The six building-blocks of flavor: Sweet, Salty, Sour...

 

We were impoverished and never knew it.

When I was growing up there were only four basic building-blocks of flavor: Sweet, Salty, Sour and Bitter. Everything else in the sensory experience of "flavor" was aroma and texture.

Then, in the 1990s we started hearing about Umami or "savoriness" as exemplified by asparagus or soy sauce.

For most people, this is the frontier of flavors.

But recently, a sixth flavor has become universally recognized by our young people.

Maybe you have already experienced this.

You are in an restaurant and you hear a young person loudly announce "This tastes like ASS!"

When the young person is an attractive, young lady I am always tempted...oh, so tempted...to ask "And how would you know what ass tastes like?"

Mrs ERJ cannot take me anywhere.