Flavor Facts

Spices and flavors have been used for thousands of years all over the world, beginning when people used simple herbs or spices to flavor their food. Today, the flavor industry is comprised of hundreds of companies all over the world.

What do you get when you combine the essences of lemon, banana, raspberry and pineapple? Strawberry of course. Unless you’re a flavorist, that is probably a surprising response.

Farsighted, nearsighted, and 20/20 all represent your vision identity. But where do you fall on the taste-scale? Scientists refer to three categories to describe your tasting ability: supertaster, medium-taster, or – oh my – a non-taster.

February 1, 2018

By FEMA Staff

You don’t have to be a flavor chemist to know that some foods go well together and others don’t. A 2015 study, Analysis of Food Pairing in Regional Cuisines of India, looked at why this happens, particularly in India, which is home to many regional cuisines. Food pairing, as described by the study, is the “compatibility of two ingredients in a recipe in terms of their shared flavor compounds.” “We quantify food pairing with the help of flavor profiles of ingredients. Flavor profile represents a set of volatile compounds that render the characteristic taste and smell to the ingredient.”

Words like salty, sweet, sour, and bitter describe common flavor taste perceptions, but taste alone does not make up your entire flavor experience. Other aspects like appearance, aroma, sound, and texture also contribute to a flavor’s taste.

For many of us, the smell of bacon sizzling in the pan or burgers smoking on the grill makes our mouths water. What is it that flavors meat and leaves us craving more?

Here’s a challenge: Create a heart-healthy, low sodium, low calorie dish that everyone will crave. Ready, Set, Go! This is the task for chefs today who are looking to meet customers’ health expectations without sacrificing flavor.

Think about the last time you had a cold with a stuffed up nose, limiting your sense of smell, and you tried to eat your favorite food. Didn't quite taste the same did it?

What do we actually know about our tongue’s ability to taste flavor? As we continue to learn more about our ability to taste, researches are able to develop new terms and classifications to describe flavor.