Volantino

TASTE MOLECULES The third volume has an additional new section “The taste molecules” that will teach us more about aromas, to understand how they work, about our perceptions and emotions and how they can be combined in the kitchen. In fact aroma represents 70% of all the sensations that we feel when we eat a mouthful of our favourite food. BUT WHAT IS AROMA AND HOW DOES IT WORK? Each food, in addition to being composed of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and other nutrients, features molecules that take the name of aromatic or volatile compounds . These terms are used because they are such light and tiny particles that they “fly off” the food and into our nasal cavity, where they interact with the receptors there. And this is why we recognise the scent of roast meat, melted cheese, freshly baked bread, etc... each food possesses a variable number of volatile compounds: lettuce, for example, has about twenty aromatic compounds while coffee has almost one thousand! But then how is it possible that when we smell coffee we only smell one coffee aroma and not one thousand different aromas? We need to consider each single volatile compound as though it were a pixel: on their own they are just coloured dots, but together with hundreds of other coloured dots they create a picture. Like many pixels they create a detailed image, in the same way many different volatile compounds come together to create a precise aroma. DID YOU KNOW THAT...