By Joanne Chen
Before sugar became the culprit behind cavities, hyperactive kids, and expanded waistlines, it was a precious spice that only the wealthy could afford. Gourmands would sprinkle it sparingly onto their savory dishes, as we would sea salt today. In Europe centuries ago, doctors of moneyed clients would use sugar to cure fevers, itchy rashes, and stomachaches; and in Asia, their counterparts would prescribe it to promote strength and sperm count.
2. The more taste buds you have, the sweeter the cookie.
Not all tongues are created equal—and because of that, not all taste experiences are the same. Mushroom-like protrusions, called fungiform papillae, populate the front part of the human tongue, and within these protrusions are taste buds. Some tongues have as many as sixty fungiform papillae within a six-millimeter area; others have as little as five fungiform papillae in that same amount of space. As a result, the former group (super-tasters and tasters) tend to experience tastes more intensely than the latter group (non-tasters): cookies may even taste “too sweet” to super tasters, while they’re “just right” or “not sweet enough” to non-tasters.
3. There’s no such thing as a spare stomach for dessert, but there certainly is a dessert brain.
It’s not a lack of willpower per se that has you craving a dessert after a full meal; it’s a biological phenomenon known as sensory specific satiety. When it comes to feeling satiated, our brain craves a diversity of tastes, textures, and temperatures. In a Pennsylvania State University study, subjects offered a lunch with four identical courses of their favorite food ate sixty calories less than a group served four different courses. It makes sense, then, after almost an hour spent with savory foods, we’re hungering for something sweet—and if that sweet treat offers the cool smoothness of ice cream set against something warm and crunchy, such as a warm fruit crumble, then all the better.
4. The mango flavor you grew up with? It was actually pineapple.
Flavors don’t stay stagnant: They come, go, and evolve with the times. This is especially true with flavors inspired by unfamiliar fruits. To capture an American audience, food makers tweak these new flavors with ingredients that are familiar to them. Thirty or so years ago, before the Food Network and Martha Stewart made gourmands of the masses, tropical fruits, such as mangoes, were considered too odd-tasting to be eaten straight. That’s why a blast of pineapple flavoring would have been added to give the then-unfamiliar tropical fruit greater appeal, says Catherine Hogan, marketing manager for sweet goods at International Flavors & Fragrances.
5. In the right light, strawberry can taste oddly like chocolate.
Food doesn’t taste the way it does simply because of its ingredients. We’re highly influenced by the power of suggestion. In a study out of the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center, researchers told employees they were testing a new kind of strawberry yogurt, but in order to get a good assessment it had to be eaten in the dark. The yogurt was in fact chocolate, but 19 out of 32 subjects reported that the yogurt had “good strawberry taste.” Similarly, as Brian Wansink at the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University discovered, changing the menu to say “Grandma’s zucchini cookies” instead of simply “zucchini cookies,” boosted sales 27 percent and resulted in higher taste ratings. >> "Women love sweets more than men do. It’s biological." Read Facts 6-10
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Biography
Joanne Chen is a writer in New York City. She has covered health, nutrition, and food as an editor at Life and Vogue, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine, Health, and other publications. She keeps chocolate at her desk at all times.
