The Science of Flavour and its Applications
We offer a number of tips to healthy and hearty food for your customers.

Appearance
Good appearance makes the food more attractive to diners. The elegant French cuisine best illustrates how the appearance of a dish affects its character.

Scent
Apart from the usual ginger, garlic and chilli, think of spices such as lemongrass, curry powder and ginger powder. Their distinctive scents are equally useful in enhancing the flavour of a dish.


Tastes
Flavour enhancers are commonly used to enhance the "umami" of food. Like salt, they should be use in moderation because of their high sodium content which is detrimental to one's heart health. Consider using natural Ingredients rich in Glutamic Acid such as tomatoes, cheeses (e.g. parmesan cheese) and agaricus mushroom instead! Glutamic Acid is released from food with prolonged cooking.

The texture and temperature certainly have an effect on our impression of a dish. If we attend to the details of every single step, we will be able to make dishes which are appealing in appearances, scents and tastes without the assistance of flavour enhancers.

Extract from the CookSmart Issue 4