The Textbooks Were Wrong About How Your Tongue Works
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We taste sweetness mostly at the front of our tongues and bitterness at the back, right? Wrong. The widely disseminated "tongue map" shown above is from a 1901 study conducted by German scientist David Hanig. Decades of research have since debunked this myth, according to an in-depth review published this month in The New England Journal of Medicine. Also wrong: the notion that taste is limited to the mouth. Taste receptors are found all over the body, in the gastrointestinal tract, liver, pancreas, lungs, thyroid, fat cells, muscle cells, and the brain. I'm waiting for a study to reveal that we have taste receptors on our eyeballs. That would lend some scientific weight to the old adage "We eat with our eyes first."
Food Scientists Parse The Flavor Profiles Of Edible Ants
Image Source: Changqi Liu
Fresh out of lemon wedges for your seafood? You can substitute common black ants, according to Changqi Liu, a food science professor at San Diego State University. Black ants are full of formic acid, which gives them a tart flavor profile similar to lemon juice and vinegar. Liu and his team recently analyzed the odor profiles of several ant species, finding that Mexican chicatana ants contain aldehydes and pyrazines that bring fatty, nutty, roasted aromas to foods, and weaver ants contain pyrazines and pyrroles that bring sweet, caramel-like flavors. Many cultures consider ants a delicacy, and if you make it Pujol, one of Mexico City's finest restaurants, you may unknowingly get a taste of chicatana ants in chef Enrique Olvera's delicious mayonnaise served with steamed baby heritage corn.
Ammonium May Join Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter, and Umami As Sixth Basic Taste
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Are you familiar with Scandinavian salt licorice? Only a little sweet, this pitch-black candy has a taste that's somewhere between sour, salty, and bitter. Some call it an acquired taste, but researchers from the University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences say it's a basic human taste that should join the ranks of sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. Ammonium chloride, a.k.a. salmiak salt, is the key component in Scandinavian salt licorice, and scientists say this compound activates our taste receptors as a survival mechanism. Who knows? Maybe chefs will soon be using salmiak salt to push flavor boundaries in their most avant garde dishes.
Scientists Engineer Sweet-Tasting Spoons To Enhance Sensory Perception
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Research has already shown that the weight, color and shape of utensils can change our perception of a food's taste, including its sweetness, saltiness, and fattiness. In an attempt to produce the sensations of sugar without the calories, a team of scientists from Cornell and New York University has designed a a spoon with several bumps on its underside, creating a greater surface area to press against the tongue. Dubbed "Sugarware," the bumpy spoon is covered with ligands, molecules that bind with taste receptor proteins on the tongue, triggering a cascade of nerve signals that cause the brain to register a sensation of sweetness. A promising development for diabetics.
German Chemist Makes Near-Instant Cold Brew With Laser Beams
Image Source: Tiago Lopes/Sketchfab
Compared to hot brewed coffee, cold brew is less acidic, less bitter, and higher in caffeine, all thanks to the lower water temperature and longer brewing time. We're talking 12-36 hours. To get the same smooth taste in less time, German scientist Anna Rosa Ziefuss uses laser beams, stirring, and a finer grind of coffee, all of which increase the contact area of the coffee powder with water. Boom! Cold-brewed coffee in just 3 minutes. Chromatography and spectrometry data showed no significant difference between traditional cold-brew and Ziefuss's faster method. Get ready for Laser Brew coming to a coffee shop near you.
