| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Flavor-Pairing Theory: Why Weird Foods Go Together
C&EN Associate Editor Carmen Drahl explains that cooks and some chemists have teamed up in a new endeavor termed “flavor pairing” to find foods with similar flavor and smell molecules. It originated when a flavor chemist at a Swiss firm and a British chef realized that some of the avant-garde pairings they were creating — like pork liver and jasmine flower or white chocolate and caviar — had key flavor compounds in common. Drahl reports that flavor-pairing theory quickly spread through the culinary world, fostering efforts to develop more sophisticated ways for identifying good pairs.
The article describes one such effort by the company Sense for Taste, which consults with chefs, bartenders and food companies about innovative combinations. To develop foods like an almond sponge cake with poached banana, or chocolate and ketchup ice cream, the firm uses proprietary algorithms, as well as analytical techniques, that are also being used to find life-saving drugs and search for life on Mars. Sense for Taste publishes foodpairing trees that show the best matches to make surprising new dishes. The article also discusses the considerable skepticism over whether a valid scientific basis exists for flavor pairing.
Contacts and sources:
Michael Bernstein
American Chemical Society
Read more at Nano Patents and Innovations
Source:
