Describing Flavor
Lesson Content
Can You Describe a Flavor?
We’ve all been faced with the challenging question of “How does it taste?” While sometimes the person
asking the question is satisfied with “Good”, “Salty”, ”Spicy”, or “Bland”, a chef will not be. Being able to
describe flavor is a critical skill for a chef and it takes practice and thought to develop it. For most
people, “taste” and “flavor” are synonymous, but this is not strictly true. Taste is a reaction caused
when certain chemicals in foods such as salts and acids react with specialized cells located in the taste
buds.
When we talk about flavor, we are actually referring to a complex mixture that includes taste, but also
the aroma of food, its texture, heat, even certain painful sensations in the case of spicy chili peppers.
Beyond these physical and chemical signals, flavor can even involve our emotions and expectations – all
of this comes into play when describing a food’s flavor.
Review of The Five Tastes
Sweet
Sweetness is primarily the detection of sugars in food, although certain proteins can also register as
sweet. This is the only taste that humans are drawn to from birth (even salt is usually avoided until four
to six months after birth). This too has an evolutionary bent, as sweet foods tend to be rich in energy
and carbohydrates that could be difficult for our ancestors to find. This desire is so ingrained that we
seek out sweet foods even when our bodies no longer require them.
Sweet tastes tend to soften stronger flavors, including both sour and bitter tastes. This makes
sweetness a nice addition to many foods. However, too much sweetness can dull the other tastes; a
good reason to make sure dessert is served last.
Salty
A salty taste is caused by the presence of sodium chloride, and rarely other salts, in food. Salt is an
essential mineral for life, so we are naturally inclined to seek it out. Salt has also been used as a natural
preservative for millennia, so humans may have developed a particular fondness for it over time.
Salt tends to heighten the flavor of a dish; not necessarily adding a truly salty taste, but avoiding
blandness in simple foods like bread and pasta. This is why countless recipes which you wouldn’t want
to taste salty still call for just a pinch of salt.
Sour
Sourness is caused by presence of acids. Unlike sweet and salty tastes, it takes children quite some time
to accept sour tastes. This is probably because, from an evolutionary standpoint, our ability to taste
sour flavors probably developed in order to warn early humans against drinking tainted water or unripe
fruit.
Although our ancestors may have avoided them, sour tastes serve an important role in the modern
kitchen. Aside from being appreciated in its own right, sourness can also sharpen other flavors. This is
because the acids that cause sour tastes also causes us to salivate more. This in turn causes more food
particles to dissolve and enter the taste buds. In this way, a little squirt of lemon can bring out a whole
lot of flavor!
Bitter
The bitter taste is that which detects bases, the opposites of acids. Even more so than sour tastes, bitter
tastes tend to be avoided until adulthood. In many cases, the bitter taste is a warning to our brain to
avoid the food in question. Although not everything bitter is unhealthy, bitter tastes tend to be
acquired tastes: for instance coffee, dark chocolate, beer, and arugula.
Though bitterness can become overpowering more quickly than the other tastes, a little bitterness in a
dish makes us notice the flavor; it is slightly shocking and novel. It can also serve to cleanse the palate
to prepare for new flavors.
Umami
For a very long time, most authorities listed only four true flavors, salty, sweet, sour, and bitter, and you
can be excused if these are the only flavors you know. However, in the 1990s, scientists at the
University of Miami proved that the cells in our taste buds can actually detect a fifth taste. Dubbed
“umami”, this taste detects the presence of the molecule glutamate which binds to our taste buds.
Umami has a long history in Japanese cooking, but can be hard to translate for those in the West; often
times it is called “savory”, but can also be a kind of “mouth-filling” sensation. Umami taste usually
occurs in protein rich foods like meat, mushrooms, and cheese, and fermented foods also have higher
glutamate levels.
Combining and Ordering Tastes
Now that we know there can be tastes beyond the “big four,” researchers are looking for even more
tastes. Preliminary research in France holds the taste of fat up as a likely candidate, but in the end, we’re
not sure how many tastes are really detectable by humans. Salty, sweet, sour, and bitter remain the
most easily discernible, so for now, it may be best to leave the rest under the label of “flavor.
The individual tastes rarely, if ever, occur by themselves. Oftentimes, one will be the dominating taste,
with another, more subtle one lingering right behind it. Sometimes, two tastes balance one another
perfectly. The mingling of three tastes can be difficult for novices to detect, and often one taste will only
be discernable after careful consideration.
When describing taste, don’t just write down the first taste you detect. Pay careful attention to the
balance between different tastes and the order in which you detect them. Do the tastes hit your
synapses at the same time in a true blend, or do they alternate?
Below are some examples of common combinations to get you started:
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Salty and Sweet: Salted caramel
Salty and Sour: Pickled foods, sauerkraut
Sweet and Sour: Citrus fruits like oranges and many tart fruits like peaches and strawberries
Bitter and Sweet: Chocolate, soda, coffee with sugar
Bitter, Sweet, and Sour: Certain sugared fruit drinks like cranberry juice or grapefruit juice
Taste VS. Aroma
While the taste of food is limited to the five tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami), the aromas of
food are potentially limitless. The average person can detect thousands of distinct smells, and all of
these at different intensity levels. The flavor of a food can be changed by altering the aroma without
any changes to the taste. For example, artificially flavored jellies, soft drinks and candies, while made of
bases with a similar taste, have dramatically different flavors due to the use of different scents and
fragrances.
