuk said.
Supertasters also perceive
more burn from capsaicin, the
stuff that puts the zing in hot
peppers, than other tasters do.
Non-tasters feel the least burn of
all.
Bartoshuk suspects that
supertasters might sense particular tastes more intensely
because they have a double dose
of the "taster" form of the gene
Are you a supertaster?
Try this test to find out
NEW YORK (AP) - A quick test with
household materials can give you some idea
about whether you're a non-taster, taster or
supertaster. Yale University researcher Linda
Bartoshuk says.
It takes a small dose of saccharine, a sugar
substitute, and potassium chloride, a salt
substitute.
If neither tastes bitter, you are probably a
non-taster. If both taste bitter, you are probably
a taster. And if the bitterness is intense, there is
a good chance you are a supertaster.
L a b o r a t o r y t a s t e - t e s t i n g i s more
sophisticated, involving various concentrations
of difference substances. Salt is used as sort of a
gold standard.
For example, a study participant may taste
some salt and the chemical propylthiouracil. If
he finds the propylthiouracil twice as bitter as
the salt is salty, he is a supertaster. If he finds
each taste sensation equally intense, he is a
taster.
Non-tasters are eliminated before this test
because they don't taste the bitterness of propylthiouracil.
for tasting propylthiouracil.
Studies to test that have not yet
been done, she said.
Supertasters may also have an
unusually high number of taste
buds, she says, citing recent
work by Inglis Miller Jr. at
Wake Forest University in
Winston-Salem, N.C.
Researchers there counted
taste buds on the tips of the
tongues of 16 people. Then they
put the eight people with the
highest taste bud densities in
one group and compared them to
the other eight in taste tests.
The group with the higher
average density reported tasting
sucrose, table salt and propylthiouracil more intensely
than did the other group. There
was no difference in tests with
citric acid, which is sour, or quinine, which is bitter.
While the study did not look
specifically at supertasters, Bartoshuk speculates they may
have the highest density of taste
buds. If so, she says, that might
also explain their greater sensitivity to the burn of capsaicin.
Each taste bud is wrapped with
a pain-sensing trigeminal nerve,
she says. So the more taste buds
a person has. the more pain
might come from capsaicin. \
The new taste sensitivity
research is "an extremely exciting and interesting observation which really needs a lot
more work," commented Gary
Beauchamp, director of the
Mone 11 Chemical Senses Center
in Philadelphia.
More people should be tested
to see if the three-way classification of non-tasters, tasters and
supertasters holds up, he said,
and to see how wide a range of
tastes it covers.
Another question is whether a
person is unalterably stuck in
one classification, he said. Just
because a characteristic is
genetic does not make it permanent, he said.
A word of caution on taste
research comes
from
psychologist Harvey Weingarten
of Canada's McMaster University, who has studied the relationship between tasting propylthiouracil and the liking or
disliking of sweet tastes.
The carefully prepared liquids
people taste in laboratories for
such research are a far cry from
real foods, he says*
"A major-league question sitting out there is whether the
vkind of stimuli we use in the lab,
and therefore the kinds of things
we find out ... transfer to the
real world," he said.
"A cheeseburger is an enormously complicated stimulus."
Cheesecake booklet
NEW YORK <AP> - Triple
Chocolate Cheesecake and Pesto
Cheesecake are among the recipes featured in "Cheesecake —
sweet & savory," a booklet from
the Sargento Cheese Co. Other
recipes: Savory Pepper-Herb
Cheesecake, Fruited Cheesecake
and Traditional Ricotta Cheesecake.
Ricotta cheesecakes are lighter
than cream cheese cakes and
have less fat than traditional
recipes, the company says.
For a copy of the recipe
booklet, send your name, address and zip code to: Sargento
Cheesecake Recipes, Box 547,
Department AP, Thiensviile,
Wis. 53092-0547.
Microwave fresh muffins
•y NANCY tYAL
Food Editor
Who says you don't have time
for muffins in the morning?
