Flavoring

“ They were well known to the ancients, and are used at present in medicine, particularly in veterinary practice, also in flavoring culinary sauces, soups, curries, cordials, pastry, and for imparting a factitious strength to vinegar, beer, wines and spirits, especially gin; their use creates a thirst. ”

“ Perhaps the craving for excessive flavoring is an olfactory delirium, a pathological case, as yet unfathomed like the excessive craving for liquor, and, being a problem for the medical fraternity, it is only of secondary importance to gastronomy. ”

“ Chocolate, coffee, and tea are used for flavorings as well as for beverages.
Coloring substances.—These come of many colors made from aniline dyes, and while probably not often hurtful, they should be used only in sweets and candies, and very seldom, if ever. It is better to depend on natural fruit coloring when color is wanted.
The fine art of cooking is to develop the natural flavor of each foodstuff by the proper application of heat, and never to use these condiments and flavorings in excess. The artist in cookery has a gift for flavoring, somewhat as the painter has for color. ”

“ By using them, infinite variety of flavorings may be produced, and they are, moreover, a great tonic to the stomach if dealt out by a judicious hand. Hence the superiority of good French cooking; variety is the spice of digestion. ”

“ Crushed celery seed is liked by some in salad dressings. Spearmint is very refreshing. Delicate tender sassafras leaves may be used in fruit and nut meat salads.
Shredded fresh mint combines well with orange or grape fruit or with currant juice; tarragon with red raspberries and currants, and basil with peaches.
In closing the subject of flavorings, I quote the words of a lady visitor after sampling some of the dishes prepared by a class in cookery:
“Any one can give a taste to foods by adding condiments and flavorings, but to develop the flavors of the foods themselves is an art.” ”

“ White Mountain Icing
Bring sugar and water to boil and add cream of tartar. Boil till it spins a thread when dropped from tip of spoon. Pour slowly over stiff whites. Beat until it will stand. Add flavoring. If too stiff add a little hot water. Will fill and ice a medium sized two layer cake.
Baking Powder Frosting
Mix sugar, cream of tartar, and baking powder and add water. Boil. Beat egg whites stiff and put in bowl over boiling water. Add spoonfuls of boiling syrup one at a time to egg whites, beating constantly. Add syrup (it is continually boiling) till 1/2 has been used. ”

“ It is a far more important matter than most people believe. Color and flavor both aid digestion very materially, most especially flavor, and my work from the first has been among food and drug plants to obtain pure, pleasing flavors (and in flowers, fragrance) and I have been as successful in that line as in any other line of work.
"Vegetables—like celery, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, beets, lettuce, peas, beans, sweet corn and especially artichokes, have not only had ill flavors, but have been lacking in sweetness. These can be just as readily added as form, size or color. ”

“ Flavor is something more than taste. It is in reality a mixed sensation, in which smell and taste are both concerned, as is shown by the common observation that one suffering from a cold in the head, which blunts his sense of smell, loses the proper flavor of his food. So if a person be blindfolded, and the nose pinched, he will be unable to distinguish between an apple and an onion, if one be rubbed on the tongue after the other. As soon as the nostrils are opened the difference is at once perceived. ”

“ When our sense of taste is not benumbed or destroyed by harmful accompaniments we are in a condition to keenly enjoy the thousands of fine, delicate flavors that our loving Father has placed in wholesome foods.
Among the stronger flavors for those who do not at once enjoy the delicate ones, we have sage, savory, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, bay leaf, garlic, onion, chives and leeks.
Then come celery salt and seed, leaves and stalks; lemon thyme, shallots, spearmint, parsley, basil and tarragon.
The flavors of carrots, turnips, cabbage and spinach have their place. ”

“ The basis for the peculiar flavor or taste which ripened cream-butter possesses is due, in large part, to the formation of certain decomposition products formed by various bacteria. Aroma is a quality often confounded with flavor, but this is produced by volatile products only, which appeal to the sense of smell rather than taste. Generally a good flavor is accompanied by a desirable aroma, but the origin of the two qualities is not necessarily dependent on the same organisms. ”

