The Importance of Flavor

Our experience of flavor has changed over time as we, as a culture, have moved away from eating whole, natural, real foods. In the past, humans had to rely on their senses, including their palates, to understand their environment — specifically, which plants were nourishing and which were toxic. At (EatingForYourHealth), where we believe that How You Feel Is Data®, we want participants to learn how to use their taste buds as an important tool to help them:

• Develop a palate for whole, real food
• Lose the palate for flavors crafted by food manufacturers
• Develop the habit of checking in with one’s body regularly to get data

This usually involves a combination of learning to cook and re-learning how to taste. If you sense — or if you’ve been told — that you need to eat differently to be well, good flavor is your ally in the process.

Flavors and Their Balancing Flavors

A taste or flavor sensation is a neurological interpretation of a food that is perceived through the sense of smell and contact with taste buds on the tongue. Following are the basic tastes and their balancing tastes:

Salt: Brings out the natural flavor of the dish. If you taste something and your response is “bland,” try a little salt. Use high quality rock or sea salts or include sea vegetables like kelp for flavoring. Salt’s flavor balancing friend is…

Sour: Think of lemon juice or vinegar. Acid foods brighten a dish. They also level out salt. So if you over-salted your food, you can balance it out with a little citrus juice or vinegar. It works in reverse too; if the dish is too acidic, add a little salt. The zing of an acid food is best added toward the end of cooking since it dissipates during cooking.

Sweet: You are designed to seek sweetness, the flavor tells you the fruit is ripe and safe to eat and will provide a source of much-needed quick energy. The food industry takes advantage of this evolutionary love of sweetness when it refines and concentrates sugars in soft drinks, sweet treats and many processed foods. Sweetness tames spiciness. Sweetness balances with…

Bitter: The perception of bitterness is believed to be an adaptive response to identify foods that may be toxic. Obviously not all bitter foods are toxic and bitterness is an important flavor sensation whose sharpness or pungence is balanced deliciously with sweetness (think of chocolate). The perception of bitterness is often more pronounced in raw as opposed to cooked vegetables.

Umami: The fifth basic flavor sensation is umami, which is characteristic of fish, meat, mushrooms and some vegetables. It may be thought of as a background flavor, the meaty foundation or starting point for the dish. The culinary industry calls this flavor “brothy.”

Fat carries the flavor of everything else, helps flavors blend and spreads flavors across the tongue.

Flavor Experiment

This is a tasting experiment in which you will get in touch with your sense of taste, learn how to balance the flavors in your food and gain insight into how you can gently transition your palate toward healthier balances of flavor.

Start with salad dressing, then try balancing a soup or stew.

As you follow the prompts, notice the balances your taste buds prefer. Use “The Flavor Star” graphic to help you make decisions. For example, if the flavor is too salty, add a little lemon or vinegar. If it’s too bitter, add something sweet. Make notes as you go so you can reproduce the most pleasing and healthy balance for you.

Salad Dressing

In a small bowl, whisk together:

2 TBS olive oil

1 TBS vinegar

… Taste alone.

Add a big pinch of salt.

… Taste alone.

Decide if the balance needs more salt, or, if it’s too salty or not acid enough,

add vinegar.

Now add 1/4 tsp honey.

… Taste alone.

… Then taste it on a leaf of kale.

Write a comment about what you need to get a tasty, balanced salad dressing. Many of our salad greens are bitter and require more of a sweet note in the dressing. Celery is a salty vegetable and may require a higher proportion of acid. How does eating it on vegetables change the flavor needs?

Soup or Stew

This is easier. Make a broth of vegan or chicken stock and coconut milk. Use salt and lime juice. Then add a sweet note and a bitter vegetable to get a well-balanced effect. Experiment with the Thai Coconut Soup recipe on the EFYH website.

Tips for Flavoring When You Saute

1. Start with alliums (e.g. onions, scallions, shallots). Add sea salt to bring out the moisture.
2. Add spices when cooking mostly in fat at the beginning of cooking, but add herbs later, when the wet ingredients are in. Contact with fat deepens the effect of spices.
3. When you add ingredients to your pot, like carrots, celery, or squash, add a pinch of salt each time, again to sweat out the moisture and enhance the flavor. When vegetables brown nicely, their natural sugars are being drawn out and they caramelize over the heat.
4. Always deglaze the pan to capture the flavor sticking to the pot. Use stock or wine and massage the browned bits to develop a nice pan sauce.
5. Let the last step be tasting and asking yourself if the balance is right and then adjust with citrus or vinegar, salt, a sweet note like honey and herbs. And a little fat binds the flavors together.

You are designed to feel well. You are designed to heal constantly and naturally, given the right building blocks. You are designed to take pleasure in the things that are good for you and to develop aversions to the things that are bad for you. You can put the magic of flavor to work for you.

Image source: Cooksmarts