These lickety-split bustin*with-blueberry morsels cook in
just three minutes in your
microwave oven. To save even
more time, measure and mix the
dry ingredients the night before.
The only difference between
these and fresh-from-the-oven
muffins is that you cant judge
doneness by their color, because
they won't brown in the
microwave.
To see if your muffins are
done, take a toothpick and poke
the wet spots on the surface. If
there's a webbed, cakelike texture underneath, they're ready
for eating. If they're still a little
wet, cook them another 30 seconds and test again.
Blueberry Muffins
'/» cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Vi cup all-purpose flour
S\
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tsp. baking powder
'/«Tsp. salt
1 slightly beaten egg
l
/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. finely chopped pecans
l
/4 Tsp. ground cinnamon
Cooking with your
Thaw blueberries, if frozen;
microwave
rinse and drain thoroughly. For
batter, in a medium mixing bowl
stir together flour, sugar, baking
powder and salt. Using a wooden pecans and cinnamon. Sprinkle
spoon, make a well in the center. over batter in cups. Cook, unIn a small mixing bowl beat egg covered, on 100 percent power
slightly. Beat in orange juice (high) for 2 to 31/* minutes or unand oil. Add to flour mixture all til done, giving the pan a halfat once; stir just until moisten- turn every minute. Remove cuped. Fold in the blueberries. Lane cakes from pan. Let cakes stand
a microwave-safe muffin pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes bewith paper bake cups. For each fore serving. Makes 6 cupcakes.
cupcake, spoon 2 slightly roundNutrition information per cuped Tbsp. of batter into each cake: 159 cal. (40 percent calopaper bake cup. For topping, in ries from fat), 3 g pro., 22 g cara small mixing bowl stir bo., 7 g fat, 45 mg chol., 108 mg
together brown sugar, chopped sodium.
WORDS ON WINE
Expense of Burgundy difficult to understand
Pick of the Week:
sales, and in great years i t s the
• Chateau Belair 1986. law of supply and demand — but
Haut-Medoc. Thirteen months the issues involved are more
ago 1 made this wine a Pick of convoluted. There's geography,
the Week, and it returns now climate and a system of vinebecause it still projects its initial yard classification guaranteed to
qualities, down-to-earth raspber- befuddle Americans who think
rv and black currant fruit, a burgundy is any red wine sold in
pleasant robust heartiness and a containers larger than a gallon
satisfying heft. About $9.
of anti-freeze.
The venerable vineyards of
Burgundy and all its complex- Burgundy — and I'm writing
ities can be understood by a per- here of the fabled Cote D'Or. the
son without a Ph.D.
*'Golden Slope" — begin just
In fact, logic, philosophy and south of Dijon, ancient seat of
mathematical acumen are prob- the Dukes of Burgundy, and
ably the last qualities one needs ramble for about 31 miles over
to comprehend what Burgundy rolling hills in a gentle curve to
is all about. More to the point the southeast. For a thousand
would be intuition, a lyrical years most of this land was held
nature and the ability to memo- by monasteries, but the dissolurize hundreds of difficult-to- tion of church property after the
pronounce French names.
revolution of 1789 brought
And lots of money.
private ownership
As A.J. Liebling wrote,
Two centuries of selling off
"Burgundy is a lovely thing parcels of already tiny vineyards
when you can get anyone to buy and the quirks of French inherit for you.
itance law have led to holdings
Since Liebling wrote this more often less than an acre and
than 30 years ago. prices for sometimes as small as one row
stellar Burgundy wines, especi- of vines
ally w h i t e s , have soared
The hierarchy of classified
astronomically to the point that wines in Burgundy consists of
releases from the 1989 vintage four groups: generic or regional:
costing $350 to $600 a bottle village wine, premier era. grand
will be enjoyed in the glass era. We are not concerned here
towers of Hong Kong and Tokyo with the first level, sort of the
and few other places.
AAA league of wine production
Why should this be so?
