What's Your Flavour?

What does FLAVOUR mean?
Flavour is the sensation produced by a material taken in the mouth, perceived principally by the senses of taste and smell, and also by the general pain, tactile and temperature receptors in the mouth.
Flavour also denotes the sum of the characteristics of the material which produce that sensation.
Flavour is mainly composed of taste and odor. Texture has a very definite effect, smoothness, roughness, granularity, and viscousity can all h

What influences FLAVOUR?

TASTE
ODOR
TEXTURE
~smoothness roughness granularity viscosity~
OTHERS
~hotness of spices coolness of menthol brothiness or fullness of certain amino acids metallic alkaline~

TASTE
It is generally agreed that there are only FOUR BASIC or TRUE tastes; sweet, bitter, sour and salt. The sensitivity to taste is located in the taste buds of the tongue. There is a regional distribution of the four kinds of receptors to create areas of sensitivity.



Chemical Structure and Taste
A first requirement for a substance to produce a taste is water-solubility. In general it can be said that all ACID substances are SOUR. Sodium chloride and other salts are salty, but as constituent atoms get bigger, bitter taste develops.

Minor changes in chemical structure may change the taste of a compound from sweet to bitter or tasteless.

The Effect of Substitutions in Saccharin on Sweetness


Saccharin is 500 times sweeter than sugar(pic above). Introduction of a methyl group or of chloride in para position reduces the sweetness by half. Placing a nitro group in the meta position makes the compound very bitter. Introduction of an amino group in the para position retains the sweetness. Substitutions at the imino group by methyl, ethyl or bromoethyl groups all result in tasteless compounds. However, introduction of sodium at this location yields sodium saccharin which is very sweet.

SWEET TASTE

Oh! So tempting!
According to AH,B theory, all compounds which bring about a sweet taste response possess an electronegative atom A, such as oxygen or nitrogen. This atom also possesses a proton attached to it by a single covalent bond and, therefore, AH can represent a hydroxyl group, an imine or amine group, or a methine group.



The AH,B system present in sweet compounds is, according to Shallenberger, able to reach with a similar AH,B unit which exists at the taste bud receptor site through the formation of simultaneous hydrogen bonds. The relatively strong nature of such bonds could explain why the senses of sweetness is a lingering sensation.

SOUR TASTE

*cringes*
Although it is generally recognized that the sour taste is a property of the hydrogen ion, there is no simple relationship between sour taste and acid concentration.

SALTY TASTE

MSG aint good! nuh-uh
The salty taste is best exhibited by sodium chloride. It is sometimes claimed that the taste of salt by itself is unpleasant, and that the main purpose of salt as a food component is to act as a flavour enhancer or flavour potentiator. The taste of salts is dependent on the nature of both cation and anion.

BITTER TASTE

Oh gourd, they are friggin' bitter..
The bitter taste is widely distributed and can be attributed to a great variety of organic and inorganic compounds. Although bitter taste by itself is usually considered unpleasant, it is a common component of the taste of many foods usually in combination with sweet and sour.

Our chemical world ♥

Here are some chemistry videos which makes learning interesting!

Chemical Party


The Element Song

Lyrics anyone?
There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium,
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium,
And gold and protactinium and indium and gallium, (gasp)
And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium,
And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium,
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,
And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium.

There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium,
And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium,
And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,
Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium.
And lead, praseodymium and platinum, plutonium,
Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium,
And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium, (gasp)
And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.

There's sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium,
And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium,
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium,
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin and sodium.

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Hahvard,
And there may be many others but they haven't been discahvered.

Alcohol through fermentation

Instead of garbage enzymes from my previous post, this post is more on EDIBLE enzymes. Had this idea when my aunt made some really great tasting dragonfruit enzyme drink. Before I proceed in typing about the methods to make the dragonfruit enzyme, I shall explain about alcohol since they're both related.

ALCOHOLAlcoholALCOHOLAlcoholALCOHOLAlcoholALCOHOLAlcoholALCOHOLAlcoholALCOHOL

When majority of the population hear or see this word, the first thing they would think of is alcoholic beverages like beer, wine, liqueur, vodka etc. Not all alcohols are edible (or should I say drinkable). Or..If you are willing to risk your lives, all alcohols can be consumed but many are poisonous and can lead to death. Some alcohols are used in the sterilizing apparatus or removing bacteria.

Some cleaning agents containing alcohol:


Here are some examples of alcohol's chemical formula:


Ethanol is one of the few alcohols available in any quantity as a natural product. The properties of "alcohol" or ethyl alcohol have been known since people first collected fruits and grapes and allowed them to ferment. Fermentation is the breakdown of carbohydrates in the presence of an enzyme catalyst into smaller compounds. Ethanol is a product of the fermentation of plant materials which contain carbohydrates -- fruits and grains. The natural fermentation solution from grapes achieves a maximum alcohol content of about 12% in wine. On exposure to oxygen, the ethanol is oxidised to acetic acid and the solution becomes vinegar.


HOCH₂(CHOH)₄4CH=O --> 2CH₃CH₂OH + 2CO₂

glucose --> ethanol

CH₃CH₂OH + CO₂ --> CH₃COOH + H₂O

ethanol --> acetic acid(vinegar)


OR



Whiskeys and brandies are distilled from fermentation solutions and have a much higher alcohol content -- 40-45%, or "80-90 proof." Enzyme catalysts are not active in solutions of such high alcohol concentration, and the alcohol is safe from reaction with oxygen.

For commercial chemical use, ethanol and other small alcohols are obtained from petroleum alkenes.

The simple alcohols, compounds that contain the hydroxyl as the main functional group, have higher boiling points and greater solubility in water than hydrocarbons or alkyl halides of comparable molecular weight. Both of these groups are due to the hydrogen bonding between -OH groups of the alcohol and of the alcohol with the water.



How to make your own NON ALCOHOLIC dragon fruit enzyme?
Ingredients
1 medium sized organic dragon fruit
500mL filtered water, boiled and cooled

Equipment
A 1-litre wide-mouth glass jar with lid
A 3-litre stainless steel pot

Method
1. Sterilise the glass jar and lid by putting water in and boiling over stove for a few minutes.
2. Remove from fire and air-dry.
3. Rinse and peel dragon fruit.
4. Transfer to mixing bowl.
5. Use a wooden pestle and crush the dragon fruit into tiny pieces.
6. Transfer to the sterilised glass jar.
7. Add the boiled and cooled water.
8. Cover with lid and screw tight.
9. Refrigerate for three days in the refrigerator.
10. Remove from the refrigerator and leave in a cool clean place for 2-3 days to culture the microorganism.
11. The liquid will taste sourish when the carbohydrate in the dragon fruit is transformed by the microorganism and developed naturally into beneficial acids which help strengthen the intestinal flora to improve digestion.
12. Take about 100mL two times a day before meal. Pulps can also be taken together.
13. Refrigerate the balance in the refrigerator.
14. Consume within 3-4 days for best result.

How about ALCOHOLIC ones??
just by using the ratio of 1:3:10
where the ratio means sugar:dragon fruit flesh:water
with the methods mentioned above.
AND!! leave it to ferment for a month

Here's the product of it. Well, about the bottle..replace "Bacardi" with "Dragon Fruit Enzyme Drink"


I just love the Bacardi logo



Benefits?
- improve digestion
- strengthen the immune function
- improve cell function
- discharge waste from the body
- improve skin condition
- prevent fungal and yeast growth