OLIVE OIL TASTING 4: TASTE
LESSON 4
Tasting Olive Oil “In Pills” Blog Series.
Do you want to become a real Olive Oil expert and be able to taste its flavors and aromas?
It’s necessary to slow down and take time to “observe” and appreciate aromas to move your approach to food from simple eating to a pleasurable experience.
Here we go with some basic rules and notions you need to be able to enjoy your food and your EVOO the most.
Not only what we eat but how we eat influences how we feel
TASTE AND THE PROCESS OF TASTING
When you taste olive oil, taste buds and other receptors capture the oil flavor, and they send it to the brain. The brain recognizes the message and reacts to it. But the brain can only recognize and respond to what it has already experienced and stored in its memory!
THEORY
1
TO TASTE = Gustative analysis
10.000 TASTE BUDS
TASTE allows us to perceive the olive oil’s characteristics. This can be possible thanks to:
- 10 thousand taste buds located on our tongue
- receptors located on the roof of the mouth
- receptors in the back of the throat and the gums.
2
FLAVOR
THE TERM FLAVOR INCLUDES:
Everything you can perceive through your mouth
- BASIC TASTE
- TEMPERATURE
- TEXTURE
- AFTERTASTE SENSATIONS
- RETRO-NASAL AROMAS
3
COMMUNICATION
THE FLAVOUR IS COMMUNICATED DURING THE EATING PROCESS AND IT’S GIVEN BY:
- 5 BASIC MOUTH TASTES = TASTES
- MOUTHFEEL SENSATIONS = SENSATIONS* and FLAVORS COMPOUNDS*
*SENSATIONS: from the roof of the mouth
*FLAVORS/ COMPOUNDS from the very back of the mouth
THE PROCESS OF TASTING
STEP 1. TASTES
When we put the oil into our mouth, we stimulate the tongue that, through the “taste buds of the tongue,” detects:
5 BASIC TASTES
- SWEET
- SALTY
- SOUR
- BITTER
- UMAMI
STEP 2. MOUTHFEEL SENSATIONS
By chewing, together with the tongue, the roof of the mouth receptors detects:
MOUTHFEEL SENSATIONS
1 TEMPERATURE: thermal sensations
2 TEXTURE: tactile sensations
3 AFTERTASTE: gustatory profile by and after swallowing
STEP 3. FLAVORS
In the meantime, while chewing and tasting, we breathe.
BREATHING…
That’s when the very back of the mouth receptors detect:
FLAVORS or FLAVOR COMPOUNDS
(This phenomenon happens through the mouth, but it’s also related to the SMELL reception)
Retro-nasal receptors (re) detect aromas (as explained in Lesson 3) where the nose meets the tongue.
3 Comments
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angela
Hello! Yes, check out this page to read all our tasting class posts (Classes 1-2-3-4-5).
https://www.italianraw.com/olive-oil-tasting/
Have fun! Angela Italianraw Team
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zoritoler imol
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