Caseophile

You also eat with your eyes

As a regular reader of Lilian’s excellent Blogagroalimentaire, my attention has been drawn to a fact I was well aware of, but with a new scientific angle: you also eat with your eyes.

 Of course! That’s why I strive to begin the majority of my soirées with a blind tasting session. With a black glass in your hand you lose all preconceptions. Is it a red, a white or a rosé you are sampling? You’re hard put to get your olfactory neurones operating in such conditions.

 And the Swiss have gone further in demonstrating that the brain of an adult can judge the energy content of food as well as its fat content simply by looking at a photo.

Interesting, isn’t it?

So make sure your photos look appetising…

Paul le Mens

The last weekend of October, I took part in a teach-in on cheese at the UESS (Université Européenne des Saveurs & Senteurs)of Forcalquier. As a contributor, of course :-)). And this leads me to tell you about a man I greatly appreciate, particularly in the way he approaches sensorial analysis: Paul Le Mens, who also was running this course.

I’ve known Paul since 2005 and my University Diploma in Sensorial and Taste Analysis in Suze-la-Rousse and in a spirit of good friendship I immediately christened him the "cosinus savant" of cheese. A graduate of the Institut de l’Elevage (Cattle Institute) – a beacon in the dairy world, and someone who has specialised for a long time in assisting local producers of goat cheese. Paul has in recent years undertaken an enormous study of the vocabulary used in the tasting of agricultural food products and the various taste protocols of different products. He impresses me by his ability to describe many varied products in simple words: cheeses of course but also chocolate, rice, olive oil, meat … to see the genesis of the various cheese aromas presented by him in a very pragmatic way has always delighted me… I never tire of it!

Unrelenting, he travels through France(well, the South-East!) and also Quebec,the Nordic countries – he loves to share his passion for tasting and frankly if you have the opportunity to attend one of his taste workshops (often for Slow Food), don’t hesitate!

Professionals from the food processing sector should know that here is an expert who can help your approach to defining the taste of your product. Latest example: he is at present working with the producers of Camargue bull meat? And he talks very enthusiastically of a most discreet Camargue chef who runs courses on Mediterranean diet. I’ll tell you more about it in a little while!!

Université du Vin (Suze la Rousse)

There we are, just like a Christmas present, we have received our official diploma (DU = diplôme universitaire)  in “Sensorial Analysis and Tasting”. Their last exams took place at the end of September, and have at last been validated by the University of Provence (Aix-Marseille).

Thanks then to all the team of the Université du Vin in Suze la Rousse – especially Mme Payan, head of studies and Dolorès and her tremendous welcome, to the teachers of the University of Aix-en-Provence (M. Roman and M. El Ahmadi) – as well as to my classmates for the fantastic ambiance during the course.

 I suggest you make a visit to the Université du Vin website and look at the ongoing training modules in the area of taste.

originally posted in French 29th Dec 06

5 tastes, 5 senses, 5 numbers!

We live in an audio-visual world, and 95% of our perception is through our eyes and our ears. This leaves little space for our 3 other senses which are:

-taste
-smell
-touch

What we normally call “taste” as for example the “taste” of a banana, is in fact a sensation caused by volatile molecules triggering on the olfactory nerve endings of the nasal fossae, a nervous impulse in the direction of the olfactory organ. More than 600 have been counted for a cheese, about 800 for a wine, a little over 400 for coffee… but be reassured, there’s no question of you detecting all of them!! A wine expert captures about a hundred, the nose of a perfumer about 500…

This has nothing to do with “taste” in a strictly physiological sense, which only takes into account sensations perceived by the taste buds of the tongue.

There are three ways to perceive sensations:        

        by the tongue: flavours
        by the nose: smells / odours
        by the retro-nasal passage: aromas

We often speak of the “flavour” of a product… mistaking the meaning of the term! Because the flavours experienced in the mouth, thanks to the buds on the tongue, are

        salty
        sweet - felt more particularly on the front of the tongue, covers the whole of the throat and                         anesthetises the lips
        bitter : rejected at the back of the mouth
        acid : provokes shivering, tingling, tightening of tissue, saliva flow

        ... and umami : pron: oomamee (monosodium glutamate from glutamic acid – one of 20 essential amino             acids – strongly found in seaweed and therefore in Japanese cuisine, discovered in Japan in 1908)

All the buds react to all the flavours, but their reaction depends on the dosage of the stimulus ( said simply: the buds do not react solely to one single flavour, but there is at least one flavour whose detection threshold is stronger than the others) 

Nerve sensations named trigeminal are transmitted to the brain via the trigeminal nerves: astringent, metallic, spicy, burning, refreshing  ... and last but not least not forgetting the teeth, the tongue, saliva which transmits other information about the texture !

“the tongue is Man’s third hand”

 Retro-olfaction is a physical operation allowing one to perceive from the olfactory system the aromatic characteristics of food contained in the mouth. It is also called the “retronasal tract”.

It is this procedure that is undertaken by a taster to describe in detail the aromatic profile of a product like a wine, a cheese, a chocolate, an olive oil, or any other food product.

One breathes air in via the mouth, then sends it backwards after it having made contact with the product being tasted, in order to free the aromatic molecules which then can come into contact with the olfactory nerve endings, via the epithelium, formed of olfactory cilia (olfactory neurone endings which regenerate every 3 weeks or so). These neurones cross the cribiform plate before being connected to the olfactory bulb.*** 

The temperature at which the volatile components are released, that is to say the mouth temperature, as well as the addition of saliva, cause modifications to the product and give it quite another aromatic quality than that perceived by the direct olfactory channel.

There you are, now you have the basis of the sensorial analysis of tasting … recognising that each person reacts differently, and that your sensitivity depends on:

        - genetics : your ability is inborn to a greater or lesser degree
        - your culture: the way you have been brought up, if you are from the North or the South and what you have learned, the way you have been fed ...
        - without forgetting of course your physiological state at any point in time (if you have a cold, you don’t sense anything), the time of day (which can lead to a difference in your saliva), what you may just have eaten…

To partake in a sensorial analysis jury, you need to prove that you can offer a repetitive judgement: several sessions are needed to space out your perception thresholds and to show that you can detect different flavours with regularity.

Best of luck!

More information on a super Website in English http://www.sinauer.com/wolfe , chapters 13 (olfaction) and 14 (taste)

Originally posted in French 12th Dec 06