Why did the strawberries shout ‘chocolate’?
- The Edible Science
- Oct 11, 2020
- 3 min read
Why does your slice of pizza leave you craving for a glass of coke? Why do wine tasting sessions seldom go without cheese? Why is cheese the first thing to come to your mind when somebody says pasta? Well, this all is not just some random coincidence, but science – the science of FOOD PAIRING. A science that is helping industries around the globe earn millions of profit, a science that is making food taste better, a science that is key for recipe generating ideas, and a science that may sometimes make you gain more calories too (look out for those extra ones).
Food pairing is the science of combining different ingredients or foods that go well together. These ingredients may be food and drink such as wine and cheese or pizza and coke, or maybe different ingredients in a recipe. Foods that share major flavor compounds are foods that go well with each other. When you taste a product, 80% of that experience can be attributed to the aroma of the product. Since food pairings majorly work upon the flavor system, let us first take a look at the human body and flavor perception.
When we ingest food, we come across the taste, touch, and smell of the food, also collectively known as the flavor of that food. Why is the aroma so much more important than the taste of the product? On average, we can distinguish between 10,000 different odors. Without the aroma, even our foods taste different. (Try having a cup of coffee with your nose closed, and behold, it may taste bitter). So the science behind the pairing of food lies in detecting these aroma compounds and matching them with other foods.
What has been done by trial and error by so many chefs around the world, has been taken up by the Belgian company, Foodpairing with a scientific approach. Initially, the process involves mapping the aroma profiles of any food through sophisticated instruments such as gas chromatography coupled mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS). Only the most evident aromas will stand out from the large variety of aromas present. As is true for every sense, these aromas will be identified only above some threshold value. Secondly, the researchers then apply analytical tools to make other foods match using algorithms. After much research by the company, it notes that alike flavor compounds make the foods taste better together. Some common pairs are strawberry to chocolate from their shared roasted aromas or to basil with citrus aromas. These combinations result in visual illustrations such as food-pairing trees, in which one central ingredient is combined with other similar ingredients which may serve as a map for other chefs and innovation specialists. The products with the shortest branches are the product with the best match to the central ingredient.
Photograph by : www.foodpairing.com
Apart from this, sometimes other scientific reasons also play a role in food pairings. There are some compounds that just really bring out the flavor in the other food. Wine and cheese may be one such pair. The fat present in the cheese can coat your mouth which may decrease the feeling of sourness and astringency, and result in better wine tasting. So for that matter, any other fatty food as well can play this role such as nuts.
Food pairing is a boon to the food industry. This amazing science may reveal the magic behind some super traditional dishes such as dal-rice, or also open up some super funky combinations. Try out some really good combinations the next time you are in the kitchen by exploring www.foodpairing.com
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