“ In reality, there are but four primitive and radical tastes—sweet, sour, salt, and bitter. A very simple experiment will convince us of this fact. If we keep the nostrils closed when tasting a certain number of sapid substances, so as to neutralize the sense of smell, the taste perceived is invariably reduced to one of the four simple savors we have just named. Then, whenever the pituitary membrane is out of order, the taste of food is no longer the same; the tongue distinguishes nothing but sweet, sour, salt, or bitter. ”

“ From this standpoint the fragrant aroma of steaming [Pg 2] coffee and the savory odor of a stew are as truly condiments as pepper and salt; for condiments are the magic wand which transforms most commonplace of foods into essences, subtle and delicious. They are equally appropriate to the steaming potage of the French peasant and the sacrificial altars of Palestine and Greece. Nothing more closely tests the skill of the cook than his use of these appetizing flavors. Like genii of the fairy tale, they are willing, versatile and obedient as slaves ”

“ Good flavor sells milk, cream, butter and cheese; poor flavor condemns them. Flavor is that indescribable something, which, in good dairy products, appeals pleasantly to our senses, but often passes unnoticed because so familiar; in poor products it is equally indescribable, but more often characterized in vigorous language, when “frowzy” butter, “garlicy” milk, “bitter” cream or “strong” cheese present their offensive odors and tastes. The ordinary consumer calls flavor the “taste” of the article which tickles his palate ”

“ That anything is needed to disguise or improve the natural flavor of food, would seem to imply either that the article used was not a proper alimentary substance, or that it did not answer the purpose for which the Creator designed it. True condiments, such as pepper, pepper sauce, ginger, spice, mustard, cinnamon, cloves, etc., are all strong irritants. This may be readily demonstrated by their application to a raw surface. The intense smarting and burning occasioned are ample evidence of the irritating character. ”

“ Austere refers to a flavor more or less sour with some astringency. The flavor may often be put down as astringent. All varieties have a more or less distinct aroma. Rich and refreshing are words often found in the rather extensive vocabulary necessary to describe the flavor of this fruit.
Quality is that combination of texture, flavor, and aroma which makes a fruit pleasant to the palate. Quality is rated by common consent of pomologists by five grades: Poor, fair, good, very good, and best. ”

“ The demand for flavor grows and grows with pampering, till nothing but humming-birds’ tongues and miniature geese floating in a sea of aspic jelly will satisfy the palate of him who eats solely for flavor—who never knows the sauce of hunger, or the deliciousness of a plain crust of bread. ”

“ The first juice that runs of itself from the grapes comes from the heart of the fruit, and tastes of the pulp only; when the grapes are squeezed in the press the flow betrays the flavor of the skin. If there is any freshness in the original idea of the work, if there is any individuality in the method or style of a new author, or of an old author on a new track, it will have lost much of its first effect when repeated. ”

“ But you will say at once, we taste many things that are neither sweet, sour, salt, nor bitter; there must be many more than four tastes. There are not. What we commonly call tastes are really smells. We smell things that are in the mouth, and think we taste them.
If you don’t believe this, simply hold your nose. It is an old trick to get somebody to close his nose tightly, and then while all sense of smell is thus cut off, to bring into the room a piece of raw onion, put it in the victim’s mouth, and ask him to guess what it is. ”

“ We take sugar with our tea, our coffee, our chocolate, our strawberries, our grapefruit, and our lemon juice, and realize that it to some degree counteracts or neutralizes the bitter or the sour taste of these foods in their original form. “Salt corrects the sweetness of an over-ripe melon.” In our salad dressings, sauces, gravies, relishes, and bitters we find the means of reënforcing or toning down the taste qualities to suit our own particular fancy. ”

“ Salt, spices, essences, vanilla, vinegar, pickles, capers, ketchups, sauces, chutneys, lime-juice, curry, and all the rest, are just our civilised expedients for adding the pleasure of pungency and acidity to naturally insipid foods, by stimulating the nerves of touch in the tongue, just as sugar is our tribute to the pure gustatory sense, and oil, butter, bacon, lard, and the various fats used in frying to the sense of relish which forms the last element in our compound taste. ”

