Comments on: Gastrophysics symposium in Copenhagen

By: Naomi

Naomi — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 07:56:53 +0000

Hi Martin, thanks for the interesting review of these interesting lectures!

Regarding particle size, Stephen Beckett, in his book “The science of chocolate” mentions that particles larger than 30 microns would make the chocolate feel gritty. Thus, the sugar and cacao particles are repeatedly milled and crushed during the chocolate preparation process.

By: Arielle

Arielle — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 22:58:22 +0000

On sub-threshold aromas: they definitely affect taste perception. (Labbe, D., Rytz, a, Morgenegg, C., Ali, S., & Martin, N. (2007). Subthreshold olfactory stimulation can enhance sweetness. Chemical senses, 32(3), 205–14. doi:10.1093/chemse/bjl040)

and here is a good viewpoint/review paper on “low-impact” odorants
Ryan, D., Prenzler, P. D., Saliba, A. J., & Scollary, G. R. (2008). The significance of low impact odorants in global odour perception. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 19(7), 383–389. doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2008.01.007

I feel like I should just post the lit review to my dissertation proposal

By: Tidbits: freeze-drying, burnt ice cream, and Stanford says organic foods are no healthier than conventional

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:01:16 +0000

[...] I haven’t even finished reading this yet, but you should definitely check out Martin Lersch’s writeup of the recent “Gastrophysics” symposium that was held in Copenhagen two week ago. Very [...]

By: Martin Lersch

Martin Lersch — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:57:31 +0000

Arielle: “The sum is more than the parts” – yes, you make a good point there! Do you have any good examples of interactive effects of “sub-threshold” aromas?

By: Arielle

Arielle — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:45:53 +0000

re: Fenaroli’s; be wary, too, of reducing flavor chemistry down to only high-impact or supra-threshold volatiles (not to mention down to concentration alone, which is just crazy) , given how much aroma perception is affected by interactive effects between volatiles, and often involving “sub-threshold” aromas. [to be fair, I am somewhat biased towards interactive effects] Still, using some threshold/OAV data is better than using no sensory at all.

And it seems to me that, taken to a logical endpoint, Ahnert’s hypothesis would hold that the best pairings would be between chemically near-identical ingredients…which I don’t think is the case. The follow-up he presented sounds interesting, though, I just wish I hadn’t missed that session!

Kevin: I’ve found that the perception/psychophysics/cognitive psychology literature has somewhat paradoxically helped me understand flavor chemistry better than the purely flavor chemistry literature has, if you want somewhere to go looking.

By: Martin Lersch

Martin Lersch — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 20:10:11 +0000

MattC: Note that the slides says “smaller than 1 um”. And yes – they did a lot to prevent samples from heating during analysis. But then one should of course consider that any error introduced due to heating of samples would probably increase the size of the observed crystals.

By: Martin Lersch

Martin Lersch — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 20:07:32 +0000

Parsley is just an example. I assume the same holds true for all the entries in Fenaroli’s handbook. The fundamental problem is that the handbook is focused on concentrations, and thereby misses many of the more potent, low-concentration compounds.

By: Kevin Liu

Kevin Liu — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 19:18:52 +0000

Hey Martin,

Besides the parsley example, do you have any other objections to Fenaroli’s handbook? Are there any other good resources out there?

thank in advance,
Kevin

By: GeoffreyS

GeoffreyS — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 21:43:28 +0000

I am quite curious about the topic of one particular flavor inducing desire for other flavors. It says that sweet and fat increases desire for the sour and bitter. I think it is worth looking into what flavors are induced with “fatty” flavors, or even fatty and salty since they often come together as in the case with many cured meats and steaks.

By: MattC

MattC — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:14:35 +0000

Interesting stuff!

As a note, I wouldn’t overplay the ‘glassy water’. 1um, though small, is still a perfectly respectable crystal. Amorphous ice isn’t particularly stable anywhere near room temperature, though of course, being embedded in an ice cream matrix is not a condition that has been particular extensively studied before!