I’m currently staying at a hotel in Philadelphia this week for a work-related conference. On one of the cable channels, a wine-tasting show pointed out that there is a difference between taste and flavor. According to the show there are four different tastes but thousands of flavors.
Well based on my previous post on “Demystifying Taste – Pt. One,” there are actually six tastes, because that is what our taste buds are able to detect. There are thousands of flavors because flavor comes from taste plus our sense of smell. Ever tasted chocolate when your nose was stuffed up with a cold? It’s just not the same. It’s kind of like trying to distinguish the color of your shirt in dim lights. It just doesn’t look right. Strictly speaking, the taste of chocolate is sweet and maybe bitter for dark chocolate. But the flavor that everyone recognizes comes from its characteristic aroma as well.
So you got that? Taste and smell gives us flavor. We will step by step educate our palates and heighten our ability to taste and describe what we taste.