“ Certain taste cells located near the back of the tongue are stimulated only by a bitter taste. Sweet substances are perceived by cells near the tip of the tongue, sour substances along the sides, and salt about equally all over the surface. A substance must be dissolved in fluid in order to be tasted. Many things which we believe we taste are in reality perceived by the sense of smell. Such are spicy sauces and flavors of meats and vegetables. ”

“ Orange-flower water, it is true, will lose strength, but when a bottle is first opened, if it is poured off into small vials, and each one corked and sealed, it will keep its original strength. The following list of articles kept in store will enable a cook to give her cakes, creams, etc., just that “foreign” flavor that home products so often lack: almonds, almond paste, candied cherries, candied angelica, candied orange, lemon, and citron peels, pistachio-nuts, orange-flower water, rose-water, prepared cochineal, maraschino, ratafia, lemons, extract of vanilla, and sherry. ”

“ Acid or sour is the taste of vinegar or lemon-juice; bitter that of quassia, quinine, or strychnine. Acrid is nearly allied to bitter. Pungent suggests the effect of pepper or snuff on the organs of taste or smell; as, a pungent odor. Caustic indicates the corroding effect of some strong chemical, as nitrate of silver. In a figurative sense, as applied to language or character, these words are very closely allied. We say a sour face, sharp words, bitter complaints, caustic wit, cutting irony, biting sarcasm, a stinging taunt, harsh judgment, a tart reply. ”

“ The lowest form of special sense is taste, which is closely allied to nutrition. Taste perceives the phase of assimilation of the object, which is commencing with the mouth. The individuality of the object is attacked and it gives way, its organic product or inorganic aggregate suffering dissolution—taste perceives the dissolution. Substances that do not yield to the attack [Pg 155] of the juices of the mouth have no taste. Glass and gold have little taste as compared with salt or sugar. ”

“ Epicures, from the ancient Lucullus, who introduced the sour cherry into Europe, to Paderewski, who eats no others, agree that, thoroughly ripened, it is far superior in Flavor to the sweet cherry, besides being more delicate, melting, digestible and wholesome. On a warm day nothing—not even a glass of lemonade or limeade—is so agreeably refreshing as a handful of Early Richmonds, Morellos, Montmorencys, or Baldwins. ”

“ That is to say, there should be the maximum variety in preparation of food in order that no meal shall contain two or more creamed dishes, fried foods, foods with custard basis or foods with bread foundation.
If a score card were made out for judging a meal, flavor would perhaps be given the most importance. Here again care must be taken to avoid duplicating flavors. Too many strong flavors or too many bland flavors are undesirable. While strong flavors stimulate the appetite it is unwise to employ them continually, especially where the same group of people is being served day after day. ”

“ Of course, in our existing modern cookery, very few simple and uncompounded tastes are still left to us; everything is so mixed up together that only by an effort of deliberate experiment can one discover what are the special effects of special tastes upon the tongue and palate. Salt is mixed with almost everything we eat—sal sapit omnia—and pepper or cayenne is nearly equally common. Butter is put into the peas, which have been previously adulterated by being boiled with mint; and cucumber is unknown except in conjunction with oil and vinegar. ”

“ The flow from all the glands is greatly increased when food is taken, especially if it be of good flavor. Sometimes the amount is increased by smell alone, as when a nice steak is cooking, or a savory soup, and sometimes the saliva is made copious by thought, as when we remember the taste of dishes eaten in the past, and we say, "It makes the mouth water just to think of them." ”

“ The only tastes that are really perceived in the mouth are bitter, sweet, sour, and salty; and even these are perceived quite as much by the roof and back of the mouth, especially the soft palate, as they are by the tongue. All the delicate flavors of our food, such as those of coffee or of roast meat or of freshly baked bread, are really smells. ”

“ The conversion of sugar into caramel is, as already stated, attended with a change of flavor: a kind of bitterness replaces the sweetness. This peculiar flavor, judiciously used, is a powerful adjunct to cookery, and one which is shamefully neglected in our ordinary English domestic kitchens. ”