Smell, like taste, is a chemical sense, caused when molecules in the air reach receptors in the back of the
nose. Thanks to the pharynx, which connects the nasal passage to the back of the throat, the aromatic
aspect of flavor is detectable even if you plug your nose. Smell, then, is not just an “extra” aspect on top
of taste: it is an essential and unavoidable component of flavor.
Smell is a chef’s best friend and whenever you walk into a kitchen, open a fridge door, or walk the line,
the first thing you do is smell. A seasoned chef can judge the quality of a dish based solely on its smell.
While you’re cooking, smell your food often, and don’t just judge it as “good” or “bad”, but try to
discern how the aroma changes at different steps in a recipe.
Describing Flavor
Texture
When asked about the flavor of some foods, you might describe the crunch of a fresh carrot, the
moisture of stewed lamb, the creaminess of a soup, or the way chocolate melts in your mouth.
These have nothing to do with taste, but with the way the food feels in the mouth: its texture.
As with aroma, varieties in texture are almost limitless based on the many dimensions of
texture: moisture, density, even the way food feels against your teeth when you bite it. Many
flavor additives in artificial food do nothing to the taste or smell, but try to mirror the texture of
the real thing.
Mouthfeel
Mouthfeel is sometimes used as a synonym for texture, but it can also deal more specifically
with the way a food or beverage coats the mouth. This can include whether it is smooth or
lumpy and how long the flavor remains on your tongue. Mouthfeel can be altered by the fat
content in food, which tends to make tastes stick to your receptors for a longer time, creating a
richer flavor. Ultimately, taste and mouthfeel can interact in a number of subtle ways, and it
takes practice to distinguish them in your mind.
Temperature
Why do we drink coffee hot and eat ice cream cold? The temperature of a food affects its flavor.
Bitter flavors are more subdued when hot, while sweetness is less noticeable at cold
temperatures. This is why ice cream is best at the point when it is just beginning to melt; if it
melts completely, the sweetness may be overbearing. Experiment by tasting foods at different
temperatures so you can pick out the ideal point at which to serve a dish.
False Heat and Cool
Many people mistake the spiciness of chilies and mustard as well as the icy tingle of peppermint
as part of taste. From a scientific standpoint, these sensations are not tastes but
“chemosensory irritations”. They’re more akin to something burning your skin.
People often seek out these flavors for the same reason they enjoy occasional sour and bitter
tastes: they can increase saliva production, enhancing other foods, as well as offering novelty.
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Chili
o
Capsaicin is the compound found in chilies and hot peppers. It comes in
different varieties, but is characterized by a long burn on either the tongue or in
the back of the throat.
Horseradish
o Mustard oils are found in horseradish and wasabi as well as mustard. Their burn
occurs in the nasal passages (clearing the sinuses), and is not long lasting like
that of capsaicin.
Peppermint
o Menthol in peppermint raises the surface temperature of the skin in the mouth,
with the result that everything in the mouth feels cooler by comparison.
What is Good Flavor?
With so many combinations of taste, smell, and texture possible, what makes a flavor seem good or
bad?
In part, good flavor is based on our expectations. High moisture is desirable in most cuts of meat, but
too much moisture in a hamburger is perceived as soggy. Chewiness is expected in jerky, but in other
meats comes off as rubbery and overdone. Sour lemons are to be expected, but sour milk is
problematic.
Expectations can also vary by person and culture; a slippery sashimi that is normal in Japanese cuisine is
strange to most Westerners, and both Latin and South Asian cuisine make use of more spiciness than
traditional European or North American fare.
Even with universally enjoyed flavors like sweetness, we can become inured with too much of the same
thing. An overwhelming amount of one flavor can not only deaden the palate, it can become boring.
This is where more complicated tastes like bitter and sour and unexpected textures can come in, adding
variety to foods.
This is a major tenet of many modernist chefs, who can make gelatin and foam out of practically any
food. The novelty factor is also found in classic dishes like Baked Alaska. But in the simplest dish, it can
be as much as a pinch of an unexpected ingredient to add a whole new level of flavor.
The Flavor Wheel
Using a flavor wheel can make describing flavor a more thoughtful and descriptive process. After
sampling a dish, first decide if you detect one of the five tastes. For example, is it sweet, salty, bitter,
sour, or umami (savory)?
Start from the inside of the wheel and work outward. If you taste sweetness, then look at the
descriptors for sweet and further analyze the type of sweetness you taste. Additionally, think about the
aromas you sensed and the textures you felt.
While there are several versions out there and no official taste and aroma descriptor, this flavor wheel
can be used as a guide as you learn to better identify and analyze the flavor of the dishes you sample.
The Flavor Journal
Just as building your image portfolio of all of your creations is a great way for you to monitor the
progress you are making, so is keeping a journal which analyzes the flavors of your dishes.
In your journal for each dish or product, analyze the taste, aroma, and texture throughout the creation
of the dish. Taste your dish when it is 25% complete, 50% complete, 75% complete, and then when it is
100% complete (when applicable – some items may not permit tastings at these points due to raw
ingredients). This will develop your awareness of how flavor develops. You may also ask others to
analyze your dish and add their comments.
Sources:
Lindermann B., Ogiwara Y., Ninomiya Y. The Discovery of Umami. Retrieved from Oxford Journals, Chemical Senses, Volume 27,
Issue 9. http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/9/843.full
Umami Taste Receptor Identified (2000). Retrieved from Nature Neuroscience Journal, February 2000.
http://www.nature.com/neuro/press_release/nn0200.html