In my previous post, I mentioned that I was thinking about pairing in terms of color as well flavor, with the thought that color influences perceived flavors through an association process with temperature. Thus we tend to think of red or orange as hot and green or blue as cold.
In the course of looking up experimental data, I found the following infographic on chili peppers:
Notice how the peppers with the highest Scoville numbers, that are hottest and the richest in capsaicin, are all red. As you go down the infographic to lower Scoville numbers, green colored peppers appear more and more, though the bottom row still contains red-colored peppers.
Capsaicin activates the trigeminal TRPV1 receptor, which is also activated physical temperatures higher than about 40ºC/102ºF. That's why we say that these peppers burn—the brain automatically translates activation of the TRPV1 receptor as some level of burn.
The same activation pattern holds for tea: green tea, which activates the cool and cold receptors, is lighter and greener, while black tea, which activates the warm and hot receptors, is darker and more reddish-brown.
In the white-wine-dyed-red experiment we have been talking about, the most prominent descriptors chosen for the dyed wine were spicy and pepper, which would correspond to activation of the trigeminal TRPV1 receptor. Indeed components of true red wine do in fact activate this receptor, while white wines tend to activate receptors that correspond to cooler temperatures. Yet sniffing the white-wine-dyed-red made the students* experience the TRPV1-type smells. What is happening here at the level of the nervous system?
In upcoming posts I’ll explore some amazing data on color/temperature/odor/flavor associations and the nervous system, and what these data mean for pairing. My next post will be coming on Tuesday—my family is coming for the week-end so I won't have time to write until then.
* They were students of oenology, not full wine experts as the popular press has suggested.
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