… and other things we learned from Mr Bob Holmes’ book, <i>Flavour</i>.

The average person has 10,000 taste buds, which are replaced every two weeks, and flavour is about much more than how sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami something is. It’s an unexplored and neglected sense, according to a new book by Mr Bob Holmes. Mr Holmes, a correspondent for New Scientist, has embarked on an exhaustive flavour journey and has written all about it in the aptly titled Flavour. From how the price of a bottle of wine can affect the way our brain processes its flavour to how different chillies burn the mouth in particular ways, Mr Holmes does a deep dive that reaches beyond our taste buds and explores the mysteries of flavour, many of which are still being researched by scientists. Here are five things we learnt from the book.

Price really can affect the taste of wine

Ever bought an overpriced bottle of plonk and wondered if it was worth it? Well, it kind of is. Citing an experiment where people were given sips of what they thought were five different wines, but four of them were duplicates, Mr Holmes writes: “A five-buck plonk was also presented as a $45 bottle, and an exquisite $90 Napa cabernet also appeared under the guise of an everyday $10 wine. Sure enough, the tasters liked the wines better when they appeared with a higher price tag. But the brain scans showed that they weren’t just saying so. The ‘higher-priced’ wines activated the brain’s reward circuitry more than the same wines presented at a lower price. In other words, a higher price tag genuinely led to greater pleasure.”

Different chillies burn in different ways

In the book, Mr Holmes speaks to Mr Paul Bosland, the director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University. “Most people, when they bite the habanero, it maybe takes 20 to 30 seconds before they feel the heat, whereas an Asian chilli is immediate,” says Mr Bosland. “Usually, with a jalapeño, it’s the tip of your tongue and lips, with New Mexico it’s in the middle of the mouth, and with a habanero it’s at the back.” Some chillies also burn longer than others. “[The burn from] jalapeños and many of the Asian varieties fades relatively quickly,” writes Mr Holmes. “Others, like habaneros, may linger for hours. New Mexico chillies tend to be flat while Asian ones tend to be sharp, a quality I certainly noticed the last time I ate Thai food.”

Apples contain more chemicals than Jolly Ranchers

If you were to guess which contained more chemicals – an apple or an artificial, apple-flavoured sweet – which would you choose? “Most people assume it’s the patently artificial Jolly Rancher,” says Mr Holmes. “But nature is made of chemicals, too. The real apple, in fact, contains at least 2,500 different flavour chemicals, while the Jolly Rancher has precisely 26.” That’s not an excuse to start eating more sweets, but an example of how little taste information we really need to recreate flavours artificially.

Sounds are important to the flavour experience

Chef Mr Heston Blumenthal made headlines a decade ago when he served a dish at The Fat Duck called Sound Of The Sea. He served his seafood with headphones playing sounds of the waves to give diners a multisensory experience. Written off by some as superfluous pretension at the time, it turns out that the sounds we hear really do affect the flavour of our food. Professor Charles Spence, a psychologist at Oxford University who is quoted in the book, says: “Sound is the last sense that people think about when it comes to flavour, but there’s a huge explosion of work showing that people match flavours to classes of instruments or pieces of music. Heavy, powerful music such as Carl Orff's ‘Carmina Burana’ makes tasters notice the heavy flavours in red wine, while ‘zingy’ pop music such as Nouvelle Vague’s ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ brings out the brighter flavours in white wine.” Some food (and music) for thought for the next time you’re hosting a dinner party.

You can improve your flavour perception

If reading this has made you wonder if you can enhance your own perceptions of flavour, there’s good news. “The way forward is simply to begin,” says Mr Holmes. “Try this: next time you eat an apple, don’t just munch as you read this book or check your email. Concentrate, instead, on your flavour experience. Give it your full attention. Try to articulate what you’re tasting.” On a practical level, the author also advises the following. “You may even find it helps to assign numbers to your sensations: score each quality from zero to 10, say,” says Mr Holmes. “There’s no better way to crystallise your perceptions than to force yourself to quantify them.”

Flavour: A User’s Guide To Our Most Neglected Sense (Penguin) by Mr Bob Holmes is out now

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