Spring semester is right around the corner! Ever wonder why sometimes one spice tastes like another or why absurd sounding combinations end up tasting amazing? It may have to due to shared flavor compounds!
A paper was written discussing the hypothesis that ingredients sharing flavor compounds taste better together than those with different compounds. For example, though it may not sound appealing to consider eating white chocolate and caviar, both contain trimethylamine and additional flavors. What was also interesting was analysis of cuisines by region show that North American and Western European dishes gravitate towards the use of ingredients with similar flavor compounds. East Asian and Southern European dishes on the other hand, avoid the use of similarly flavored ingredients.
To entice you into reading the entire paper take a look at these flavor networks!
The entire paper can be read here:
http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/111215/srep00196/full/srep00196.html
Enjoy!
- Charles