Quote:
Originally Posted by Alix
Really? Why? Do you know the science on that one or is it just a TNT tip. (Either way I'm going to try it, but inquiring minds want to know)
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This is Goodweed's theory. I believe that both salt and MSG wake up the taste buds, and help ballance the flavors of other foods. Salt enhances all meats, makes smoky flavors pop, makes home-made hot fudge richer in flavor, and compliments the flavors of all grains and veggies that I can think of.
Flavor is a complex mixture of signals from the nose and tongue. There is a man whose name I can't remember, that recently won the Nobel prize for figuring out how our brains and odor and taste receptors work together to sort out the tangle of chemicals compounds in foods to give us flavor.
Most foods are a combination of varying degrees of sweet, salty, umami, bitter, and sour. Each food has it's own signature mixture of these flavors. How much of each, and in what order they trigger the responses in out nose and tongue determines the flavor of a substance. Salt isn't a mixture of flavors, but one of the basic flavors.
Think of it like this: Red is a basic color. But by mixing in varying amounts of blue, you can alter the overall color that your eyes see. You can go all the way from bright red, to dark violet. And when you start blending in other primary colors, you can create any color you want.
That's how salt is in food. It alters the overall flavor by adding more for the brain to interpret.
Chocolate is made more rich by the addition of salt. But too much salt will overpower the other favor components, just as too much blue will change red to purple to the point that you will no longer recognize the red influence.
Hope that helps answer your question.
Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North