In the 19th century*, clever
Greed could be one answer — promoters in B u r g u n d y ' s
the French raise prices in villages saw the advantage of
mediocre years to cover sagging appending the uties of the most
FREDRK KOEPm
Wine critic
famous vineyards to their
names; thus the hamlet of Gevry
became Gevry-Chambertin and
Aloxe became Aloxe-Corton.
Though not always reliable, the
wines at the village level are
touched with the aura of these
important names.
The commune of ChamboileMusigny. for example, holds 550
acres of vineyards. Slightly more
than half. 283 acres, are designated for village wine, which on
their labels will say simply
Chambolle-Musigny.
At the next level, premier cru.
the commune holds 150.2 acres
in 24 vineyards, each with its
own often highly recognizable
name. These vary in size from
1 2 to 23 acres One of the most
famous and the best, Les
Amoureuses. consists of 3.3
acres divided among 14 owners
(These figures are from Matt
Kramer's invaluable book.
"Making Sense of Burgundy. )
In this case, the label will say
GET ONE FREE
(up to $4.10 value)
Chambolle-Musigny Les
Amoureuses ler Cru, and the
price will be correspondingly
higher than for a village wine.
Chambolle-Musigny contains
two grand cru vineyards, Bon*
nes Mares and Musigny.
Musigny's 26.4 acres are divided
among 13 owners; the 37.2 acres
of Bonnes Mares are divided
among 34 owners.
Grand cru wines will not name
the commune or village, but will
state, with the simple effectiveness of a trumpet blast, the
name of the vineyard alone.
Grand cru wines, of course, are
more expensive than premier
cms.
While this three-tier system
seems fairly rational, the process
of buying a great bottle of
burgundy is complicated by the
fact that the vineyards are split
among so many growers and
producers, each of whom
espouses its own techniques and
philosophy of farming grapes
and making wine. Some individuals or firms do not take the
time or use the painstaking
methods required to make excellent wine; others sink every
effort and expense into creating
the finest wines possible.
And it doesn t necessarily
make any difference if the wine
was made by the person who
tended the grapes. One of the
best Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
wines is made by Domaine Dujac. which owns 1.1 acres of the
When you
buy either one
vineyard; one of the best
Musigny Grand Cru wines is
made by Joseph Drouhin, who
owns no vines in Le Musigny.
Another complication contributing to the expense of wines
from Burgundy is the region's
capricious weather, which remains colder than the maritimeinfluenced climate of Bordeaux,
and which often produces
thunderstorms and hail, phenomena to which the tender
pinot noir vines are extremely
susceptible.
Notes on recently tasted
Burgundy wines:
• Chassagne-Montrachet
"Morgeot" Clos de la Chapelle
1985. Due de Magenta-Louis
Jadot. Burnt match, oak. butterscotch, rich, lush, spicy, buttery, dry and dusty, slightly
cheesy and earthy, dense
pineapple-grapefruit flavors, elegant yet substantial, exceptionallv well-balanced. About
S37.
• Pommard-Chaponnieres
1985. Louis Jadot. Exquisite
nose with vivid smoky cherryraspberry fruit and subtle earthiness that carries into the flavors, seductive texture, like old
crushed velvet, takes on tobacco
and slight forest and fleshy elements. About $42.
• Aloxe-Corton 1978, Joseph
Drouhin. Ruby-brick red color
without much fading; interesting
nose, musty and dusty like a
closed-up house, gradually
loosening, still fairly tannic,
ightly herbal, bright raspber.y-cherry fruit, while the bouquet began to crack up the body
and flavors became more solid,
gaining a forest quality mixed
with toffee and burnt sugar. Not
great but intriguing. About $28.
far Th»
smorgasbord contains advertising and news items of
general interest and is a weekly supplement of the PressRepublican and mailed to the homes of people in Clinton
and Essex counties who are not regular home-delivered
subscribers of the Press-Republican, smorgasbord is
edited by Gerianne Wright.
SAVING 5
12% OFF
AN 1nflit# ono